ONTARIO — Madison coach Zac Huff can’t put his finger on it, but something about playing Ontario brings out the best in his Rams.
Ellie Powell and Kya Swigart each scored second-half goals and Madison held on for a 2-1 win at Ontario on Tuesday.
“I thought tonight we played one of our best games we’ve played all year,” Huff said. “We haven’t played that fast-paced of a game for 80 minutes this season. It was like a track meet. It was fun.”
Both teams had scoring opportunities in the first half, but the game was scoreless at the half. The Rams (6-2-1) broke the ice in the 46th minute when Powell sent a shot to the back post for a 1-0 lead.
“I saw the ball coming and I kept telling myself, ‘You need to stay over this and make this on the back post,’ ” Powell said.
“We always try to play our best (against Ontario).”
Madison extended its lead to 2-0 in the 70th minute when Swigart collected a rebound off a corner kick that pin-balled around the box and sent a shot past Ontario keeper Leila Stevens.
Ontario (5-3-1) made things interesting four minutes later when Hattie Yugovich was fouled in the box. Yugovich scored on the ensuing penalty kick to slice it to 2-1.
The Warriors continued to attack for the final six minutes, but Madison keeper Avah Newsome was up to the task.
“We had better opportunities than they did,” Ontario coach Larry Atkinson said. “We just struggle to finish in the tougher games.
“I don’t know if it’s the pressure or what it is. We’re talking about the same mistakes after each game we’ve lost.”
The Rams and Warriors could see each other again in the Division III postseason. Both teams are in the Lexington district, along with Lexington, Mansfield Senior, Shelby, Ashland, Norwalk and Clyde.
“We’ll probably see them again in the tournament,” Huff said. “There’s a great possibility that we’ll see them again.”
Madison beat Ontario 2-0 in last year’s Division II district championship game.
“It could be a district final game again or something like that. We’ll just see what happens,” Atkinson said. “They played well and we played well. It was a good match.”