By Nicholas Huenefeld

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

PERRYSBURG — Emma Ogdahl’s hat trick highlighted a relentless offensive attack as the Perrysburg girls soccer team produced a 7-0 win over Findlay on Monday on Widdel Field at Steinecker Stadium.

“Findlay has a great backline, and I think that they’re a great team,” Ogdahl said. “Individually, I think my goal was to just take them down the line, and if I could cut in, or if I could get a cross off to one of my teammates, that would work really well.

“I’ve been practicing my long shot from distance because I knew that would come in handy this game. I really worked on that over the weekend. I knew that if I could get the long shot off, it would be beneficial towards me.”

Perrysburg (5-2, 3-1 NLL) came out strong, peppering Findlay (2-5, 1-2 NLL) with three shots on goal over the first five minutes. In the seventh minute, they saw Camille Francis leave with an injury, but it didn’t phase the Yellow Jackets.

Lauren McConnachie got Perrysburg on the board with 32:38 left in the half, striking a shot into the net off an assist from Grace Lagendonk, who had a pair of assists in the match.

Ogdahl then produced her first goal just over a minute later for two-goal lead.

“We wanted to keep a clean sheet,” Perrysburg coach Jorge Diaz said. “We take the game seriously. We played with all our starters, and we gave them two goals. After that, everybody came out and played.”

Findlay got its first shot on goal against Perrysburg’s Tori Trzcinski in the 14th minute, and Trczinski corralled a dangerous cross in the 16th minute.

Over the next 18 minutes, though, Perrysburg had five shots, including three on frame until back-to-back goals in the 36th minute from Ogdahl and Alexis Kaufold, which helped the Yellow Jackets take a 4-0 lead into the break.

“As an offensive unit, we all worked really well together,” Ogdahl said. “We looked to each other to play the through balls, but we also all understand when it’s time to be selfish. And we don’t blame each other.

“When we take a shot and miss a shot where we maybe should have passed, I think that we all understand that we’re all just human. When the time comes, we pass, and we do the right thing most of the time.

“Every once in a while, we’ll take the shot, or we’ll be selfish. But I think as an offensive unit, we all understand we need to do what we think is right in the moment.”

Similar to the first half, Perrysburg came out strong offensively to open the final 40 minutes, placing three shots just off frame in the first six minutes.

Elyza Byrd then assisted on back-to-back goals in the ninth and 10th minutes of the half, First, Ogdahl completed her hat trick with 31:31 left, and then Sophie Mitchell delivered one into the back of the net with 30:59 remaining.

Three minutes later, a header went high for Perrysburg before Ava Lanning concluded the game’s scoring with 21:59 left, although Perrysburg had four shot attempts down the stretch, including a laser from Mitchell with 14:52 remaining.

“Our system is one that we have an extra forward because we feel that we can possess more,” Diaz said. “So, we sometimes take chances, and we maintain that possession.

“Findlay defended well. They have two great center backs, and they held us for a while. They were tight in the box, so we decided to take longer shots. Lauren had one, and Emma had two big ones after that. Once we scored that third goal, it opened things up.”

In total, Perrysburg had 25 shots, including 17 on goal.

Jera Harrington replaced Trzcinski in goal for the second half. In addition to Byrd and Lagendonk, Perrysburg’s other assists came from Ogdahl, Adyson Brown and Sylvia Pennese.

Several JV players got extensive time in the game, including Lanning, who is a freshman.

“We just did the same thing (each half),” Diaz said. “Work 15 minutes hard and try to get a couple of scores and then just let the game loose.

“We have fun playing, and that’s just it. Inviting the JV players and getting them some playing time is going to be good for us.”