6th Ranked Dreadnaughts Finish Undefeated League Season

By Alex Hardie

With draws against SEC opponents Ann Arbor Skyline and Pioneer, the Dexter High School woman's soccer team completed its undefeated league season with a 3-0 win over Chelsea on May 22 .

As the game started, fans were confused when after a few touches, a Dexter player seemed to intentionally play the ball out with no defender near her. It soon became clear as it was the Bulldogs throw-in. Chelsea subbed off its senior keeper from a field position.

This same player left in an earlier meeting between the two rivals at the beginning of the season with a season-ending knee injury. As part of senior night, Chelsea’s and Dexter’s teams set up an opportunity for her to be able to start her last home game.

Chelsea returned the favor by throwing the ball back to the closest Dexter player to continue the game. From then on, it developed into the typical Dexter verses Chelsea match.

Though the Dreads carried a majority of the possession, the Bulldogs kept their well organized defense together, turning away the Dreads' service from the sides of the field. With just under nine minutes left in the half, one of Dexter’s long balls from Maddie Judge was mishandled by the Chelsea keep, to which an rushing Olivia Vollmers pulled the ball away to space and passed it into the open net.

The Dreadnaughts carried the 1-0 lead into the half-time break. Two minutes off the clock in the third period and Nicole Lucas clipped a ball into the Bulldogs' goal.

“Chelsea's keeper made some very nice saves against us but when she couldn’t handle the ball cleanly. We had Olivia (Vollmers) there to take advantage of the opportunity. That’s a sign of a good team: doing the little things that will help them take advantage of the opponents mistakes,” Dexter coach Scott Forrester said.

The early second half goal only added fuel to the flame as the Dreads hungered for more. Finally that hunger equated into another Dexter score with 16:28 on the clock.

“It started with a nice ball served into forward Hannah Ruble that she passed back into the midfield to Alex Dinser. She prepared the ball with a touch and fired a 34-yard shot to the far 90 to put us ahead 3-0," Forrester said.

With the regular season finished for the Dreadnaughts, the team ended with a 15-2-2 regular season record and won the SEC White Division title with a 9-0-2 record.

The woman's soccer team begins district play at 7 p.m. May 29 at Tecumseh. Should the Dexter win, they will play again on June 7 at Tecumseh.