Home | Dublin
Girls Soccer: Coffman girls upset Watterson
Nov 05, 2009
Aware that Watterson put its three most dangerous offensive players in the center midfield, Dublin Coffman High School girls soccer coach Marc D'Auteuil adjusted his lineup when the teams met in a Division I district final last Saturday at Wellington. D'Auteuil moved forward Amber Kern and sweeper Olivia Evans to the outside midfield and told them to help center midfielders Jill Allen and Bailey Wilson contain the Eagles' Kelly DeNiro, Bridget Lynch and Kathryn Sullivan whenever they touched the ball.
D'Auteuil's plan paid off, as the fifth-seeded Shamrocks upset second-seeded Watterson 2-0 to win their first district title since winning seven in a row from 2000-06.
"It wasn't pretty, but our program is based on fighting and finding a way to win," D'Auteuil said. "We're happy to win after not winning the past few years."
Watterson, which finished 15-3-1, had been averaging three goals per game, but managed only three shots on goal.
"We knew that once Watterson puts its passing together in the center midfield that they have a real good attack, so Bailey and I worked on holding our positions in the center, and we had our outside midfielders pinch in to help defend against them," Allen said. "They're a really good team, so to hold them to three shots (on goal) was great. That strategy really paid off for us."
Scoring for the Shamrocks were Kenzie Schlemitz and Grace Filler.
"The ball dropped into the center of the box and I was being pushed to the ground, so I just slid and made sure I toe-poked it to the corner of the goal," Schlemitz said.
Coffman improved to 11-5-3 and faced Pickerington North in a regional semifinal last Wednesday, with the winner playing Upper Arlington or Marietta in a regional final at 12 p.m. Saturday at Dublin Scioto.
Entering last Wednesday, UA was 16-1-2 and Marietta was 16-1-3. Coffman lost to the Golden Bears 1-0 in an OCC-Central Division contest Oct. 13 but has not played Marietta.
"Upper Arlington plays the same formation as Watterson, and we played them tough," Allen said. "We need to put pressure on Michela (Paradiso) and not let her turn."
The regional champion plays in a state semifinal at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Hilliard Bradley against Centerville, Cincinnati St. Ursula Academy, Cincinnati Turpin or Huber Heights Wayne.
Before last Wednesday, Centerville was 18-1-1, St. Ursula Academy was 18-1, Turpin was 12-4-4 and Wayne was 19-1.
The state final will be played at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at Crew Stadium.
"If we defend as a team and capitalize on our scoring chances, we could go real far in the tournament," Schlemitz said.
Coffman defeated Gahanna 1-0 in a district semifinal Oct. 27, as Kern scored and goalie Cassie Lawrence had one save.
ąThe boys team lost to top-seeded Gahanna 1-0 in a district final last Saturday at Wellington to finish 10-7-2.
Gahanna outshot the eighth-seeded Shamrocks 17-7 and produced eight corner kicks, with Coffman managing just one. Lions goalie Ryan Grimme had three saves.
Goalie Alex Pang had eight saves for the Shamrocks.
"We certainly made Gahanna earn it by playing extremely well on the defensive end," coach Steve Watts said. "Our goalkeeper played his best game of the year, too. We need to do more, offensively, though. They capitalized on their chances and we didn't."
Coffman beat New Albany 2-0 in a district semifinal Oct. 28, with Carl Ruf scoring the winning goal.
"We had good combination play and strung together some good passing to score goals and win that game," Watts said.
Copyright 2009
Powered By Zebra Mobile
