Girls soccer: Balance leads Bulldogs at Redette Classic

CENTERVILLE — Blythe Schmidt has spent over 1,900 minutes over three seasons as an Ottumwa High School varsity soccer player seeing the game from in front of the net.

On Saturday, Schmidt saw the game from a different perspective. For over 60 minutes, Schmidt was the one delivering shots instead of trying to stop them.

"That was a lot of fun to be able to do that," Schmidt said. "It's been awhile since I played up on the field. It's crazy looking at the field from a different angle. It's a different pace than just playing as a goalie."

Schmidt adjusted well, driving a pair of shots past Centerville starting goalie Ava Pfannebecker in the second half for her first two high school varsity soccer goals. Ellie Straus and Kumatume Tolcha also found the back of the net for the first time as members of the OHS varsity girls soccer squad, helping the Bulldogs snap a four-match losing streak with a 9-0 win over the Redettes in the first of Centerville's four home tournament matches played on Saturday at Paul Johnson Field.

"I've played forward a few times and the wing a few times either for the junior varsity team or for my club team," Schmidt said. "I'm not completely unfamiliar with this, but it's always different every time."

Ottumwa bounced back quickly after a 7-3 loss at home to Burlington on Friday, allowing four goals in the second half allowing the Grayhounds to pull away despite a hat trick from Ilana Vasconez. The Bulldogs and Redettes kicked off their match early on Saturday morning to accommodate the need to wrap up the tournament earlier with Centerville High School's prom taking place that night, opening the tournament shortly after 7:30 a.m.

"Playing three matches in less than 24 hours is a lot," Ottumwa head girls soccer coach Matthew Erlandson said. "We didn't get the results we wanted, but I thought we played well against Burlington. We were able to get a lot of girls a lot of experience and got many of those girls a lot of touches."

Vasconez, however, would once again open the scoring for the Bulldogs on Saturday finding the back of the net in the early minutes giving Ottumwa a 1-0 lead. Vasconez added her sixth goal of the season, and second of the match, with just over 10 minutes left in the first half giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.

"The number of assists we get is just as huge," Erlandson said. "Even though Ilana scores a lot of goals, it comes from a lot of different places. We're not just sending the ball from one place. Other players are getting in good positions to score as well, which we're going to need going forward."

The second goal of the day by Vasconez was immediately followed by the first wave of mass substitutions by the Bulldogs, utilizing depth to counter 200 minutes of varsity soccer action in less than 24 hours. Tolcha found the back of the net for the first time less than a minute later before Straus finished off the first half against Centerville scoring her first two varsity goals in a span of 97 seconds lifting Ottumwa to a commanding 5-0 halftime lead.