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Medina, Navara also score as Lady Zs advance to sectional semis
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
ARGOS — Audrey Wagner is listed as a senior as a defender on Rochester’s girls soccer program, but those days are long past.
Wagner is a striker now, and she recorded her second consecutive hat trick to lead the Lady Zs to a 5-0 win over Oregon-Davis in a Class 1A, Sectional 36 quarterfinal at Argos Tuesday.
Gabby Medina and Taylor Navara also scored for Rochester, who won their second straight game and improved to 3-8-3.
Mylee Heinzmann had two assists, and Bria Rensberger and Navara had one each.
This marks Rochester’s first winning streak since a three-game winning streak in 2022.
Oregon-Davis finished 0-9.
Rochester will face Manchester in the semifinals at 5 p.m. today. The Lady Squires recovered from a 4-0 deficit to stun Culver 5-4 in penalty kicks in the other quarterfinal.
Argos will meet LaVille in the second semifinal at 7 p.m., and the winners return at 2 p.m. Saturday for the final.
Rochester has never won a girls soccer sectional title. This marked the first time Rochester won a sectional game since a 7-0 win over North Miami in 2020.
Rochester was coming off a 4-0 win over Tippecanoe Valley Thursday in their regular season finale, and Wagner had three goals in that game too. She also had a hat trick on senior day against Peru on Sept. 26.
“Honestly, it did not take a lot of work at all,” Rochester coach Chantal Rensberger said of Wagner’s move from defense to offense. “She’s always been one of my best shooters at practice. … Offense obviously is a big struggle for us right now, so for her to step up as a senior the last couple games especially of the season has been big for our team. They look for her for leadership, but I feel like they’re just more comfortable with Audrey in front of them pushing the ball up, and her natural aggression from the defensive end helps her push that ball through. She’s not scared to just plow through girls, so it’s been huge for our team this year.”
Wagner picked up where she left off in the Valley game. Mylee Heinzmann dished to her at the top of the 18, and she split the defenders and had O-D goalkeeper Hana Simon at her mercy before finishing low and to the right corner to make it 1-0.
Wagner outmuscled two defenders for a pass and then dribbled by a third before floating a shot over Simon to make it 2-0 with 23:45 left.
Medina directed in a Heinzmann shot from right in front of the net to make it 3-0 with 9:32 left.
In the second half, Rensberger flicked a pass from the top of the 18 behind her head to Navara running the right flank. She dribbled to within 10 yards, and Simon could not handle her shot as it dropped past her to make it 4-0.
Wagner made it 5-0 with 5:44 left. Navara sent a pass into the box that was deflected off an O-D defender. Wagner ran it down near the goal line and scored from a tough angle to the opposite side of the net.
“Kinda no work at all,” Wagner said in recalling her transition from defense to offense. “I got injured, so they moved me up, and then I scored a goal, and they kept me putting me up, and I scored more goals. … Finishing is a skill, and I practice it at practice.”
Senior defender Skyla Mitchell and Wagner are the team’s most experienced players. They suffered through a winless season last year.
“It feels really good because last year, we lost a lot of our experienced players so we had to rebuild a lot, so it feels really good coming into this game and getting the win,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said she and Wagner are “best friends.”
“Soccer’s a lot of teamwork and communication,” Mitchell said. “And it’s just been a lot of helping people.”
Rochester lost 9-0 to Manchester in their Three Rivers Conference meeting on Sept. 23.
“We’ve got to get aggressive,” coach Rensberger said. “I’ve felt from the get-go Manchester had probably a little bit of an edge on that. Not taking away from Culver, I feel like they’ve had a great season. But I feel like Manchester has depth from the front four to the back four. Their 11 are very, very strong. We have got to get the ball out quicker. We’ve got to make better passes. We’ve got to shoot more often.
“But the biggest thing is aggression. We struggle with volleying and backing off a little bit. We did a little uncharacteristic things in the back half that I didn’t really like. That’s not going to be able to happen against Manchester.”
