FREMONT – Monday night the Lady Giant soccer team fell into an early hole.
When it looked like they might be able to climb out of it, they slipped in deeper, ultimately falling to Rossford 5-3.
Ashtyn Schneider
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early two-goal lead on the Lady Giants, but Ross cut the deficit on a goal by Ashtyn Schneider off an assist from Ellie Bloom just beyond the midpoint of the first half.
But Rossford reclaimed a two-goal advantage when a ball slipped the hands of the Ross goalkeeper.
“That’s a tough one,” coach Phil Collison said of Rossford’s third tally. “That’s the dagger, to be honest, probably, more than anything.
“It’s difficult, but the kids didn’t let it affect them at all, they continued to battle,” Collison added.
Ross moved back within one by halftime, on Schneider’s second goal of the game, this time assisted by Jordan Relford.
In the second half Rossford added to its lead, scoring twice, like the first half, aided by Ross’ own miscues.
“We were a little careless at times and the sloppy field conditions might have caught us a little bit off guard,” Collison said. “Their first two goals were probably balls that, on a dry field, we probably play cleanly, but they just skipped past us and I don’t think they were quite ready for that.
Jordan Relford
Justine Michael
“(The second half goals) again, momentary (lapses). They scored on a corner kick, I think we just got lost in the shuffle there and didn’t do a good enough job marking and let someone sneak out free. That made it 4-2. They ended up with a penalty kick to make it 5-2.”
Relford picked up her second assist of the night on a goal by Justine Michael to get back within two goals but, despite a number of good chances, the Lady Giants couldn’t trim the deficit any further.
“We had about seven great scoring opportunities, that we just didn’t finish on,” Collison said. “It’s sort of been our season at times. We weren’t able to finish.”
Ross is now 3-5-2 overall and will travel to Clay Wednesday at 7 p.m.