STORY BY ROB KISER - PIQUA DAILY CALL
The Piqua girls soccer team rebounded from a 3-0 loss to Fairmont by defeating Newton 7-0 Saturday.

Senior goalie Lucy Brown registered three saves against Fairmont, while Laura Deal had 14 saves.

“We really came out flat in the first half,” Piqua coach Rob Alexander said. “ We were on our
heels and seemed to succumb to the heat and the speed of the game. 

“Defensively we weren’t stepping to the ball and offensively we were completely shut down.  In the second half, we found some energy and started making some runs on goal and defensively we got back on track. Fairmont was awarded two PK’s in the second half and Laura (Deal) did a terrific job denying a goal on both of them.  This performance wasn’t what we were hoping for. 

“We lost our opener to them last season 3-0 and we were hoping to improve on that.  With a good first half, and a few breaks in the second, it would have been a different game.”

On Saturday, the Lady Indians started slowly, but just 15 minutes into the first half, senior Maggie Warner landed a pass from sophomore Laura Deal and blew it by the keeper to put Piqua up 1-0. 

With just seven and a half minutes remaining in the first half, senior Alex Jess got a through ball from senior winger Amber Arnold and put Piqua up 2-0. 

Sixty seconds later, sophomore Ashley Hamilton collected a pass from senior captain Sarah Bell and put a ball in the back of the net to put Piqua up 3-0 going into the half.

While Piqua possessed and dominated the ball and the pace for most of the second half, it wasn’t until the closing moments that the floodgates opened.

Piqua scored four goals in four minutes during the final seven minutes of the game. 

Piqua’s Alex Jess got three of the four goals in the final minutes getting assists from senior Maggie Warner and sophomore Ashley Hamilton.  Sophomore Brittany Diehl also scored in the closing minutes. 

Lucy Brown had two saves in goal for Piqua.

Piqua will play at Springfield North tonight.

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