Fulton County Ohio Media

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Swanton Senior Megan Haselman took a pass from Kyleigh Shinnaver and drilled a shot into the back of the net just 55 seconds into the first overtime to give the visiting Lady Bulldogs a 2-1 victory over the Archbold Lady Blue Streaks and an OHSAA DIII Girls Soccer Sectional Championship.  In a game that seemed like it was going to last forever, much like the two teams’ 2-2 tie earlier in the season, the winning score coming so quickly had a “What just happened?” feel to it, leaving the Blue Streak fans in shock as the Bulldog fans erupted in cheer.

“It feels really good,” said Haselman.  There has always been a rivalry between us.  It feels really good to finally get the win.”

The first half was evenly played with both teams getting quality shots on goal.  However, only Alaina Pelland was able to score, putting the Lady Bulldogs up 1-0 with a goal at the 9:41 mark.  The Lady Streaks responded with a strong offensive attack for the rest of the half but were unable to get anything past Swanton goalie Keagon Young before the break.

Archbold kept up the relentless offensive pressure to start the second 40 minutes and eventually tied the game with a Sophie Rupp goal with 32:58 left in regulation.  Swanton had a few opportunities to regain the lead, including a penalty kick by Pelland.  The kick was wide left and the Streaks dominated play from there on but could not find the net.

Able to laugh about the miss after the game, a relieved Pelland gave her take on the rest of the contest.  “It was tough, but we worked hard and stayed strong all the way through the 80 minutes and 55 seconds,” she explained.

Following the missed penalty kick, Swanton coach Kendra Gustafson encouraged her players to overcome the disappointment.  “I told them, ‘You’ve got to go forward.  We’ll have so many more opportunities.  This is not over.’ I feel a lot of our energy runs off our captains and our seniors and I told them to keep going and that’s what they did.”

Coach Gustafson admitted this was the biggest win in her short career of three years.  “I’m just in shock right now.  It’s the best,” she said.  “You’ve been before from playing it and now you want these girls to experience it.”

Swanton now heads to Genoa High School on Tuesday, October 25^th to take on the Ottawa Hills Lady Green Bears in a DIII District Semi-final match.  Game time is 7:15 PM.

Click on the link above to access photos from the match. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.