Bulldog girls soccer shut out by Miller City

ADA__The Ada High School girls soccer team lost 4-0 to visiting power Miller City in a non-league match to conclude the regular season on Saturday, October 11, at War Memorial Park.

The Bulldog girls end their very successful regular campaign with a record of 11-4-2 after the home defeat.

Putnam County League co-leader Miller City improved to 12-3-2 with the victory.

“These end-of-season games are tough,” said fourth-year Ada head coach Doug Dewese. “Tournament draws are done, and teams are focused on tournaments. Wins and losses don’t play into seeding anymore, and most coaches are concerned about keeping players healthy for their tournament run above everything else.

“It’s also a time to try stuff out that you need to do in your tournament run,” he continued. “That was the case for us today. We ran a new formation that the girls had really only seen drawn up for them. That being said, they executed pretty well.”

MC ran out to a 3-0 lead at halftime, and then tacked on one goal in the second half to win.

“Two of the goals we should have prevented, but it was young-team errors that got us,” said Dewese. “Miller City is the number one seed in our group for a reason. They are talented and tight on the ball, so taking away the two mistakes, we held them to 2-0.

“We had some great efforts out of Jordyn Smith, Avary Acheson, Shay Smith and Brooklynn Roberts, who played in positions they normally don’t play.

“We held them to a single goal in the second half once we had the formation figured out,” the coach continued. “Had we finished a few of our opportunities - which we had some quality chances -  the game dynamics change and we might have put enough pressure on Miller City to make it closer than it was.”

Ada put eight shots on goal, while MC had 12. Bulldog sophomore keeper Emily Gibson made eight saves in goal. The Miller City keeper made eight stops in goal.

“I think that despite a 4-0 loss, we got a good stepping-stone to head into tournaments,” Dwese added.

Ada will host Kalida (5-10-1) on Tuesday, October 14, in their first-round sectional match. The Bulldog girls shut out the Wildcats 2-0 in Ada on September 27.

Ada is 5-2-2 at home this season.

The fourth-seeded Bluffton girls (8-8-1) will host seventh-seeded local foe Allen East (2-11-1) on October 14. Bluffton defeated their backyard rival 4-0 on September 16 earlier this season.

If the seeds go according to form, Ada would play at local rival Bluffton on the Steinmetz Field pitch on Monday, October 20.

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