It was a big year for the Badin High School soccer program as both varsity squads reached the Division III Final Four. The girls dropped a 1-0 decision to Bay Village Bay in the state championship game, while the boys were in the state semifinals for the first time ever before bowing to Columbus Watterson, 1-0.
“It’s just an honor and a privilege to coach these girls,” head coach Chris Slusher said after the closely-contested title game loss at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus on Saturday, Nov. 8. “Our goal was set at the beginning of the year to win state. We were just one goal away from making it happen.”
Bay had the better of play in the first half and tallied with 15 minutes before the intermission. Badin recovered in the second half and controlled the action, but just couldn’t find the back of the net.
Senior Addy Marshall ended up hanging onto the left post inside the net late in the match, chasing a ball she couldn’t quite get to. “We came out slow at the very beginning of the season and we ended at state,” Marshall told Rick Cassasno of swohiosportsdaily.com afterwards. “We did it. … We just ran out of time.”
Badin started out 0-3-1, including a 5-0 setback to two-time defending state champion Summit Country Day in the first-ever varsity match at the Rams’ Matandy SportsPlex. The Rams never looked back after that, going 15-0-4, winning the GCL Coed division title, and making the program’s 10th trip to the state finals.
Badin defeated Akron Hoban 1-0 in the state semifinals on a goal by freshman Ava Borg, after winning the regional final 2-1 over Dayton Oakwood when “legacy girls” counted the goals. Junior Reagan Nieman scored in the first half on a nice pass from her cousin, sophomore Audrey Rhodis. Then Rhodis, the sophomore class president, scored in the second half as Badin advanced to state.
Their mothers – Stacey Kuhl Rhodis ’96 and Shannon Kuhl Nieman ’99 -- had started for the Rams in their first-ever trip to the state finals in 1995.
Badin girls soccer has won three state championships – 2005, 2013 and 2014 – and finished as the state runner-up seven times. The Rams are a remarkable 10-0 in the state semifinals.
It takes great goalkeeping to make a run to state – Badin senior Blake Sakach turned in 11 shutouts in goal this season, and Cole Parr, her counterpart on the boys team, counted 16 shutouts as the boys had unprecedented success, winning a record 17 games.
Parr and fellow senior captains Luke Hickey, Colt Long and Max Snellgrove helped key the season-long run. They reached the state Final Four with back-to-back regional tournament victories on penalty kicks over Dayton Carroll and Turpin. It was the first time Badin had ever beaten Dayton Carroll. BHS boys soccer had not played in a district final game since 2004 and had not won a district title since 2003.
The Badin boys, 17-4-3, allowed just three goals during their 17 wins. Watterson knocked them out in the semifinals at Wright State, then went on to win the state championship.
“I am so proud of these guys and what they accomplished this year,” said head coach Eric Hickey, a 1987 BHS grad in his 12th season at the helm. The Badin boys have collected 61 wins over the past five seasons. “What they did was take Badin over a hump and put us back on the map. … We don’t get to hold the big trophy, but in my mind, we won a lot.”
While several Badin boys are considering college soccer in their future, senior Tanner Questa made a unique soccer commitment on the school’s first Athletic Signing Day of the year on Wednesday, Nov. 12. He’ll attend a UDA Soccer Academy – UDA meaning “Undergraduate Degrees Abroad” – in England, at the University of Gloucestershire.