Champion girls’ season ends in regional semifinal against Doylestown Chippewa

October 31, 2018 at 12:06a.m.

Champion’s season ends in regional semifinal against Doylestown Chippewa

RAVENNA

Bailey Clark’s goal at 11:50 of overtime gave Doylestown Chippewa a 1-0 victory over Champion in a Division III regional semifinal Tuesday night at Ravenna High School.

It was sweet revenge for the Chipps, whose season was ended by Archbold in this very game a season ago.

“Isabella [Braman] and I talked at halftime about the quick give-and-gos and while we had our opportunities in the first half, we were able to get it done in overtime,” Clark said.

“It’s amazing to get this win because last season our season ended in this round. Once you get to this round every game is tough and Champion’s defense was excellent tonight. Their goalie [Emma Gumont] played an outstanding game and because of her size, we knew that we had to keep it low. That’s exactly what we did in overtime.”

The Chipps (18-1-1) will play Kirtland for the regional championship on Saturday at a site and time to be determined today.

Kirtland disposed of South Range in their regional semifinal at Solon High School, 9-0.

Chippewa held a 31-2 shot advantage, 15-1 on goal while Gumont, who entered the game with 135 saves, added 13 more to her total to finish with 148 on the campaign.

“We played hard the entire game and our defense did an excellent job in front of me,” Gumont said. “There isn’t another group of players that I would want to have in front of me.”

Chippewa took eight shots in the opening half with five on goal while Champion (16-3), who had their 14-game win streak snapped, could manage just one and that came at 28:18 of the opening session.

Chippewa’s first opportunity came at 19:56 when Elaina Dressler’s header, off a Sydnee Barnett corner kick, sailed over the crossbar.

At 12:59, Clark’s kick from 21 yards away also sailed over the crossbar and at 6:26, Clark set up Summer Shoemaker on a give-and-go but Gumont was in perfect position for the save.

“This was a tough one, but we competed really hard the entire game and then into the overtime session, so I was really proud of our effort,” added Golden Flashes head coach Stephanie Tice, currently in her second season at the helm. “Emma was outstanding in goal once again, Carli Swipas provided excellent senior leadership all season and our defense did a great job of holding them off all game.

“I would have liked to have had more offense, but you have to credit Chippewa because they are an excellent all-around team.”

Madison Luckett is none of 10 seniors who played in her final game for the Golden Flashes. She finished the season with a team-leading 35 goals

“We really practice our defense and knew that tonight was going to be a tough game,” Luckett said. “We played our hearts out. It just wasn’t our night.”