GALION — On the afternoon of Wednesday, August 23, at the inaugural home game in Crawford County high school soccer history, the Galion Lady Tigers played host to the Highland Lady Fighting Scots of the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference.

Thanks in large part to a goal in the 73rd minute of the 80-minute match off of the foot of senior Allison DeNero, history was made again. With the 1-0 grind out victory over Highland, the Galion girls squad recorded their first victory in program history. The Lady Tigers finished up their first year in 2016 with an 0-12 record and were 0-1 so far in 2017 after a road loss to the Tiffin Columbian Lady Tornadoes.

See more photos from the game in our online gallery.

DeNero’s historic goal was assisted on by sophomore AJ (Airyona) Nickels. DeNero’s shot was one of 18 shots on goal attempted by the Lady Tigers for the match. Another sophomore came up big for Galion and that was goalkeeper Drucilla Singer. Singer finished the contest with 12 saves and earned the shutout. Throughout the contest, especially in the first 40-minutes, Galion dominated possession time and the ball seldomly passed the mid-field line.

“It’s great, it’s a great feeling,” starts the Lady Tigers head coach Eric Palmer. “I feel like the girls have been working really hard and they earned it today. It was like a world had been lifted off my shoulders when I saw that ball go in the goal and I feel that it was the same for them too,” Palmer stated with a joyous tone in his voice.

The season continues on for Galion with another home contest on Monday, August 28. The Lady Tigers will welcome Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference foes, the Pleasant Lady Spartans to town in hopes of pushing towards win number two. On Thursday, August 31, the Galion squad travels to Ashland where they will meet up for a non-league contest against the Crestview Lady Cougars.

Boys score: Highland 1, Galion 0

GALION — After the Galion Lady Tigers earned their first victory in program history, the boys team for the Tigers took to the pitch to also clash with the Highland Fighting Scots.

In Galion’s first game of the 2017 season, the Tigers were edged in a back and forth contest with Highland; 1-0.

Galion was able to get off 15 shots on goal on Wednesday but the Highland goalkeeper earned the shutout, playing well between the posts. Jason Guthridge managed five shots that were all stopped and Skyler Bishop fired three shots on goal on the night. Other Tigers’ getting off shots were: Sam Rigdon, Hunter Parsley and Quinn Boland with two shots apiece and Devin McCarthy with one shot on goal.

Goalie Stephen Thompson allowed just the one goal on the night but did finish the game with 11 saves for the Tigers.

Although they came up on the short end for the game, Galion head coach spoke highly of his teams’ efforts. “I think that we played the best half that I’ve ever seen Galion soccer play in the first half. We controlled the ball, we controlled the tempo. In the second half, they came out with a little more aggression and we couldn’t stop some passes through the middle,” analyzes the head coach.

On Monday, August 28, the boys team will travel to Marion to meet up with the Pleasant Spartans to open up the MOAC schedule.

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