Another shutout puts Marietta girls soccer in district final
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LOGAN – The Marietta Tigers girls soccer team beat Gallia Academy last week by a score of 8-0 to advance to the district semifinal on Monday against the Athens Bulldogs. On Monday, the Tigers won 4-0 to earn the right to play Thursday for the title of district champion.
In the fourth minute, Millie Becker put a corner kick in play that Livi Rinard was able to knock in for the first score of the day to give Marietta a 1-0 lead. With 25 minutes left to play in the first half, Tiger goalkeeper Leigha Lauer valiantly took a hit while diving after the ball to prevent a goal.
While Marietta did get some chances offensively, most of them came in the form of corner kicks. The Tigers would go on to compile 12 throughout the match.
Becker found Grace Spencer late in the first half on a nice pass in enemy territory, but Spencer's shot just missed the goal.
Nine minutes into the second half, Marietta scored on another corner kick. This time, it was Kenzley Urban's kick that found a waiting Alyssa Baker, who was able to find the back of the net.
Athens' closest scoring opportunity came on a free kick in the 54th minute that went just above the crossbar.
Marietta scored a couple of insurance goals with less than five minutes remaining. The first came from Grace Spencer, and the latter was Rinard's second goal of the night, also off of a corner kick. Urban had the assist.
Tigers co-head coach Bill Mannix said of the match, "I think both teams came to play hard. I think it was a nice match for both teams. We took advantage of set pieces and a couple plays in the field, but I do think Athens brought a great side. They're tough to play against always, especially on turf since they play on turf and we generally play on grass."
He continued, "What we did in practice this week helped us to get prepared for today, I was pretty happy."
Physicality was a constant element in the matchup between Marietta and Athens, Mannix commented, "I think in a tournament, that's pretty much what you get now. Once you get to the district semifinals, you're gonna get a lot more physicality. Both teams were grinding it out on both sides. I think it was equally dealt out on both sides, so I do think you're gonna see that as you get further into the tournament, it'll continue to get more physical as you go."
Mannix was proud of the motivation his team displayed on the field, "I just think the girls came with a lot of effort tonight. They came excited to play. This time of the year, you could be burned out on soccer and getting ready to play basketball, but these girls came and they all worked their butts off."
Rinard gave her thoughts on the district semifinal matchup, "We started out strong the first 15 minutes, and then we laid back for the last 15 minutes. After halftime, we got together, talked about what we needed to fix, and after halftime we got back to work and played how we know how to play."
Rinard said of what it felt like to score two goals in such a crucial game, "Wonderful. It feels great. I'm not one to particularly score, but the team really saw the open space and I just executed once I got the ball."
The Tigers plays Jackson at 8 p.m. Thursday at 8 p.m at Logan High School.