‘This One Stings Quite A Bit’ — Badin’s Season Ends With D-III Regional Loss To Unbeaten Ross

By Rick Cassano

FAIRFIELD – Taking a look at the big picture eased a little bit of Badin High School’s girls soccer pain Tuesday night.

The Rams were mostly very good after starting the season 1-5, but they couldn’t get past unbeaten Ross in a Division III regional semifinal, finishing the campaign with an 11-8-2 record after a 3-1 setback at Fairfield Alumni Stadium.

“I’m really proud of us,” said Badin’s Bella Heile, a senior center back. “I think we had a really tough schedule and we had some adversity early in the season, but we came through it and got to the regional semis. We peaked at the right time. We just couldn’t get it done tonight.”

It was the end of the prep soccer trail for Heile and fellow seniors Reagan Nieman, Amber Broxterman, Avery Schermer, Danielle Birri, Annie Zboril and Kaylah Westerbeck as Badin came up short in its bid to return to the Final Four. The Rams were state runners-up in 2025.

Two of those seniors – Nieman (Northern Kentucky) and Broxterman (Heidelberg) – are set to play at the next level. Heile said she’s still working to figure out her future.

“I’ll have a lot of good memories,” Heile said. “I’m so thankful for everything that soccer’s given me.”

Badin coach Chris Slusher said his squad showed what it means to persevere this year.

“We were never really truly healthy and played the toughest schedule in the state,” Slusher said. “We heard that we were rebuilding this year. We don’t rebuild, we just reload, so we’ll be back next year.

“I think our girls are classy kids and great soccer players. This one stings quite a bit. It’s a shame that we’re not moving on. These seniors had an incredible four years. All of them have a bright future. They have great character.”

BHS junior goalkeeper Morgan Byrne said it was tough to walk away from the season. She’s confident the Badin will continue to be a high-level competitor in 2027.

“I’m upset, but I feel great about the team,” Byrne said. “Our team chemistry overall was 110 percent. We were ready for this. We played our hearts out. We just couldn’t finish.”

The clash with Ross in front of a large crowd was the first time Butler County’s Rams had squared off since 2022.

RHS (20-0) got two goals from Maci Taylor and one from Isabelle Davis to stay perfect this season and advance to a regional final for only the second time in program history. The Rams played for a Division II regional crown in 2013 and lost to Kettering Alter 1-0.

The current Ross squad will try to punch its ticket to state against Indian Hill (16-0-4) at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Lakota East.

“Why not us?” Ross coach Patrick O’Leary said. “These girls are fun to watch, they’re competitive, and if we keep getting support like this, it’ll be great. This is what it’s all about.”

O’Leary looked around the stadium and said it was a special night for the sport. Crowds of this size don’t normally pack soccer games.

“I’m going to relish this,” O’Leary said. “I’ve never in all my years of coaching seen a crowd like this. That’s awesome for these kids. It was fun for the community. I’m proud to be a small part of it. It’s really cool to share this with my family as well.”

Taylor, a sophomore forward, said she would’ve been “mind-blown” if somebody had told her before the season that Ross would be taking a 20-0 record to a regional final.

“The last few years we’ve gotten kicked out in this round, which was a bummer,” Taylor said. “Our confidence is going to be high going into Saturday. With this team, this group, anything’s possible. Chemistry is one of the big keys to our team.”

Ross has outscored its opponents 95-4 this year and never trailed against Badin, though it was a 1-1 affair at halftime.

Taylor scored in a crowd with 22:23 left in the first half after a throw-in.

“There was a defender toward the side, the keeper … I don’t even know where everybody was,” Taylor said. “It kind of went around the box. I found it and just hit it in.”

Badin countered with an Audriana Wiseman goal past Ross goalie Mia Michel about six minutes later. Badin consistently pressured Ross in the first half, though RHS found more of a flow as the game progressed and gained control after the break.

How about this second-half sequence? Byrne blocked an Ava Bush penalty kick with 31:14 left. Byrne also stopped a Taylor PK just three minutes later, but in between, Taylor turned a Bush corner kick into a goal to give Ross a 2-1 edge.

Davis tacked on an insurance goal with 12:50 remaining after Bush delivered a corner kick into dangerous territory.

“That first goal was unlucky. The other two were just short tap-ins,” Byrne said. “Those corners were definitely great balls played in. I believed in myself on both of the PKs, but there’s no one I believed in more than the 10 in front of me on the field.”

O’Leary said Byrne deserved praise for coming up with two PK stops in a game at this level.

“We do practice PKs, I swear we do,” O’Leary said. “Those are two of our stud PK kickers, so kudos to their keeper. People talk about time being relative. I thought that was the longest second half. Once we got the second goal, I thought time just stopped.”

Taylor said halftime helped Ross reset. She thought her team “panicked a little bit” in the opening half after Badin tied the score.

“We talked about it at halftime and really boosted our energy,” Taylor said. “There’s always pressure, even if you’re not undefeated. Once we got a little more composed and settled, we did pretty well.”

Slusher was frustrated by the officiating in the second half, though he felt Ross gradually stepped up its game.

“The second half was an ugly game,” Slusher said. “We fell into their trap of direct play. They’re a tough team, very physical and very direct. They did a good job of not letting us possess in the second half. Obviously they’re good on corner kicks. They scored all their goals on set pieces.”

Heile said effort wasn’t a problem for Badin. She felt her squad was just a little out of sync.

“The atmosphere was awesome. It was really fun to play in for sure,” Heile said. “I felt like our energy was high. Morgan played an amazing game, but as a team, we’ve got to back her up more. I think we weren’t finding feet as often as we should’ve. The last pass on those combinations was always just a little bit off.”

This is the third straight regional appearance for Ross in O’Leary’s third year at the helm. His Rams lost to Vandalia Butler in 2024 and Oakwood in 2025.

“I felt Butler was the better team,” O’Leary said. “When we played Oakwood, I felt like we were the better team and unfortunately things didn’t go our way in PKs. So coming into this year, knowing what we had, I felt we were going to be better.”

O’Leary said his team has had some issues with slow starts this year. He didn’t think Ross was as composed as it needed to be early in Tuesday’s contest, but he said Badin’s pressure had something to do with that.

“That’s a solid team. They play the hardest schedule,” O’Leary said. “We knew watching them on film that it was going to be a battle.”

Ross dropped Badin from its regular-season schedule a few years back, so Rams vs. Rams matchups have become rare. That added to the big-game environment Tuesday.

Slusher said there’s no good reason why these teams don’t play every year.

“I don’t know if you can call it a rivalry when one school is adamant about not playing you,” he said. “It’s not a rivalry in my opinion if you don’t play each other on a regular basis. Ohio State and Michigan play each other – it should be the same thing here. I thought those games were great for the community. We used to play Fairfield too. It’s kind of odd that we don’t play those two teams, but it has nothing to do with our scheduling.”

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