The Mirror Newspapers Reflecting Life Along The Maumee River
BY JEREMY SCHNEIDER | MIRROR SPORTS — The Maumee girls soccer team upset top-seeded Port Clinton on its home turf to advance to the Division II district tournament, but that doesn’t mean the Panthers were just happy to make it there.
They faced off against Wauseon in the district semifinals, but after falling behind by two goals at halftime, Maumee couldn’t rally in a 2-1 loss.
The Panthers got on the board in the second half thanks to a free kick from junior Haley Hughes.
Maumee won five games this year, including a pair in the postseason against Napoleon and Port Clinton. They were led by a large senior class that included Aubrey Hiles, Taylor Westrick, Autumn Erme, Lilly Murphy, Meaghan Chaney, Lynkin Williams, Lydia Crable and team manager Sydney Ervin.
Boys
It was not the way the Panthers wanted to end the season, losing to top-seeded Sandusky Perkins, 4-0, in the Division II district semifinals.
The Maumee boys soccer team’s entire body of work over the 2021 season can’t be boiled down to just one loss, though. The Panthers finished 8-10 with 46 goals scored, a vast improvement over the previous two seasons, when they won three games and scored 17 goals.
The district semifinal game was played in cold and windy conditions and Perkins made good use of having the wind at its back with three second-half goals.
Maumee goalkeeper Taylor Lewis had nine saves as Perkins outshot the Panthers, 13-10.
While Maumee loses three seniors to graduation – leading scorer J.P. Wagner, Angelo Shepler and Alex Leasor – Lewis will lead a contingent of underclassmen that should keep the Panthers in contention for district titles for years to come.
