By Cort Reynolds

The Bluffton girls soccer team scored a pair of dagger first-half goals and made them stand up in a 2-0 win over visiting local rival Allen East in Div. III district semifinal action Tuesday night at Steinmetz Field.

On an unseasonably warm night in front of a big crowd, the Pirates tallied the first goal with 13:12 left in the first half. The hosts then added a deflating goal just 5.1 ticks before intermission to take a commanding two-goal lead into halftime.

Bluffton’s overall record improved to 11-6-2 after the convincing win, which set up a home district finals rematch against Riverdale at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 28.

The Falcons (8-5-5) upset top seed Van Buren 1-0 in overtime in the first semifinal Tuesday evening at Steinmetz Field. 

Allen East closes its season 15-4 with the defeat. Van Buren ended up 12-4-2 after their upset loss.

“I am proud of the job the girls did on Rilynn Jones and Aubrey Young, they are such dangerous players,” said Pirate head coach Jamie Mehaffie. “We worked on containing them in practice and executed well.

“We kept Jones to shots from 30 yards out mostly,” he noted.

The tightly-marking Bluffton defense hounded speedy Mustang junior ace Jones, who had 44 goals and 13 assists this year. 

Quick AE senior Aubrey Young netted 25 goals on the season but was also bottled up by the Pirate defense.

“Bluffton came out with a game plan to double down on our two big players,” said AE head coach Steve Roeder. “They had two to three girls on Ri every touch. Hats off to Jamie, he has a great program and a great feeder program.

“Number six (Blair Utendorf) was very good in the middle of the field,” he added.

AE had the better of the ball possession very early in the match. A shot by Young went wide 5:17 into the fray. A right corner kick by Jones was deflected by the defense at the 33:49 mark.

Jones had a left corner kick shortly thereafter, but nothing came of her feed.

Bluffton then started to take control of the play and attacked consistently.

Pirate Nora Matthews had a shot blocked with 24:52 left in the first half. A direct kick by Jones from 24 yards out sailed just over the goal at the 21:35 mark. A Bluffton shot on goal was saved by Mustang keeper Sierra Studer at the 19:26 juncture.

Pirate sophomore Aubrey Burkholder blasted a direct kick that was deflected out of bounds at the 15:55 point. 

A Pirate right corner kick with 15:18 left was followed just over two minutes later by a crucial play. Blair Utendorf booted a hard one-hopper from about 20 yards out that bounced close to Studer’s right. 

As she slid downward the ball skipped under her right arm and into the back of the net with 13:12 to go in the half.

Senior Ella Armstrong got the assist. 

Studer then made a fine sliding save on a hard shot to her left 63 seconds later as the Pirates kept up the pressure, having clearly seized the momentum.

Studer grabbed Pirate shots at 8:22 and 7:07. A direct kick by Jasmine Hasting was blocked six minutes before intermission. Another shot on target was saved by Studer at the 3:30 mark.

Jones then fired a shot on goal from about 25 yards out a few seconds later that Kynzie Ewing saved. Jones then left-footed a left side shot from 23 yards out that skittered just wide of the goal 2:55 before halftime.

AE then had its best scoring chance at the 55-second juncture. Jones booted a corner kick that resulted in a shot that was deflected into a quick Mustang ricochet try from five yards out right at Ewing, which she grabbed. 

Perhaps distracted by the near miss, AE seemed to let its guard down and the opportunistic Pirates capitalized. 

Bluffton kept up the pressure and with just 5.1 seconds to go in the half, Armstrong punched in a second goal from close range on the left side with her left foot off a Lilly Dagani assist.

“That goal was huge,” said Mehaffie. “It was a big boost for us and discouraging for them.”

“We gave up a cheap goal right before halftime,” Roeder lamented.

Bluffton blunted the expected Mustang charge to start the second half. 

“We knew they would come out hard early in the second half,” said Mehaffie. “We needed to negate their energy. We always talk about the first five minutes and last five of each half being so big.”

“We couldn’t score early in the second half, they shut us down,” Roeder noted.

Burkholder fed the ball nicely to Utendorf, but she wasn’t able to finish from 10 yards away.

Jones had a left side shot go out of play with 30:20 remaining. Young and a Pirate had a hard collision 10 yards in front of the net 25 seconds later.

Matthews passed a good crossing ball to Utendorf, who lifted a high shot that Studer had to make a leaping one-handed save on at the 22:45 mark.

Jones launched a long shot with 20:45 to go that Ewing saved easily. AE junior Dylan Miller then rifled a 21-yard shot that scooted just wide of the goal to the left with 19:53 remaining.

A long free kick by Jones at the 17:33 mark went awry. Jones then booted a long left side direct kick with 16:44 left that went wide right.

The relentless AE junior kept trying to dent the net, firing a left side left-footed shot into the side of the net with 14:55 to go.

Speedy Pirate sophomore Mya McDougle got off a shot that went wide right with 12:30 remaining.

The speedy Jones then made a pretty touch and rocketed up the left sideline to earn a corner kick with 11 minutes left. But the ensuing header was cleared.

Jones launched a right side shot from 29 yards out which resulted in a rolling ball snapped up by Ewing with 9:50 to play.

Burkholder’s shot at the 7:20 mark was saved by Studer. Burkholder then made a nice steal deep in AE territory and fired a shot that was deflected away by Studer. 

Matthews got a shot at a rebound but it went over the goal with 5:20 remaining.

Mustang Miller’s shot went wide right at the 2:10 juncture, and neither team had a good scoring chance the rest of the game.

Bluffton directed 10 of its 15 shots on goal. Only three of AE’s eight shots were officially on target.

Pirate goalkeeper Kynzie Ewing made three saves, while AE keeper Studer was credited with eight stops.

“Fifteen and four is a great season,” Roeder summed up. “We set a lot of records and have nothing to be ashamed of. Good luck to Bluffton.”

For Mehaffie, he played down the revenge motive Saturday against Riverdale. The Falcons rallied late to tie and then upset the Pirates 2-1 in overtime last year in a gut-wrenching district final after the hosts dominated play for the first 70 minutes. 

But the revenge rematch factor has to be on the Pirate players’ minds, even though Bluffton won 1-0 at Riverdale earlier this season to erase some of the sting.

“We won 1-0 over there, but both teams are different since then,” Mehaffie said. “These girls have been playing against Riverdale since U-8. Usually when we meet, one mistake makes the difference.”