Wellington scores first but loses to Northwestern in girls soccer sectionals

WELLINGTON — Nothing much went right for Wellington on Thursday. Northwestern, the 10th seed in the Division III sectional, used its speed, finesse, the field, the wind and even the sun to surprise the sixth-seeded Dukes 6-1 to advance to the district semi-finals. Wellington won the Lorain County League with a 10-0 record. Overall, the Dukes finished with only two losses on the year at 11-2-1. Northwestern moved to 13-4-2. "We went and scouted them Monday," Wellington coach Jason Gundert said of the Huskies. "They're pretty tough. They play in a tough conference (Wayne County Athletic League). Their record is deceiving." Though they took a lopsided loss, the Dukes started fast. Senior Savanna Tietski centered a corner kick to Savannah Gundert, the daughter of the coach. She tapped it to senior Amanda Spiekerman in heavy traffic in front of the goal and Spiekerman rammed it home for a 1-0 lead with just over four minutes gone in the first half. "We did feel really good with the first goal, but we knew we had a long game ahead of us," Spiekerman said. The game completely turned around from there. Northwestern's foot speed came into play several times as they beat the defense down the field. The Huskies patiently passed the ball around in their own end waiting for a breakdown from the Dukes. "They came in with a lot of skill. We weren't ready for that," Spiekerman said. "We knew what was coming. We just didn't execute it." "We just didn't fulfill what we planned to do," Gundert said. "Nothing to hang your heads about." Northwestern's Abbi Johns passed ahead to Florida Blake on a breakaway from the left side of the field. Blake managed to get it past the usually reliable Wellington goalkeeper, sophomore Whitney Kirschner, to tie the game with just under 30 minutes left in the first half. The flood gates opened shortly after. The Huskies converted two corner kicks into goals. Blake punched in a contested loose ball in front on a corner kick with 18:47 left in the half to take the lead and nine minutes later, Blake booted a corner kick to Taylor Haley to make it 4-1 in the first half. "We're blessed to have, not just athletes, but really good soccer players with a high IQ," Northwestern coach Bryan Schaaf said. "We're fortunate our home pitch is a nice, wide pitch — probably the widest in Wayne County. We try to make the best of every inch of space that we've got. When you can do that and begin to stretch teams, good things happen." Northwestern controlled the ball all over the field, setting up its attack with precision passing and spacing. The Huskies took advantage of the strong wind at their backs and the sun in the Dukes' faces to add two more second-half goals from freshman Alysa Troyan. Wellington only managed four shots in the second half, many from long range. "We didn't like giving up the early goal," Schaaf said. "I thought they showed some maturity, kept their heads and kept plugging away." Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. Northwestern 6, Wellington 1 GOALS: 1st half: W—Amanda Spiekerman 35:53 (Savannah Gundert), N—Florida Blake 29:52 (Abbi Johns), Blake 18:47 (unassisted), N—Taylor Haley (Blake), N—Linzi Smith (unassisted). 2nd half: N—Alysa Troyan (Smith), N—Troyan (Blake) SHOTS: Northwestern 14, Wellington 15 SAVES: A.J. Smith (N) 6, Whitney Kirschner (W) 7 CORNER KICKS: Northwestern 7, Wellington 3 HALFTIME: Northwestern 4-1