Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — First-time ever.
Those words, or that phrase, is what’s driving Fairfield Union — the chance to do something no soccer team in school history has ever done.
Until now.
The Falcons (18-2-1) poured out their collective heart and soul on Wednesday, and despite late pressure from Marietta, punched their first-ever ticket to the Elite 8 with a 2-1 victory over the Tigers in a Division II regional semifinal.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
“It’s an absolute rush to keep moving on in the tournament and every time before a game, we praise God and give Him all the thanks,” Fairfield Union’s Caleb Schmelzer said. “It’s a big part of what we do and part of our culture. We’ve been playing a lot more bully ball recently as we’ve gotten a lot stronger, and it feels good to show it on the field.”
Playing a not-so-physical style of soccer is what got the Falcons shutout in their regular season meeting with the Tigers. Wednesday was a completely different story.
Despite neither team scoring in the first half, Fairfield Union generated a ton of pressure and played through contact, though getting past Marietta keeper Caden Gebczyk proved to be a tough task.
Even though the Tigers were able to push up in the final 10 minutes of the first half and manage to get off a couple shots, they missed high and it felt like that rally was their only choice to score.
“We weren’t using our size and strength in the beginning of the year to our full capabilities,” Fairfield Union’s Caleb Redding said. “But it was something we focused on once tournaments started and it’s led us to this point.”
The Tigers (16-2-2) did what they could to keep Redding in check, but there’s only so much you can do to keep an all-timer down before he gets his chance.
And surely enough, with 26 minutes left in the game, he saw his opportunity and took it.
Realizing the Tigers were closing in on him, Redding quickly took a shot from deep. It to hit off a Tiger defender and ricocheted into the back of the net, making it 1-0.
The minutes continued to tick away, and the Falcons knew one goal might not be enough. So with 8:21 left, Redding received a pass and managed to get by three defenders before striking again, putting the Falcons ahead 2-0.
“On that first goal, we weren’t testing their keeper as much. But I got a half step at the 18 and I knew I had to shoot it, luckily it took a fortunate bounce into the back of the net,” Redding said. “Second goal, I had to take it myself. Dribbled past one guy and from there I just kept my head down, got by a couple more and once you get half a step, it’s time to finish.”
Marietta, however, had an answer just a minute later when Blake Becker managed to slide one into the back of the net to cut the lead to 2-1.
The final seven minutes were nothing but Marietta applying more pressure. But nothing was getting by Fairfield Union’s D.J. Spicer. He continued to save one shot after another and never flinched in the waning moments.
Spicer came up with a pair of critical saves before the clock hit zero and the Falcons stormed the field in celebration of making school history.
“Shoutout to D.J. Spicer, he’s absolutely insane. There’s always a thought if the ball gets by us on the back line that we might give up the goal,” Schmelzer said. “But we know it’s going to be stopped since he’s playing so dominant. Anyone who gets by him, hats off to them because it’s tough.”
Fairfield Union advances to a Division II regional final at 4 p.m., Saturday at Bloom-Carroll High School against Bishop Watterson, who defeated River View to advance.
“We knew coming in that we had a chance to be the best team in school history, it just came down to us putting everything together at the right time,” Redding said. “We’re playing our best soccer right now.”
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