Kalida’s Logan Kerner heads the ball away from Ottawa-Glandorf’s Sam Warnecke during Friday’s match in Glandorf.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
GLANDORF – The first soccer match of the season gives coaches the opportunity to see what their teams did well and what they need to work on.
Friday’s season-opener for boys soccer, between Ottawa-Glandorf and Kalida, supplied many positives for both squads.
It was nearly 54 minutes into Friday’s match before anyone scored as the game eventually ended in a hard-fought 2-2 tie.
“We had a lot of good chances early in the game,” Kalida coach Ryan Birkemeier said. “It was a little bit back-and-forth. We had to figure out how to play the transition game a little bit. Being the first game of the season – we’ve got to figure it out.
“If we put away a few of those (shots) in the first half, I think it’s a different game. We kind of got a little tired in the second half. That’s something we will continue to work on.”
For the game, O-G took nine shots on goal. Kalida got off 11 shots on goal.
O-G goalkeeper James Niese turned away nine Kalida shots. Kalida goalie Parker Vorst made seven saves on the night.
“Hats off to both goalkeepers,” O-G coach Kyle Metzger said. “Their (Kalida’s) keeper (Vorst) in the first half, had that fingertip save. James (Niese) also had a couple of good saves in the first half. We just kept rolling in the second half. We knew that one of them was going to eventually fall.
“They (Kalida) got their first two (goals), but we didn’t put our heads down. We came right back and got the last two. We kept battling in the final minutes. I’m proud of our boys for the way they kept battling.”
Kalida got on the scoreboard with the first two goals of the night.
At the 26:04 mark of the second half, Landon Verhoff found the back of the net at close range to give Kalida a 1-0 lead.
Nearly 11 minutes later, Owen Grime found an opening near the net and drove the ball through to give the Wildcats a 2-0 advantage.
O-G came roaring back.
The Titans finally got on the scoreboard with 14:08 left to play in the contest. Jayden Kuhlman scored for O-G to cut the deficit to 1, 2-1.
Then, with 3:16 left to play, O-G’s Calix Pothast scored from near the goal to round out the scoring.
Neither team managed to get a shot off in the final three minutes of the contest.
O-G took three corner kicks, while Kalida had six corner kicks on the night.
“Ten of my 11 starters are back,” Birkemeier said. “Also, one of my starters (Braylon Smith) is currently on the bench. He had knee surgery, so we’re dealing with that. Missing him hurts a little bit. What I’m extremely proud about tonight is that we were looking for guys to step up in his absence, and they’re starting to do that.”
Kalida 2, Ottawa-Glandorf 2
Shots on goal: O-G 9, Kalida 11
Goals: Kalida – Landon Verhoff 1, Owen Grime 1; O-G – Jayden Kuhlman 1, Calix Pothast 1
Corner kicks: Kalida 6, O-G 3
Records: Kalida 0-0-1; O-G 0-0-1
