PASSING — Oak Glen’s Angelina Polly looks for an open teammate. – Kailin Hughes
NEW MANCHESTER — Oak Glen played its fifth game after the disappointing 4-1 loss to Weir in the OVAC 4A championship match.
Since then, the Golden Bears (13-6-1) are 4-1 and have outscored opponents 19-9, including Tuesday’s 4-1 win against visiting St. Clairsville (8-8).
Senior captain Kami Ward did her part, recording a hat trick with two of her three goals coming in the third half. And while a “Ward” was responsible for all four goals, it was the second — coming off the foot of sister Natasha Ward, that drew the biggest smile from head coach Bill Watts.
Natasha fired a rising shot toward Red Devils’ keeper Kiya Kyer. The freshman keeper got her hands on it, but the force of the shot, coupled with the angle, propelled the blast through her hands and into the net.
That put up the home club 2-1 with 38:14 left to play and St. C. couldn’t get any closer.
Watts liked the shot, but the fact it came off a foot other than Kami Ward was the most critical element.
“We’re a young team. We (start) three freshman and play five a good bit, we have some sophomores — we’re young, but we’ve gotten better throughout the season finding players,” Watts said. “Early in the season it was the Kami show, but the last couple of games, we’ve have other people score and create opportunities.
“And we need people other than Kami to produce. Since the OVAC game, we’ve really placed and emphasis on that. This is our fifth game (since) and only once did we not have more than one person score each night.”
Tuesday night, it was actually St. Clairsville that struck first. Senior Delaney Florence played an excellent through ball to a streaking Emma Gasber, who took the pass and fired a shot past Golden Bears’ keeper Cameron Michaud.
That occurred less than a minute into the first half and the Bears didn’t even the score until Kami Ward tipped in a rebound off a corner kick a few minutes later.
You couldn’t picture a better start — 49 seconds in and we score,” St. C. head coach Wes Stoner said. “It was a great ball and a great finish. We let a couple of junk ones unfortunately, and Kami is a pain.
“She’s extremely quick. I thought we had a good game plan for her early and we were able to hold her off for a little while, but those last two, we just kind of gave up and slowed down and that’s something we’ll have to talk about.
“Overall, we played a great game. We moved the ball well and got a lot of good chances and it was 1-1 at the half. But they finished more chances than we did.”
Kami Ward’s second goal bent it’s way into the top left corner of the net, while her final came as a result of a hard rush at Kyer. The goalie attempted to challenge Ward and kick the ball away from her, but the senior gave it a slight tap just before impact to pick up the hat trick.
Michaud finished with seven saves for her fourth win in five matches. Just a sophomore, she’s another learning on the job, having to replace the departed Alexus Greenlief, who’s currently starting in net for Waynesburg.
“We lost five girls from last year and all five played and three are starting in college right now,” Watts said. “We have a great group of freshman who will be good for the program, but there’s a big gap between 14 and 18.”
The Golden Bears return to action Wednesday when they await the winner of a sectional matchup between Wheeling Central and Magnolia.
St. C., meanwhile, may not get in its OVAC 3rd-4th place game with Beaver Local and looks ahead to Tuesday’s Ohio Division II sectional at Red Devils Stadium.
The Devils await the winner of Carrollton and New Philadelphia.
