The Lady Chieftains answered the bell.
Following the first day of school for freshmen, and on the eve of the year’s start for the rest, Bellefontaine dominated visiting London for a 3-0 girls soccer win at AccuSport Stadium on Wednesday.
The Lady Chiefs are now 1-1 in the Central Buckeye Conference and 3-3 overall.
Bellefontaine was playing its first game in over a week, but was on the attack for the majority of the game.
Senior midfielder Callie Shumaker had all three goals for the Lady Chiefs, with two in the first half and the other midway through the second.
Keeper Emma Whitaker recorded two saves to earn the clean sheet. She also assisted on Shumaker’s first goal.
Bellefontaine outshot the Red Raiders 21-2. London goalie Ella Ballah had 11 saves.
Head coach Aaron Shumaker said, “we got a bit complacent at times, but the girls rallied and were able to move without the ball.”
The Lady Chieftains have just 15 players on the roster. With 11 needed on the field, that leaves just four on the bench. The Chieftains rotated everyone into the game. “I want everybody to get playing time, so they can learn,” said Shumaker.
“We have to learn to keep doing good things. We have good speed up top, and good passers in the middle,” he said. He noted that the key is to keep working on fundamentals every day and in every game.
The first few minutes were relatively even, with no chances for either side. About 10 minutes in, Sloan Stolly drove along the sideline and put the ball near the net.
After a press by London, Whitaker sent the ball down the field. Shumaker gathered it in and drove from around midfield toward the Red Raiders net. Her shot on the left side beat Ballah with 28:14 to play.
Shumaker had a throw-in shortly thereafter, doing a cartwheel as she delivered the ball. Stolly had a scoring chance but the defense turned it away.
Ava Watson had a shot at 20 minutes which was caught by Ballah.
With 10 1/2 minutes to go, Chloe Stolly delivered a corner kick in scoring range, with London able to get it back out.
As the first half wound down, Shumaker scored again on the left side to make it 2-0 with 3:49 left. That is how things remained at the intermission.
Early in the second half, London put the ball to the right side of the net.
Shumaker had a kick go just outside the left side of the net with eight minutes elapsed. Shortly thereafter, she drove in again. The first attempt bounced off the keeper Ballah. Shumaker controlled the short rebound, moved around her and knocked the ball into the empty net before any other defenders could get over to cover. That came with 19:21 left.
Bellefontaine continued to create pressure, with their best scoring chance coming with about eight minutes left, and going to the right.
The Lady Chieftains return to action Saturday afternoon with a game at West Liberty-Salem. Action begins at 4 p.m.
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In other recent action:
GIRLS
Shawnee 9, Indian Lake 0
Indian Lake lost to Shawnee at home on Wednesday.
The Lakers had four shots on goal.
Bre Wisener made seven saves and Kylee Hartford had three.
Indian Lake is 0-2 in the league and 1-4 overall. They are at Tecumseh on Monday at 7:15 p.m.
The full story and in the Thursday, Sept. 4, edition of the Examiner.
