LOVELAND, Ohio – Sydney Bortz has been on a Cincinnati Country Day state championship team before, but as a substitute.
Bortz is embracing her chance to be a leader on another Nighthawks title team as she and her girls soccer teammates will play for their third state title in five seasons Friday afternoon.
CCD defeated Lynchburg-Clay 4-0 Tuesday night at Loveland High School in an Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III state semifinal. CCD, 18-5 overall, will play Ottawa-Glandorf (20-1-2) in the state final at 4 p.m. Friday at the Columbus Crew’s pro soccer stadium, Lower.com Field.
“It’s incredible,” Bortz said. “That’s been my dream: Being a huge part of the team, being able to play on Friday in this big stadium with all my closest friends from soccer is just surreal.”
CCD has state titles in 2018 and 2019 when its four seniors were freshmen.
“We’re excited,” CCD head coach Theresa Hirschauer said. “The seniors won a state title and got a state runner-up (2020). They didn’t make it back to where they wanted to go last year. They worked really hard. They’re a resilient group. They have so much fun together and we’re excited for Friday.”
The opposing Mustangs from Highland County finished 18-2-1. Their previous blemishes were a 3-0 loss to Madeira and a 2-2 draw with Clinton-Massie, teams CCD had defeated this season.
Their semifinal matchup had the potential to be a defensive struggle. Lynchburg-Clay had allowed only 13 goals all season, while the Nighthawks had conceded only 10, all but one of them in their five losses.
Senior C.J. DeBra, who split time in goal on the 2019 team as a freshman, posted her 17th shutout of the season and 47th for her career. She didn’t have to touch the ball very much as the Nighthawks kept the ball in Mustangs' territory for the vast majority of the contest. L-C didn’t have a shot on goal and rarely created a chance in the goal box
The Nighthawks' offense patiently passed the ball in Mustangs' territory and worked to get an open shot. The Lynchburg-Clay defense lived up to its stats, doing well to often clear the ball while its keeper made several challenging saves.
“I thought we moved the ball really well,” Hirschauer said. “Scoring early is really an important piece. (The Mustangs) played hard; they had such a great season.”
Bortz scored twice in the game and enters the state final with 13 for the season. Twin sisters Elizabeth and Megan Zimmerman, both juniors, each scored a goal and assisted the other. Elizabeth has 16 goals and Megan, 11. They combined for 42 assists coming into the game. Junior Piper Farris, the team’s leading scorer with 24 goals and 14 assists, did not find the net but created several opportunities throughout the game.
Megan Zimmerman scored four minutes into the game on a shot from about 28 yards out. Bortz scored her first less than two minutes later.
With 32 minutes left, Megan Zimmerman fired a shot from close range. The Mustangs keeper deflected it and the ball ricocheted to Megan’s sister, who poked it in from close range. Bortz scored with four minutes left for the final tally.
“We go into every single game thinking that this is a team that’s very good and we need to win,” Bortz said. “We need to score the first goal and we did that. We just pounced on them and that’s how we go into every single game. That second goal pushed us to be more active.”
Besides Bortz and DeBra, Sami Hess and Alexia Lander are seniors.
“I want to play as a team,” Bortz said. “We have very skilled players but it won’t work if we play as individuals. So playing as a team is really important and as the year progressed we’ve done very well and that’s why we’re playing on Friday.”
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