Girls sectional soccer: Oberlin loses heartbreaker to Mapleton

OBERLIN — Talk about tough losses and you might think about the Oberlin girls soccer team Wednesday night in Division V tournament play. Ashland Mapleton scored the winning goal in the sectional opener off a questionable penalty kick in the goal box with just 3:08 left to play to eliminate the Phoenix 4-3 on Oberlin's home field.Oberlin, seeded No. 14, finishes the year at 9-7-1 while No. 19 Mapleton (7-6-1) moves on to play at Columbia next Wednesday. Oberlin had battled back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the match on a goal by sophomore Alice Levy with 13:41 to play. However, on a play in front of the Phoenix goal and with time winding down to the three-minute mark, officials awarded the Mounties a penalty kick after a physical battle for the ball in the goal mouth on the left side. Mapleton's Audrey Hellickson, who had already scored three times, including a long high-arching penalty kick in the first half, managed to boot the ball past Oberlin's Michaela Streator to give Mapleton the lead. Streator, a senior, had played very well for the Phoenix throughout the match. She was credited with 11 saves, many coming on short-range kicks by Mapleton. "Michaela was great this year," Oberlin coach Ben Eiscamp said. "Senior, tough back there, shook off a lot of things. She wears it on her sleeve. She's going to take responsibility for things that weren't her fault." "(Hellickson) is our star senior," Mapleton coach Beau Weldinger said. "Obviously, she scored a lot. We made the decision (Tuesday) that she would take all of our kicks because she's 99 percent accurate. When we got that (call), that was her fourth."Weldinger admired Streator's efforts during the game. "There's been a lot of good goalies this year," he said. "(She) is no exception. She made some saves when saves needed to be made." For Oberlin, Eiscamp couldn't have been prouder of the effort. The Phoenix entered the match looking a little like the walking wounded, with a short-handed lineup due to a number of players being out with injuries. Down 1-0 at halftime off Hellickson's first penalty kick goal with 22:44 left in the first half, Oberlin played with a purpose in the second half.Tamari Adcox tied the game at 1 with an alert play off Mapleton's goalie's hands in front by rebounding it into the net with only 2:43 off the second-half clock. Hellickson answered quickly, scoring her second goal from the left side of the net just 2:21 later to put Mapleton back in front, 2-1. Hellickson scored again from the left side with 31:41 left to make it 3-1, but she missed a penalty kick from the right side from short range that drifted left and nearly booted in the rebound but Streator was there to save it. That seemed to ignite the Phoenix as Maia New scored from short range with 19:08 remaining and Levy got one past senior Mattie Bates of Mapleton to tie it. "I'm super proud of them," Eiskamp said. "We played most of the season without two key players and lost another one before the game. When you still play a tough game, it says a lot about their heart and their will. I'm super proud of them. "I thought everybody played great. They showed great heart. I think some of the things should have and could have gone the other way." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. Mapleton 4, Oberlin 3 GOALS: (M) Audrey Hellickson 4. (O) Tamari Adcox, Maia New, Alice Levy. SHOTS: Mapleton 18, Oberlin 12. SAVES: (M) Mattie Bates 8; (O) Michaela Streater 11. CORNER KICKS: Mapleton 8, Oberlin 2. PENALTY/FREE KICKS: Mapleton 9, Oberlin 2. YELLOW CARDS: (O) Jayanna Jones. HALFTIME: Mapleton, 1-0.