Lady Tigers soccer nets win in home opener

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GALION — The first home games of the season are officially in the books for the Galion soccer teams after playing host in a doubleheader of sorts to the visiting Highland Fighting Scots on Wednesday, August 22.

After waiting for the boys team to finish their contest with Highland, the Galion Lady Tigers took to their home field in search of their first goals and win of the season after dropping their season opener to Mount Vernon; 6-0.

Galion was able to do just that as they came away with the 3-1 victory over the Lady Scots. The Lady Tigers three goals is the most goals scored in a game in team history and also matches the team’s output from the combined first two seasons.

The home team controlled the ball for much of the 40-minute first half which resulted in a goal by freshman Adriana Zeger at the eight-minute mark and another goal by senior Courtney Throckmorton at the 16-minute mark of the opening frame. Galion would play tight defense but Highland would eventually get on the board with just 5:24 remaining in the first half to give the Tigers the 2-1 advantage at intermission.

In the second half of action, the pace was much slower which appeared to work in Highland’s favor but Galion continued to play sound defense and Drucilla Singer remained superb at her goalkeeper position to keep the Scots at bay. With just 14:28 remaining in the contest, Zeger would strike again after a minor collision with the Highland goalie allowed the ball to trickle in past the line to put Galion up by the eventual final score of 3-1.

“It’s a great feeling, I’ll say that!” states first-year head coach Kathryn Nutt postgame. She continues, “we’ve got a lot of new players that are helping out and we all did a lot of work in the off-season but there is still so much that we can still do…the sky is the limit. Our communication on the field was a big focus and the result today on the field shows that, so far, it’s working.”

“It’s a relief to get this first win in as head coach after having to pick up where Eric (Palmer, now the boys coach) left off with the program,” says the head coach. “He’s done a lot of hard work to build this program and I was just hoping for some success here at the beginning of my own career…it was all very nerve racking,” finishes Nutt about her first career win.

Next up for the Lady Tigers will be a trip to Marion on Monday, August 27 and a clash with Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference foe, the Pleasant Lady Spartans. On Thursday, August 30, Galion will be back at home as the play host to the Crestview Lady Cougars.

In the first game of the doubleheader, the Galion boys team also met up with the Highland Fighting Scots.

After arriving to the game minutes before the scheduled start, Highland took to the field to battle with Galion in the opener and after the first 40 minutes of the back and forth affair, the two squads paused for intermission still knotted at 0-0.

The second half would prove to be much of the same story. Neither team would have an abundance of shots on goal but both goalkeepers would continue to come up strong for their respective squads. The buzzer would sound to indicate the conclusion of the 80-minute contest that would see the Scots and the Tigers playing to a 0-0 stalemate.

Boys head coach Eric Palmer offered up the following after the draw.

“Tying is always better than losing but I think that we were definitely disappointed that we weren’t able to pull out that win,” begins the coach. “We were definitely attacking a lot more than them in the second half and we had a lot of close chances but, unlucky for us, they didn’t go in. But, just like from this point a season ago, we’ll continue to grow both mentally and physically as players.

The Tigers will host the Lexington Minutemen on Thursday, August 23 in non-conference play. On Monday, August 27, the Galion squad will be at home again for a clash with fellow MOAC member, the Pleasant Spartans. Palmer and his squad will be on the road next Thursday, August 30 when they make the trip to Crestview to clash with the Cougars.

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Boys game ends in 0-0 stalemate

By Chad Clinger

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Follow Chad on Twitter @GalionSportsGuy

Reach Chad at 419-468-1117 x2048

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