THE PLAINS — The Miami Trace girls soccer team visited the home of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow for a Division III match-up against Burrow’s Alma mater, the Athens Bulldogs Wednesday, Oct. 16.

On a cold night in The Plains, with game-time temperatures in the low 40s and an uncomfortable wind blowing through Joe Burrow Stadium, with fans in the stands and players on the bench huddled in winter coats and wrapped in blankets, the Panthers played arguably one of their best games of the season.

Miami Trace was the No. 7 seed and Athens was the No. 2 seed in the 10-team tournament.

After a scoreless first half, Athens scored at the 37:49 mark of the second half and that was enough for the home team as the Bulldogs held on for a 1-0 victory.

Miami Trace goalkeeper Ella McCarty stopped virtually everything that came at her Wednesday.

She even stopped the shot previous to what turned out to be the game-winning goal.

The shot was taken and McCarty fell to the ground to make the save.

However, she was not able to secure the ball and it was scored off a rebound at very close range.

McCarty made all the usual saves as well as a few outstanding saves throughout the match to keep things close.

An unofficial tally of shots taken gave a decided edge to Athens, with around 20 shots on goal to three shots on goal for the Panthers.

Despite this discrepancy, Athens was unable to pull away. However, one goal was enough as the Bulldogs advanced to the next round.

The District semifinals are set for Wednesday, Oct. 23 at Logan High School.

Athens will take on Chillicothe and Fairfield Union will play Marietta.

“I am super-proud of our girls,” Miami Trace head coach Chad Tolbert said. “We found out…in the first five minutes (Athens) was a two-seed for a reason.

“They were quick,” Tolbert said. “We’re younger than them. I think they had five seniors on their roster and I think all five started. We didn’t start any seniors. We had one play substantial minutes.

“Most of the time we had a lot of sophomores, a couple of freshmen and then some juniors,” Tolbert said. “I’m super-pleased.

“Even on that goal, it was a great save by (McCarty), we just couldn’t hang onto it,” Tolbert said. “It got loose on the ricochet and they scored by crashing the goal. There was no foul there. It was a good play, a bang-bang play.

“I couldn’t ask for more out of the girls,” Tolbert said. “It was a successful season for us and we’re still going to grow going into next year.

“My first year as an assistant coach, we had 11 wins,” Tolbert said. “We’ve broken a lot of records the last two years. We (scored) 74 goals, that’s a new record for a season. We have several girls who are going to be at the top of single season goals; we have one who has single season assists. And it’s going to continue going into next year.

“We had them nervous,” Tolbert said. “They were the No. 2 seed, we were the No. 7 seed. The last time we played these guys was three years ago in the tournament and we lost, 6-0.”

Miami Trace says thank you and farewell to its three seniors — Sara Smith, Hannah Houck and Madison Cory.

“All three of them are four-year players in our program,” Tolbert said. “In their first year, we went 3-13-1. They’ve been rising every year as we’ve gone. I’m thankful for their dedication to the team and for sticking with it.”

In other games on Oct. 16, Fairfield Union beat Unioto, 6-0; Marietta shut out Jackson, 5-0 and Chillicothe defeated Warren, 3-1.

The District championship game is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 26 at Logan H.S. at 6 p.m.

Athens improved to 9-5-3 and Miami Trace ended the season tying for the most wins in a season in program history, going 11-7-1.

Marietta is 12-4-1, Fairfield Union is 16-1-1, Unioto finishes the season at 9-10, Chillicothe is 11-4-2, Jackson finishes 10-5-1 and Warren ends the season 8-8-1.