BELLVILLE, Ohio — Brittany Bechtel rolled the dice Thursday night, but Clear Fork’s coach had an ace up her sleeve.
Bechtel inserted senior defender Meshia Curry in goal during a penalty kick shootout and the gamble paid off as the Colts completed a perfect run through the Ohio Cardinal Conference with an improbable 4-3 win over Madison in the tournament championship game.
“I had to make a decision and that’s what my heart was telling me,” Bechtel said of lifting freshman keeper Kaylee Krausman, who played admirably during regulation and the 15 minute golden goal overtime period, in favor of Curry. “That’s what I was feeling in the moment, so I (went) with my gut.”
Bechtel’s unconventional move was based at least in part on the memory of a disheartening shootout loss to Lexington in the OCC tournament championship game two years ago. Lady Lex’s emergency goal keeper that night was Curry, who transferred to Clear Fork the following year.
“You know, a couple years ago I lost in PKs to that girl. She’s an intimidating person in the net,” Bechtel said. “There’s something about the intimidation factor she brings.”
Curry hadn’t played in goal since.
“When overtime was over, coach asked me if I wanted to do it and I said, ‘I’m ready,’ ” Curry said. “I couldn’t let my team down.”
Curry made a pair of nifty saves in the best-of-five round of PKs as each team converted on three attempts. That sent the match to a sudden-victory PK session. The Rams misfired on their first attempt, sending Clear Fork’s Mackenzie Thorne to the box with a chance to win it. The freshman midfielder didn’t disappoint, burying her shot in the back of the net.
“I was nervous and when (Madison) missed, it did make me feel a little more confident because I knew I wouldn’t lose the game for us,” Thorne said. “I just got really excited because I knew I could win the game.”
Unlikely Overtime: It looked like Madison (11-5, 6-3) would hand Clear Fork (13-2, 9-0) its first conference loss when freshman Caitlyn Zeigler scored on a penalty kick with 3:07 remaining in the second half, giving the Rams a 3-2 lead. Clear Fork freshman Kaylin Helinski scored the equalizer with just 6.1 seconds remaining in regulation.
“It got a little scary, but I didn’t stop believing in us. I knew that we could get it,” Curry said. “It was good that Kaylin followed through. She did her job up top and that’s what we needed.”
Snakebitten: The Rams fell to Clear Fork 1-0 during the regular season. Four of Madison’s five losses were by one goal.
“Our girls fought hard. They have all season for me,” Madison coach Zac Huff said. “We play our first (sectional) tournament game Saturday, so we don’t have much time to think about it. We’ve just been fighting all season long.”
Streaking Colts: Clear Fork won its eighth straight game, all without All-Ohioan Jordyne Helinski. The Wright State recruit tore her ACL in practice in early September.
“We’ve obviously been on a roller coaster ride this year, losing ‘J’ ” Bechtel said. “This is when you find (out) who your really are. She’s one of the best players in the state and we run everything through her.
“To lose her was almost like starting a new season.”
Clear Fork’s first game without Helinski was Sept. 12 against state-ranked Granville. The Colts lost 6-0.
“We were still in shock,” Bechtel said. “We had a lot of talks after that. It was like, ‘Hey, we can either pack it in or we can pick it up.’
“Losing her, they had to start to figure out how to win. They are a different team now.”
