OLIVESBURG — It did not take long for St. Peter’s Makenzie Hendrickson to get back into action once she was cleared from her leg injury.
Hendrickson, previously the Spartans’ keeper, injured her knee in the first game of the season.
In the second half, a ball was shot out to Hendrickson, playing forward. She was able to maneuver her way past the Cougars’ defense giving a 1-0 lead to the Spartans at the 35:59 mark.
“She’s not really a forward,” coach Dustin Hosler said. “But she can play the field and (Lucia Rose) played a wonderful ball out of the backfield. (Hendrickson) was able to shield and to turn, get a couple dribbles and bury it. I mean, to go from being a goalie to a field player is phenomenal.”
The game, which ended in 1-1 draw, could be a turning point for the Spartans, Hosler said.
“This was a team that beat us 8-0, our first game,” the St. Peter’s coach said. “We are a very small, very young team and I’m proud of how far the girls have come over the last month and a half of a season.”
The Spartans (1-10-1), had one extracoach Dustin Hosler said of his team in blue player during the Crestview (8-3-2) contest.
“One sub, sometimes no subs, sometimes nine, 10 girls. Girls are struggling and they’re pushing. It’s hard, but they kept fighting,” Holser continued. “I’m proud of them.”
Crestview controlled the ball for most of the game. Finally, with 12:57 remaining, Cougars’ forward Carley Campo rocketed a shot to the goal. A diving stop by the goalie rejected the shot, but she could not contain possession. Crestview freshman, Dakota Fletcher dribbled the rebound in the the net to tie the game.
“(The team) played slow and tired,” Cougars’ coach Lee Hunt said. “We played an extremely tough game yesterday. No rest. We’re tired. I don’t want to say we played down to their level, because they are not a bad side, but we did not play to our potential today.
“When you let a team stay in the game, they feed off of that. The more they stayed in it, the more it got in our heads.”
Mansfield Christian 3, Kidron Central Christian 0
In other Tuesday night action, Elizabeth Sparks scored two goals, Olivia Bekeleski netted a goal and Taleah Favers recorded seven saves to push Mansfield Christian past Kidron Central Christian 3-0. The Flames are now 7-5-1, 3-4-0 in the Mid Buckeye Conference.
Mansfield Christian plays at Crestview on Thursday at 5 p.m.
