STORY BY ROB KISER - PIQUA DAILY CALL
On Saturday the Indians took their 2-2-0 record and traveled to Celina to take on the Lady Bulldogs. 

“Coming into this game, we were tired and a little beat up,”  Alexander said.  “We started our season with five games in 11 days and all of them on the road. The weather has been very hot and humid and our last opponent (Wayne) was a tough physical team."

The first half was back and forth with both teams missing opportunities to score. 

Finally late in the half, the Lady Bulldogs broke the deadlock with a goal to go up 1-0. 

Celina held the lead through halftime but the tired Lady Indians dug deep and came out in the second half ready to challenge the Bulldogs. 

Senior Alex Jess did what she does best early in the second half when she took a well-played goal kick from teammate Brittany Diehl and caught the Celina keeper too far off her line.  Jess placed a 30-yard shot into the net for the equalizer. 

It was Jess’ eighth goal of the season.

The momentum seemed to be in favor of the Lady Indians, but as the half wore on, Piqua was unable to capitalize and as the game entered the final 10 minutes, play became frantic. 

With five minutes to go in the game things looked as though they were about to go terribly wrong again. 

The ball was being played out near the top of Piqua’s defensive eighteen when a Celina player slapped a shot or a pass that went into the chest of Piqua senior defender Kristen Magoteaux. 

The ball deflected away and was cleared by Piqua.  Suddenly the official standing on the far end of the field blew his whistle and came running down the field awarding Celina a penalty kick. 

But justice would prevail as Piqua goalkeeper Lucy Brown denied the goal with a great save on the PK in a high-pressure situation. 

Time expired and the final result was a 1-1 tie.

Piqua will host Fairborn Wednesday. JV kicks off at 5:30, with the varsity at 7:30.

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