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For the fourth consecutive season, the Oak Harbor girls’ soccer team has won the Sandusky Bay Conference championship.
Throughout the season, the Rockets have dominated, outscoring opponents by a combined 64-24. And, now, after a season that has seen them go 13-3-1 overall and 12-0-0 in the SBC, they find themselves in the district tournament and just two wins shy of qualifying for regionals.
This isn’t an aberration. The team has won 42 straight SBC matches.
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Oak Harbor players celebrate a goal during the Rocket's 2-1
victory over Port Clinton in Division II tournament action. (Press
photo by Scott Grau) |
The success of the team and the program as a whole is a testament to coach Renee Goldstein as well as the Oak Harbor community, which has been a staunch supporter of girls’ soccer through the years.
In its nine years as a varsity sport, Oak Harbor girls’ soccer has had one constant: Goldstein.
Oddly enough, she didn’t plan on coaching for this long. Initially, Goldstein, who began with the team when the program started in 2002, planned on coaching through the 2005-06 school year when her daughter Kristin graduated. Instead, she remained, helping to build the program into what it is today.
“She’s the reason I did this,” said Goldstein of her daughter, who is currently an assistant with the team. “(As a coach,) she really helps with the technical side of things.”
Kristin recently graduated from Defiance College, where she competed in both soccer and track and field.
Wednesday night, despite windy and rainy conditions, the Rockets defeated rival Port Clinton, 2-1, in the Division II sectional final at Clyde. Next Tuesday, the Rockets will face Norwalk, currently ranked 10th in the state, in the district semifinal, also at Clyde.
Like many successful teams, it is the work of the defense and goalkeeper Chelsie Kamann that is most important to the team’s success.
“My defenders don’t get the credit they deserve,” said Goldstein, who works as a teacher in the Adult and Continuing Education Department at Penta County Vocational School. “If it wasn’t for my defenders, Chelsie would’ve had to make a lot more saves this year.”
Kamann had 131 saves this year and allowed just 22 goals in 16 games. She was protected by a number of defenders, among them Sydney Allen, Amanda Hetrick and Nikki Weis.
“They’re very strong, very dependable,” said Goldstein of her defenders. “They work very well together, (and) they’re very comfortable (with each other).”
As for the offense, they are led by three standout forwards, Amber Burnette, Morgan Turnow and Makayla Carpenter, who have scored 16, 16, and 14 goals, respectively. They were three of the top goal-scorers in the conference and have consistently supplied the scoring for the Rockets, scoring in the vast majority of the games this season.
“My forwards have been amazing all year long,” said Goldstein.
Despite breezing through conference play, the Rockets only have two players named to the SBC’s first team, Kamann and Hetrick. Four players, Weis and Kelsey Lacer, both defenders, Taylor St. Clair, a midfielder, and Morgan Turnow, a forward, are named to the conference’s second team. Allen, Jordan Giesler, Sydney Street, Makayla Carpenter and Amber Burnette are all honorable mention.
With any successful team, chemistry is important. That is not lacking with this group.
“That’s one of the things that have been so nice,” said Goldstein. “This is the team that has gotten along best in the last five years; they laugh, they have fun together. The chemistry this year is so different than it’s been in a long time; we don’t have the drama. This team gets along really well; it’s really nice to coach these girls.”
The success of the program exists partially because of the popularity the sport has in the surrounding community.
“The rec leagues in Oak Harbor, Graytown and Carroll Township — we have amazing numbers in the youth soccer programs,” said Goldstein. “When the kids are little, they get to play soccer and they like it. They stay together for a number of years.
“The parents accept it as a way of life. We’ve gotten support from our parents every year. Our first couple years as a soccer program, we came out of the gate able to compete from day one.”
About a half dozen of Goldstein’s players have gone on to compete collegiately, among them Libby Gruber, Tabitha Goetz, Dayna Setzler and Erica Nordlund. She notes that Kamann and Burnette are also looking to play soccer at the next level.
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