Staff report
Lehman’s brutal schedule continued Saturday when the Lady Cavaliers faced Division-2 Middletown Fenwick in girls soccer action.
And Fenwick came away with a 2-0 victory to leave Lehman with a 6-3-1.
“This was a hard fought, physical game at Middletown that could have gone either way,” said Lehman coach Jeremy Lorenzo. “However, Fenwick took care of business and got the win. They have everything going for them right now. They knocked off undefeated and state-ranked Alter earlier in the week and now state-ranked Lehman.
“I have to admit that this loss was a hard pill to swallow. We really wanted this game after losing to Summit Country Day last week. Our preparation this week was really good and I liked our focus leading up to the game,” he added.
It was extremely windy with periods of light rain, and Fenwick won the coin toss and took the wind, which paid off. The Lady Falcons scored in the first half off a long high shot from 25 to 30 yards out.
“The ball seemed to float in the air forever and came in just under the cross bar over (goalie) Kelsey Weber’s head,” said Lorenzo.
The game was back and forth with action at both ends of the field.
“We had chances to score early and did not and it may have made a huge difference in the game,” Lorenzo added. “When you are playing at this level, the chances are few and far between and we have to take advantage of those opportunities. I felt good about our chances in the second half. We now had the wind and we started to match up with their physical style of play. We put together some decent attacks which, again, we didn’t finish.”
The second goal came late in the second half when a Fenwick player hit a hard shot that went off freshman goalie Grace Brandt’s hands and into the net. “The shot was a hard, driven knuckler into the wind that got Brandt leaning one way and it came back the other way,” said Lorenzo. “It came off her gloves and into the goal. It was just an unlucky goal that we gave up.
“To win games like this one, you have to have things going your way,” he added. “Unfortunately, we didn’t catch the breaks today. Although we are hurting from back to back losses, everything that we have worked for is still achievable. We knew these last two games would be huge hurdles. However, we expect to win these big games which makes those losses even harder.”
Jets win 3-1
The Fairlawn boys soccer team defeated Spencerville Saturday 3-1 to up their record to 4-5-1.
Nick Brautigam had two goals for the Jets and DJ Graces had the other. Each of them also had an assist, and goalie Ethan Schnipke had five saves.
Sidney wins 3-1
The Sidney boys defeated Lima Catholic 3-1.
No other details were available.
Sidney isnow 6-2-2.
