“The girls are very motivated to do well. They work very well together,” Connelly said. “That’s something you don’t always see on a team. They’re very positive, they work hard for each other and they have great leadership.”
Senior Riley Beam netted the winner against Tipp. Senior Abby Fehrman scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win against Alter in the district semifinal on Oct. 27. Oakwood was seeded No. 4 in its sectional. Tipp and Alter were both No. 1 seeds.
Connelly coached Oakwood to the district title in 2015 and stepped down to focus on his family. Now, with his three daughters older, he decided it was a good time to return to coaching. He took over a program that reached the D-II regional semis last season under Liz Kussman. Oakwood lost that game to eventual-state champion Alter 3-0.
Oakwood (11-4-3) hosts the 7 p.m. game with Hartley (6-4-2) at Lane Stadium. That’s a switch from past seasons where regional are played on neutral sites.
Four seniors – Margie Conrath, Vivian Russell, Beam and Fehrman – have provided the leadership. They’ve led the Jills to four straight postseason wins. That’s one more than they had in the regular season, where the Jills finished 7-4-3 and finished fourth in the Southwestern Buckeye League’s Southwestern Division.
“Once we got to the end of the season getting those games under our belt, we started winning games and picked up some momentum going into the postseason,” Connolly said. “I’m very proud of them and happy for them. They deserve it all.”
In Division I, Centerville makes its first regional appearance since going back-to-back in 2014-15. The Elks won their 24th district title with a 2-1 victory against Oak Hills.
No. 6 Centerville (17-1-1) hosts No. 8 Mason (16-1-2) 7 p.m. Tuesday at the football stadium, not their home field at Magsig Middle School. The move was made to allow a larger crowd and still comply with COVID-19 guidelines.
Defense has been the Elks' strength this season behind junior keeper Allison Colopy, senior defenders Cara Crompton and Braelen Devoe, junior Morgan Massie and sophomore Mia Robillard.
“I think their defensive toughness has been a big thing for this group,” coach Jim Gobrail said. “Defense has been our consistency. At times when we’ve struggled to score, we’ve been able to defend on the defense to keep us in the game.”
Offensively, 19 different Elks have scored goals. Senior Leah Firsdon is the lone player with double digits goals (10).
“It’s a really selfless group,” Gobrail said. “We know someone is going to step up. We’ve got our dependable core. But as a coaching staff and a team we’re more than willing to let whoever is playing big let them go and take the team with them. We’ve been fortunate enough to have a large number of contributors going.”
In D-III, Waynesville – 18-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state – hosts defending state champ Cin. Country Day (14-0-4).
The Spartans lost in the district final in both 2017 and 2019 in penalty-kick shootouts. They broke through Saturday with a 2-0 victory against Dayton Christian.
Waynesville has outscored opponents 127-4, while Country Day holds a 72-7 advantage. Senior Jenna Foley leads Waynesville with 30 goals, freshman Samantha Erbach has 25, junior Emma Whitaker 16 and freshman Brooke Woody 14. Senior keeper Leah Butterbaugh has posted 14 shutouts.
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