Wheelersburg reaches end of tourney road with loss to Worthington Christian

Brock Netter, Staff Writer

Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.

KINNIKINNICK — There’s no defense for a perfect shot. That, unfortunately, led to Wheelersburg’s downfall on Tuesday. 

Pushing Worthington Christian into overtime, the Pirates handled physicality and a wave of late offense the Warriors threw at them. 

However, less than five minutes into overtime, Worthington Christian’s Mclaine Oosterbaan took a free kick and struck it into the back of the net to end the Pirates’ season with a 2-1 loss in a Division IV regional semifinal. 

“We gave them everything we had, which I think was way more than they expected we would,” Wheelersburg coach Kevin Powell said. “Going into the game, we told the girls that scoring chances would be few and far between. We had a few, connected on one of them, but sometimes you come up just a hair short. It hurts, but it doesn’t take away from the wonderful season we had.” 

The Pirates end their season at 17-3 overall with a district championship in hand.

Worthington Christian (16-4-2) was aggressive out of the gates, having no problems getting near the Pirates’ goal. The Warriors managed to take a few early shots, but they either misfired or were on target and corralled by Wheelersburg’s Krista Williams. 

“Krista has been a goalie for two weeks of her varsity career, and what a game she had,” Powell raved. “She did such a fantastic job, made at least six incredible saves and played with such great composure. We’ve had a ton of injuries to different goalies. She’s the fifth one we’ve had this season and she stepped up huge.” 

Through the opening 10 minutes, Wheelersburg didn’t manage a single shot attempt. But that all changed in the 12th minute. 

Off a corner kick from Makenzie Mullins, the ball ricocheted right to Ella McGraw and the freshman forward found the back of the left side of the net for a 1-0 lead. 

Throughout the rest of the half, both teams continued on the attack and although the physicality began to ramp up, the Pirates held firm defensively to maintain a lead at halftime. 

“We watched Worthington Christian’s district title game back on Saturday, and based on the way they played, we knew we’d have to defend a lot,” Powell said. “Clearing the ball out, regrouping and keeping our shape, those were some of the things we worked on in practice and our communication in those tight areas was great.” 

Wheelersburg continued to keep up the defensive pressure, and Worthington Christian wasn’t getting much past the Pirates. 

With the limited chances, the Warriors were left searching for answers. But when they were awarded a corner kick early in the second half, they took advantage of the opportunity.

Off the corner, the ball pinballed off multiple feet in the box and, before the Pirates could clear it, Anna Meadows turned around and fired a shot into the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1. 

For the next 27 minutes, both teams had multiple opportunities to connect, but nothing crossed the goal line, sending the contest into overtime. 

“All of our defenders, Izzy [Darnell], Layni [Greenhill], Ava [Artrip] and Breckyn [Bivens] all did a fantastic job,” Powell said. “They executed everything we wanted to do and continued to be in the right spots at the right times. They picked up the runners and played really physical, which says a lot, considering how small they are.” 

With overtime underway, Worthington Christian got the first real chance to end things and that was all it took. 

Off a free kick, Oosterbann took the shot and ended the Pirates’ regional final hopes with the game-winning goal. 

Wheelersburg says goodbye to eight seniors — including starters Krista Williams, Izzy Darnell, Mia Vastine and Kenzie Piguet. 

“There’s so much adversity we dealt with throughout the season, but we handled it so well,” Powell said. “We regrouped after the conference title loss to Minford and here we are in the Sweet 16. These seniors have been such great leaders, helping the younger girls get up to speed and doing the right things. That’s really all I could ask for.”

POWERED BY GLO FIBER