Chippewa girls soccer reloads after state finals run, eyes another deep postseason

Advancing to its third state final, first since 2015, and making its sixth state appearance overall a year ago, the Chippewa girls soccer dynasty continues. Since 2001 the Lady Chipps are an area-best 77-24 in the OHSAA playoffs and advanced to their 13th regional last year and ninth in the last 10 years.

“We lost some outstanding players due to graduation,” said Chippewa coach Ruth Coney, whose team finished 21-2 last season.

Gone are standouts like Elena Moyer, Mia Rodriguez, Gabi Gartin, Madison Breeden and Addison Good. Returning, though, are plenty of talented players across the board and up and down the pitch. More importantly, an offense that could light up anyone at any time only gained a year more of experience and returns in its entirety.

That core features dynamite weapons in junior Delaney Marshall and sophomores Emme Donnelly and Alaina Henthorn. When adding in returning starter and senior Cally West, the group has a combined 80 goals and 62 assists for a whopping 222 points last season. That’s an average of 3.5 goals, 2.7 assists and 9.7 points coming back.

Marshall, an All-Ohioan last year, led the team with 41 goals and 15 assists, and Donnelly powered home 18 goals and had seven assists. Henthorn scored 12 times and had three assists, and West was playing quarterback, dishing out 37 assists and scoring nine times.

“We are very fortunate to return all of our starting offense from last year,” Coney said. “I feel that all of our returning starters and players from last year are only getting better and are better than they were last year, which is exciting.”

Some of those other returning starters from a year ago are junior defenders Myra Lewis and Paityn Welty and fellow junior in the midfield Addi Jablon. Along with the trio, a host of freshmen will push for time and opportunity this fall.

It’s the ability to put that all together that Coney feels will be a key for her team to succeed this year.

“We need to continue to build our team chemistry, working hard together and just focusing on achieving our goals,” she said. “Our first goal was for everyone to work hard to rebuild the team to the level that we were last year, and our second goal would be to work even harder to become better than last year’s team.”

Ultimately, with the onus on the team, Coney and company will look to see who steps up into a few roles yet to be decided. One of those is who replaces Madison Breeden, who anchored the spot between the pipes, had 16 shutouts, a .43 goals-allowed average and a 78.3 save percentage a year ago.

No matter who steps up to fill the empty shoes or the veterans returning, for Coney, it's about the team progressing together. It’s a tried-and-true recipe for success over the past 2 1/2 decades.

“We are working as a team to improve everyone’s technical skills and soccer IQ,” Coney said. “It’s not about one player. It’s about the unit as a whole, and we’re coming along as a group.”