WAVERLY — The Fairfield Lady Lions lost a heart-breaker Tuesday, falling after two overtimes to Wheelersburg in a Division III district semifinal game at Ed Miller Stadium, 2-0, in a penalty-kicks shootout.
Fairfield ended the season at 11-6.
Wheelersburg improved 14-3-1 and moves on to face Eastern Brown in the district championship game.
The Lady Lions led twice in the game. Fairfield’s Ella Newkirk scored the first goal of the game off an assist from Kennedy Zink to give Fairfield a 1-0 lead at the 24:27 mark of the first half.
Wheelersburg’s Laney Eller tied the game with 16:50 left in the first half.
Fairfield’s Cadence Saunders scored on an unassisted goal with 25:19 left in the second half to put the Lady Lions back on top, 2-1.
Just 2:16 later Wheelersburg tied the game with a goal from Grace Charles.
The score was 2-2 at the end of regulation. It was still tied at 2-2 after two overtimes, then the game was sent to a shootout.
Shootout kicks by Fairfield’s Hailey Tolle, Zink and Newkirk were blocked, and Saunders’ kick missed to the right.
“You survive and advance. It’s just what you do. They are a young and well-coached group over there,” Wheelersburg coach Todd Jarvis said of the Lady Lions. “They were a good, talented No. 7 seed. And we knew what we were up against. We expected a dogfight from the beginning. There was nothing that they did that surprised us. I’m proud of the way each and every one played.”
Information for this story was provided by Paul Boggs of the Portsmouth Daily Times.
