John Taylor
The Chronicle-Telegram

ELYRIA — For the first thirty minutes of the first half, the Elyria Pioneers seemed poised to pull off a semi-seismic upset and rip the Elyria Cup from their crosstown rivals.
Their opponents on the far sidelines had other ideas, however, and, in the last 50 minutes, found themselves.
Powered by a pair of goals off the right foot of Kara Schmittgen, and a stout and stifling defense, Elyria Catholic held on for a 2-1 win in non-conference girls soccer action.
“We were just very slow starting today,” Panthers first-year coach Tom Wolfe said of his team falling behind early and allowing the Pioneers to control the action. “Some of the girls have been sick, so that had something to do with (the slow start). Once the girls got their legs underneath them, we were alright.”
Before those legs found their correct anatomical positioning, however, the Pioneers were having their way with the lethargic Panther squad.
Attacking and controlling the action for a good portion of the first half on the Panthers’ side of the field, the Pioneers took an early 1-0 lead on a Cassandra Gouge goal from roughly 20 yards out.
The score came off a Nicole Carter corner kick that was somewhat misplayed by the Panther defense, and Gouge was able to control the ball before hitting the net.
While the lead would ultimately prove to be short-lived, the fact the less-than-healthy Pioneer squad held its own for a lengthy period of time was a sign of good times ahead to coach Venera Ilievski.
“This was a good learning experience for us,” Ilievski said of the close loss, which dropped her team to 3-8-4. “They played very, very hard.  I’m very proud of them.”
And Ilievski’s counterpart agreed.
“They played and they fought very hard,” Wolfe said of the Pioneers. “My hat’s off to them.”
Following the Gouge goal, the Panthers (7-8) seemingly awoke from their slumber as Schmittgen struck for the first of her two goals less than seven minutes later. Then, with less than 11 minutes left in the tied-up match, the junior struck again with what would prove to be the game-winning goal.
Prior to the latter goal, Schmittgen had been held out of the early portion of the second half. While not completely understanding the decision, the striker said it had its benefits.
“I don’t really know why I wasn’t in there, but I had all this intensity built up sitting there and when I came back in, we got a penalty kick right away and I was able to get it in there,” Schmittgen said.
“She gives me five or 10 good minutes, and then kind of … I decided to give her some good rest and you saw what she did,” Wolfe said of his decision to rein-in his goal scorer.
While Schmittgen shined on offense, it was the Panther defense that changed the tempo of the match and shifted momentum back to the home team. Following the Gouge goal, the Pioneers had only one shot on goal the rest of the game.
“We made some adjustments,” the EC coach said of the about-face the game took. “We did some things and they worked out for us.”
Even as Panther goalkeeper Megan Miehls went largely unchallenged for the vast majority of the game — thanks in large part to a tightened-up defense — Pioneer freshman keeper Bailey Andress was under assault for the better part of 80 minutes.
Bailey faced 23 shots — including 13 on goal — and ended the game with 11 saves. The job she did in net had her coach positively gushing about her young star-in-the-making.
“You can quote me on this: Bailey is my girl,” Ilievski said. “I’ve said it time and time again. She’s got the head and the desire to be one the best out there.”

Elyria Catholic 2, Elyria 1

GOALS: (E) Cassandra Gouge (12th minute). (EC) Kara Schmittgen (19th minute), Schmittgen (70th minute).
ASSISTS: (EC) Rachel Wilden.
SHOTS: Elyria 5, Elyria Catholic 23
SHOTS ON GOAL: Elyria 3, Elyria Catholic 13
SAVES: (E) Bailey Andress 11, (EC) Megan Miehls 2.
CORNER KICKS: Elyria 3, Elyria Catholic 1.
GOAL KICKS: Elyria 11, Elyria Catholic 4.
OFFSIDE: Elyria 2, Elyria Catholic 2.
HAND BALLS: Elyria 2, Elyria Catholic 2.
FOULS: Elyria 10, Elyria Catholic 5.
CARDS: none.
HALFTIME: Elyria 1, Elyria Catholic 1.

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