HUBER HEIGHTS — It may have not been the typical fast start for the Lehman Catholic’s girls soccer team on Monday night against Middletown Madison at Wayne High School’s Heidkamp Stadium.
But as the Mohawks found out in the second half, with the Cavaliers, once it rains, it pours.
Goals, that is.
Lehman scored three goals in five minutes midway through a wet second half — turning a 1-0 nail biter into a 4-0 lead in a Division III district semifinal.
Lehman (14-1-2) went on to a 5-0 victory over Madison, which finishes 10-7-1. The No. 1 seed Cavaliers advance to face No. 5 Springfield Catholic Central (12-3-1) at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Xenia’s Cox Stadium in a district final.
“This is the older turf and it is a little firmer,” Lehman Catholic coach Jeremy Lorenzo said. “The ball is a little faster and I think it took us a little while to figure Madison out.”
The Cavaliers still had just a 1-0 lead when they had a corner kick midway through the second half.
Rylie McIver crossed the ball to Magoteaux, who drilled a thing of beauty from the left side — with the ball just clearing the outstretched arms of Madison goalie Kenzi Saunders and into the top right corner of the net.
“That is a set piece we work on all the time,” Lorenzo said.
Magoteaux agreed.
“Really, we just take whatever is there,” she said.
Less than a minute later, Magoteaux crossed the ball to Noelle Dexter on the right side as she was headed towards the back line.
Somehow, Dexter was able to turn and hit the ball into the net to make it 3-0.
“That was an amazing goal by Noelle (Dexter),” Magoteaux said.
Nobody was more amazed than Dexter.
“I just hit it — that’s all I can say,” Dexter said. “I screamed when it went in. It hurt (to scream, because she had injured her side in the first half), but I did.”
It caught Lorenzo by surprise as well.
“It looked like Noelle (Dexter) had no angle,” Lorenzo said. “Then, all of a sudden, the ball was in the back of the net.”
But, the excitement wasn’t over on the rainy night.
Tori Lachey took a ball from McIver and drilled a shot just over Saunders outstretched fingers and into the back of the net — from about 35 yards out it with 19:31 remaining to make it 4-0.
“I was hoping Tori (Lachey) would give it a couple more touches and get closer (for the shot),” Lorenzo said. “Then, the ball is in the net.”
Lachey was amazed as well.
“I thought I had kicked it over the net,” Lachey said. “Then, everybody started yelling it went in — I was pretty far out there.”
Magoteaux scored the final goal off an Ava Behr assist with 9:21 remaining — giving her a hat trick and tying Gretchen Walter’s single-season record for goals with 31.
“I think they got tired,” Magoteaux said about the Madison defense after Lehman’s early scoring run.
The first half was scoreless until late in the half.
Saunders had to leave the game after a collision with Dexter at the 8:25 mark, but both players were able to return for the second half.
With 5:47 to go in the half, McIver’s shot was deflected by goalie Abby Crim.
The ball spun into the air before coming down in front of the Madison goal and Magoteaux was able to put it in.
“We had missed a couple opportunities,” Lorenzo said. “I remember thinking at the time, we really needed to get a goal before halftime.”
As it turned out, that was enough for the always stellar Lehman defense — led by Hope Anthony and Anna Cianciolo.
Madison had just two shot on goal in the game compared to Lehman’s 15 as the Southwestern Buckeye League’s leading scorer, Keri Wheeler (25 goals), was kept off the board.
The Cavaliers will face another challenge Thursday against Catholic Central as Lizzie Bruce and Caitlin Fraley have combined for 45 goals and are second and third in scoring in the Ohio Heritage Conference.
“The defense did a great job,” Lorenzo said. “And Rylie McIver was an animal on the one side on offense. I know she missed a few opportunities she thought she should have finished on. But, she opened up one side of the field — when you do that, the other side opens up.”
As a result, the Cavaliers had 11 corner kicks to Madison’s one.
Heidi Toner had the shutout in goal for Lehman with two saves, while Saunders and Crim combined for 13 saves.
Now the Cavaliers hope for some dryer weather Thursday against Catholic Central — as long as it is still pouring goals.
Centerville 4, Sidney 0
The Yellow Jackets’ season came to an end with a loss in a Division I district semifinal on Monday at Miamisburg’s Holland Field. The Elks scored two goals in each half.
Sidney, which was the D-I North sectional’s No. 12 seed, finishes 10-7-2 overall. The squad had won five consecutive games before Monday’s loss, including a 3-2 win over Troy last Thursday, which avenged a 3-1 regular-season loss to the Trojans.
• Volleyball
New Bremen 3, Minster 0
The Cardinals earned their second victory over Minster this season with a 26-24, 25-16, 25-21 win in a Division IV district semifinal on Monday at Bluffton University.
New Bremen, which is the district’s No. 1 seed, advances to face No. 3 Marion Local in a district final on Thursday. New Bremen (23-1) beat Marion Local 3-0 in a Midwest Athletic Conference game on Oct. 3 — two weeks after a 3-1 win over Minster in MAC play.
Josie Reinhart led the Cardinals with 14 kills while Taylor Paul had 10. Macy Puthoff had seven kills and 10 blocks and Kaylee Freund had four kills and five blocks. Claire Pape led the squad with 36 assists while Diana Heitkamp had 17 digs.
Averi Wolf led Minster with seven kills while Ivy Wolf had five. Kaitlyn Wolf had two aces and led the squad with 18 assists. Emily Stubbs had a team-high 21 digs while Josie Winner and Averi Wolf had 12.
Minster, which was the district’s No. 4 seed, finishes 16-9 overall.
