Brock Netter, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
SOSA would like to thank Seth Fain for providing this story’s images.
JACKSON — For most of her career, Abby Seimetz has been used to being on the passing end of a goal.
CREDIT: Seth Fain/SOSA
She’s led the Ironladies in assists for the past two seasons as she’s shown the knack of finding open teammates in a pinch.
But the senior’s selflessness was rewarded in a huge way on Thursday in the biggest game she’s ever played in.
With 28.9 seconds left in overtime, the forward dashed into the box and was on the receiving end of a pass from Sydney Carpenter. Understanding how Athens’ goalie was going to play the shot, Seimetz sent a perfect chip into the back of the net for a 1-0 overtime victory in a Division II district semifinal.
“That was such a perfect pass from Sydney, it couldn’t have been any better,” Seimetz said. “It was right at my feet and I just put a chip over the goalie since I figured she was going to dive for the ball.”
The victory marks the 10th goal of the season for Seimetz, the 12th shutout pitched by Jackson this season, and the program’s first district final appearance since 2016.
“Jackson women’s soccer has never won a district title before, so if we win, that will make school history and that’s something we all want to be a part of,” Seimetz said. “We all know at some point the season is going to end, but I want to go out with a bang.”
Early on, Jackson had no troubles getting through Athens’ back line and firing off shots. But Athens’ goalie Kayla Hammonds was there every time to make the save.
It was nothing but back-and-forth throughout the first 40 minutes, though Hammonds shined with six early saves to keep the game scoreless.
Nothing changed in the second half as the night began to wear on both teams and exhaustion began to set in.
“We know in those types of moments that we have to stay together and remain patient,” Jackson’s Makayla Wyant said. “But we’ve been waiting for this opportunity since we were freshmen and we weren’t going to let this slip through our fingers.”
As the second half came to a close and it became a sudden death overtime period, it was truly gut check time for both teams.
Although neither built up much momentum, that was soon about to change. Athens had a chance to slip a goal through the right side, but Mattie Walburn laid out for a huge save to keep things knotted at 0-0.
On her goal kick, she managed to find Carpenter streaking up the right side of the field. The speedy freshman outraced a pair of Bulldog defenders before crossing the ball into the box.
It took a friendly hop right to Seimetz, who finished the rest to propel Jackson to victory.
“We knew tonight was going to be tough. Athens is a really good defensive team and they’ve only given up 12 goals all season,” Jackson coach Jon Groff said. “I told the girls that the first team to score was probably going to win, and that’s what it came down to. We had a couple girls go down with injury, but they were determined to wrap everything and finish the game. The girls played so hard and fought until the very end. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Jackson advances to play in a Division II district final against Marietta, who defeated Circleville by a 10-0 final to advance. That game will happen at 7:30 p.m., Thursday at Piketon High School.
“There would be no sweeter victory than to beat Marietta, who has knocked us out of the tournaments in the past two seasons,” Wyant said. “We want this so bad and we’re going to give it everything we have.”
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