GALION - Tuesday's Division IV sectional semifinal against Vermilion didn't go quite how Galion coach Todd Heichel expected.
And that's not a bad thing, it just meant the seventh seeded Tigers had to adjust to the strength and physical prowess of the 10-seed Sailors as the match went on.
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"They outplayed us today," Heichel said. "I really think they're just a player or two away from taking this game from us today. We made some adjustments at halftime and I thought we came out with a better focus, a better attitude, and moved the ball so much better than we did in the first half.
"I think we were nervous to start the game and we played some long balls, but once we started playing more to our identity, momentum came to our side."
That big momentum shift came in the 49th minute when junior Lila Pierce latched onto a through ball and got behind the Vermilion defense for a 1-on-1 with goalkeeper Sophie Habermehl. Pierce drove at her head-on then cut right to go around the goalie drawing a penalty after having her legs swept from beneath her.
Senior Bella Ice stepped up to the spot and calmly slotted in for what would be the match-winner in a tense 1-0 final.
"I loved what Lila did to get in there," Heichel said. "I've seen her try to chip the keeper a couple times or even meg the keeper in that situation, so for her to make a move and try to go around was good to see.
"And I had no doubt in my mind when Bella stepped up to take it that she was going to find the back of the net ... when she did that there was a collective sigh of relief from the team and we played better in possession and created many more opportunities."
Before that, Galion had a few chances on goal but nothing that really tested Habermehl. Far fewer chances than the Tigers expected coming in with Vermilion dominating the middle third of the field.
"That was a struggle for us today and usually that's a strength," Heichel said. "They were on us quick, marked very well — we didn't have time to breathe on the ball — and we're used to being able to turn and take a look to make that pass, and when that was taken away, we struggled to adapt.
"I think I needed to adjust and maybe invert my wings to overload the midfield a big more to give us opportunities to control the midfield. But hats off to them, they controlled it today."
The Sailors didn't have many opportunites on goal, but a frenzy in the final minutes nearly brought them level as a couple poor clearances from the Tigers deep in their own territory allowed Vermilion to keep pressure on until the final whistle.
"We have great experience in the back from our keeper to the back line to our defensive mids," Heichel said. "We've had a lot of tight games this year, we haven't score a lot of goals, so we've been in tight games and it was something they were used to and probably prepared for. I had confidence they were going to be able to hold it off — they made me nervous a little bit — but they were able to come away with the W and we get to advance."
The nervy ending just made the win — the program's second all-time in the postseason — all that much sweeter. And it comes on the heels of Galion's best season as the Tigers (9-6-3) are guaranteed to finish above .500 for the first time ever.
"That has been an emphasis for us all season. They came off a historic year last year and coming in as a new coach, I wanted to build on that foundation but also change the culture a little bit, change the perspective, change the mentality," Heichel said. "I feel like with the help of these seniors, they've really helped me do that.
"We practice or come here for games on a Saturday and you can't find a place to park because there's so many young kids playing soccer here ... the future of the program is bright. But it starts with what the girls did today and what the senior class has put down for the rest of the program going forward."
Up next is MOAC rival Clear Fork, the top-seed in the district, on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Colt Corral. And in the postgame huddle, the players were already discussing the matchup and what they learned from their initial meeting with the Colts two weeks ago.
"We've seen it with trying to change the mentality going into games against teams like Mansfield Christian or Ontario or Clear Fork ... there has been progress," Heichel said. "Ontario beat us 4-nil this year, last year they put up double digits against us. We played Clear Fork here (recently) and it was only 1-nil at halftime, that gave our girls a lot of confidence and they played hard, they played smart ... we ended up losing 3-nil but there were moments in that game where we could've tied it up and really made a game out of it.
"Knowing that is kind of a double-edged sword going into this next game because Clear Fork's aware of that, too. Coach Bechtel has built such a great program there and I have such admiration for what she has done — I'd love to sit down and pick her brain on how she's done it for the 20-something years she has been there — if there's a program in the area to emulate, Clear Fork is absolutely it. As well as Ontario, our conference is full of great programs like that we can learn from.
"At this point we want to try to make some noise and be competitive, but we also want to learn from programs like that so we can build for the future."
zholden@gannett.com | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Galion girls slip past Vermilion for program's second postseason win