Ada —
Ada’s boys soccer team built a 2-0 first-half lead and held on to upset eighth-ranked Newcastle, 3-2, in a Senior Night shootout Tuesday.
With the win, the Cougars — who were 2-11 a year ago — improved to 6-5 overall and, at 2-1 in district play, took a huge step toward the first playoff berth in the history of the program.
“We have wins over two upper echelon district teams (Cache and Newcastle),” Ada coach Tom Morrison said. “We still have an opportunity to win the district. “We would need a loss by Madill (and victories at Elgin tonight and Southwest Covenant Monday) for that to happen.”
While the Cougars moved to the cusp of history, the Lady Cougars dropped their third straight district contest, 3-0, to the 11th-ranked Lady Racers to fall to 5-7 overall.
BOYS
Ada 3, Newcastle 2
Taylor Owens scored off an assist from Paul Thumerelle 12 minutes into the match to put Ada up 1-0, and the Cougars extend their lead to two goals when Brooks Thompson scored on a penalty kick — after Yuta Saito was taken down inside the box — in the 30th minute. Newcastle trimmed the Ada lead to a goal late in the first half, but Saito gave the Cougars some breathing room when he split the defense and rammed home a goal with about 20 minutes to play.
Keeper Joseph Saaty finished with seven saves, including several late in the match before Newcastle finally scored again with about nine minutes left. The Cougars outshot the Racers, 13-7, in the win.
GIRLS
Newcastle 3, Ada 0
The Lady Racers took advantages of Ada breakdowns on defense to score twice in the first four minutes, but they didn’t score again until late in the match.
“We came out extremely flat and had a couple of early mistakes,” Morrison said. “We turned up the intensity after that and played well the rest of the way. We created multiple opps to get back in the game in the second half but couldn’t capitalize.”
Jack made nine saves to add to her school record in the final home match of her varsity career. Tuesday also marked the final home performances for seniors Blakeley Franz, Bailey Blankenship and Madison Woodward.
The Lady Cougars wrap up their season tonight at Elgin.
“The playoffs are probably out of the question for these girls but I’m sure they’ll come out and compete with effort and pride like they have all year,” Morrison said.
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