LEXINGTON —As soon as Caliyah Clapper stepped off the bus after arriving at Lexington High School for a Division III district semifinal soccer match against Ontario, she turned to her teammates and told them that she was going to play her best game of the year.
And the junior goalkeeper kept that promise. She recorded 15 saves in the Rams’ 1-0 overtime victory over the Warriors playing the best game of her soccer career and sending Madison (11-8) to the district championship game against Bowling Green at 6 p.m. on Oct. 29 at Milbury Lake High School in the process.
“Caliyah Clapper is the best goalie in this area,” Madison coach Rob Kershner said. “If she dedicated all her time to that position, she would be an All-Ohioan. She can guard the top and she is not scared at all. She is a two-time All-Ohioan in softball and just a great athlete. She was sensational.”
Clapper spent the school day playfully slide tackling classmates in the hallways between classes as she was pumped up for the game since she woke up that morning. She carried over that enthusiasm in her shutout performance.
“It was all about not wanting this to be our seniors’ last game,” Clapper said. “Our coach told us to give it our all because Ontario doesn’t know what is coming and we played our best game at the perfect time. We have been working for this and it showed on the field.”
Clapper spent the first 80 minutes of the game facing shot after shot and every time, she came up big. In the second half, she had 10 saves alone as she was under immense pressure from the Warriors.
“Caliyah was amazing,” Madison senior Ellie Powell said. “Those saves blew my mind and even Ontario was saying how good she was playing. She played lights out. I don’t know what she ate for breakfast, but it worked.”
What worked was she didn’t allow herself to feel any doubt in her abilities. She never once thought that the Warriors would get one by her no matter how many shots they were putting on frame.
“In my mind, I am stopping every shot,” Clapper said. “Every single day at practice, I get peppered with shots one after the other and that makes me ready for any shot that is going to come my way.”
After a scoreless tie after regulation, the Rams finally put away a golden goal when Powell ripped a shot from the top of the box and into the upper right corner of the goal for the game-winner 47 seconds into the first overtime period.
“The ball just came across somehow, I touched it once because I wanted it on my right foot and I shot it,” Powell said. “I didn’t think it was going in, but it went in and I couldn’t hear anything else.”
The Rams had a different approach than they have played all season modifying their formation and strategy slightly to account for Ontario’s young talent.
“Coach had us running the same formation, but in a different way,” Powell said. “He wanted us to play more compact defense but get wide and try to score on the offensive side. It helped us so much. Addyson (Powell) played amazing as a center back and our defense fed off of her. They were lights out.”
It helped the Rams turn a 2-0 loss to the Warriors in the regular season back on Aug. 25 into a 1-0 victory in the postseason further showing their growth as a team.
“I am a different coach and we are a different team than we were then,” Kershner said. “We have all grown so much this season and everyone saw it on the field. I can’t even express how hard our defense played. I am speechless.”
Ontario (15-2-2) saw its season come to an end after winning a Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference title. It was the first time the Warriors were shut out all season.
“We have struggled all year to put goals away,” Ontario coach Larry Atkinson said. “We miss a pass here and there and made a decision to dribble instead of pass, but that is the youth in us. For what we graduated last year and to be in this situation and have the year we have had, we are very grateful. We just missed some opportunities.”
The Warriors lost despite clearly outshooting the Rams and putting more balls on frame by a wide margin. They will say goodbye to 10 seniors and will not appear in the district championship match after competing in the finals in each of the last 17 consecutive seasons.
“That’s what is so awkward about soccer,” Atkinson said. “In games like this, it’s all about who can take advantage of one simple mistake and put it in. I feel bad for the girls and our seniors. We put a lot of effort into this and we have come together as a family and that family is hurting right now.”
The Rams will be back in the district championship match for the first time since 2023. Madison won district titles from 2017-2021 and again in 2023.
Clapper knows a thing or two about playing in big games after leading the Rams softball team to a state semifinal appearance.
“I’ll just tell everyone to keep attacking the way we did tonight and tell our defense to keep holding it down on that end,” Clapper said. “Just keep shooting.”
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Clapper, Rams play lights out in district semifinal upset of Ontario
