Slippery goal the difference as Ashland earns much-needed win over Ontario - Mansfield News Journal

Jake Furr Mansfield News Journal

Published 11:06 PM EDT Sep 10, 2020

ONTARIO - Ashland head boys soccer coach Dustin Hosler admits his team usually has two weaknesses - shooting from the 18 and following shots.

On Thursday night in a 2-1 win over Ontario, those weaknesses were the Arrows' strength.

The Arrows and Warriors battled to a scoreless half as both teams took their time feeling out one another to see what kind of attack would work best to pull out a win. the Arrows put up six shots in the first half with two on goal while Ontario had five with two in frame.

But the Arrows got on the board first thanks to a shot off the right foot of Carson Lavengood from nearly 25 yards away as he tucked it into the top left corner of the goal for one of the most perfectly placed shots of the year. The goal came at the 25:16 mark of the second half.

The shot outside of the 18 marker broke the scoreless tie and flipped the script on one of the Arrows' self-proclaimed weaknesses. The goal was due in part to a lot of patience from the Arrows.

"The first half was that way," Hosler said. "We possessed and moved the ball extremely well, it was just that final pass was where we struggled. We have been working on shooting from the 18 and Lavengood hit an incredible shot for us. We also talked about following shots with this slick ground and Avery (Hixon) did exactly that."

The second weakness the Arrows proved to be a strength on Thursday as Hixon's goal. Off of a free-kick from Andrew Mills that was sent directly at the Ontario keeper, a slick ball thanks to a hazy, foggy evening at Ontario High School slipped through the hands and legs of the keeper and Hixon sprung into action following the shot and knocking in the second goal of the night on the rebound at the 16:42 mark of the second half.

"My coaches called out right before he took that shot and told me to follow the shot," Hixon said. "I told them 'I got you' and I executed. It comes down to the right place at the right time."

The Arrows owned the commanding 2-0 lead with less than 15 minutes to play, but the Warriors aren't typically a team that lays down and dies. Ontario head coach Chris McClenathan told his team that a 2-0 lead is the most dangerous lead in soccer. It fired the Warriors up as they got on the board when Bryden Wolfe sent home a corner kick with a strong header to cut Ashland's lead to 2-1 with 14:07 left. It was exactly the response McClenathan had in mind.

"You could tell it fired them up and they responded to the pressure," McClenathan said. "It made them believe they could come back out and win this one and that was good to see that they kept that fight."

The Arrows held on and picked up the much-needed win especially after suffering two consecutive losses after picking up what looked like a season-defining win over Lexington on Sept. 1. The Arrows followed that up with a loss to Sylvania Southview and a tough Ohio Cardinal Conference loss to Wooster, 1-0.

"We came off a big win against Lex and I think there was a little bit of a hangover to that," Hosler said. "We got a big win and then went up to Sylvania and honestly, our effort wasn't there. We did not play our game. We battled against Wooster in a 1-0 game, but the team fought and that was what we really wanted to see. We just struggle to score."

But the big win on Thursday is a momentum boost for the rest of the season as the Arrows haven't beat Ontario since the two teams started meeting regularly back in 2016. 

"This is really big," Hixon said. "I feel like this game proved we have a chance to tie for the OCC because Ontario is a quality opponent. This was crucial especially with us having a tough time scoring goals so it was great to put two on the board today."

Hosler agreed.

"Ontario is so well-coached and disciplined," Hosler said. "They were up for it and this is a quality win that will set us up for the second part of the season. We have two big conference games coming up with West Holmes and Mansfield Senior and we need wins to stay on track. We have an outside shot and need Lex to go up and beat Wooster and we need to win out. This one is just giving us the momentum to do that and to give our seniors a nice send-off on Tuesday night."

While losing is never the object for any team, the Warriors and McClenathan left the pitch feeling better than they would have if it was a sloppy loss. 

"Ashland is a historic program with Final 4s so to lose 2-1 fighting to the end against a program like that is something we can accept," McClenathan said. "You could tell these guys put in the work during the offseason and got stronger in the weight room. The positives of all four games is our physicality and playing strong. Also to fight down 2-0 and continue to push, it is all encouraging."

Ontario fell to 2-2 on the year and has a tough road game on Saturday at Granville.

The Arrows improved to 3-3-1 on the year and hosts West Holmes on Tuesday.

"I feel like with this win, it is one that we will keep the momentum because of it," Hixon said. "When we beat Lex, we felt like the kings of the world because we hadn't beat them in eight years. We relaxed after it. This helped us realize we can't do that after big wins."

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

Twitter: @JakeFurr11

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Slippery goal the difference as Ashland earns much-needed win over Ontario - Mansfield News Journal
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