ASHLAND – His young team is 0-1-1 after two matches. But Madison girls soccer coach Steve Crist isn’t the least bit worried.
That’s because the eighth-year head coach knows his Lady Rams, with just three seniors on the team, are merely experiencing some growing pains.
Crist was upbeat Thursday evening after his club dropped a 5-2 Ohio Cardinal Conference match to Ashland on the Lady Arrows’ home pitch.
“This team is only going to get better,” Crist said. “As long as I continue to see effort and hustle and improvement, I will be pleased. I am not worried about this team at all.”
Madison, which opened the season Monday with a 2-2 tie against Mansfield St. Peter’s, held its own throughout the first half against Ashland, trailing just 3-2 after 40 minutes.
During the intermission, Crist reminded his team it needed to play the ball to the outside and then work back in against the faster Lady Arrows (1-0-1). His best laid plans never came to fruition as his Lady Rams consistently and unsuccessfully tried to pound the ball through the stout Ashland middle.
“It was very frustrating (in the second half) because we had just talked at halftime about our key to success against a faster team is being outside and then in. But we fell back into some old bad habits,” Crist said.
One Madison player showing great new habits was junior goal keeper Kaylee Howe, who recorded 17 saves in just her first full varsity game. Several of the saves came on point-blank Ashland shots. The Lady Arrows scored just four goals during live action with the final coming on a penalty kick late in the match.
“Her first full varsity match … her first OCC match … Kaylee played unbelievably well,” Crist said.
Crist was also pleased with the effort of senior forweard Haley Sampsel. “Haley has a blown right quad (muscle) and had it wrapped up. So I stuck her on the left side, where she has never played, and she gets us a goal.”
That goal, coupled with a score by senior midfielder Desiree Peterson, kept the Lady Rams close in the first half.
With twice as many seniors as Madison, the experienced Lady Arrows also relied on youth in terms of scoring. Ashland took a 1-0 with 28:44 left in the half on a goal by freshman forward Nicole Schuster.
After the Lady Rams tied the score off a corner kick by Peterson about three minutes later, Ashland regained the lead at 2-1 when junior forward Amber Farrell found the net with 23:51 left.
Ashland sophomore midfielder Ryle Howman pushed the lead to 3-1 just seconds later with the goal by Madison’s Sampsel ending first-half scoring with 8:40 left before halftime.
As Madison struggled on offense in the second half, Ashland quickly made it 4-2 when sophomore defender Kelynn Heckman ripped a deep shot that sailed over the reach of Howe just about eight minutes into the final period.
Ashland sophomore midfielder Clara Crosby finished all scoring with 10:53 left when she found the back of the net on the penalty kick.
“I have a freshmen class with 14 players and I have three of them on the varsity,” Crist said of his team’s youth. “If we keep working hard, we will be fine.”
Those freshmen served Madison well in the JV match on Thursday as the Lady Rams topped Ashland, 2-1.
Madison is back in action Monday with a non-league game at Ontario. Ashland is off until next Thursday when the Lady Arrows travel to Lexington for another OCC game.
