By Rick Cassano

HARRISON – The tie wasn’t necessarily satisfying, but it did serve notice that Harrison High School’s girls soccer team is worthy of being in the Division II state conversation.

The Wildcats grabbed a 1-0 lead against visiting St. Ursula Academy in the final 20 minutes Saturday afternoon before settling for a 1-1 tie at Bill Kuntz Field, leaving Harrison coach Kelli Bill with a positive feeling halfway through the regular season.

“Hopefully the girls now can see how good they are and what we’re capable of doing,” Bill said. “I think St. Ursula is better than pretty good … they’re a great team. So hopefully this is a confidence booster for us and they continue to work hard and believe in each other.”

Harrison is 6-1-2 and St. Ursula is 5-1-2. The Bulldogs are ranked fourth in the latest MaxPreps D-II state poll, while the Wildcats are 15th.

And there’s good reason to think they may meet again in the postseason. They’ve clashed the last two years in the tournament, with Harrison winning in 2024 in a district final and St. Ursula coming away victorious in a regional semifinal last season.

The Bulldogs also beat the Wildcats 4-1 in the regular season last year.

“Coming out today, I don’t really know what we expected,” Harrison junior goalkeeper Mallory Oliver said. “Last year it didn’t go well in the regular season or the playoffs, so we might have been coming out a little bit scared. But we were also excited to play them and beat them. And we did have chances to win.”

It’s fair to say St. Ursula had the better run of play and was particularly aggressive in the second half, but the Wildcats snapped the scoreless deadlock when Addy Matheny knocked in an Emma Smith corner kick with 16:21 left.

Matheny, a sophomore center back, has two goals this year -- both came on corners. This one got past Bulldogs goalie Josie Perez.

“I was so happy,” Matheny said. “I went in as hard as I could and watched where the ball went and just kind of ran my body into it hoping for the best. I basically kneed it in and ran through it.”

Bill said the corner kick worked like it was drawn up and that started with Smith, a senior.

“You kick a dangerous ball in there and let somebody throw their body at it and get it in the back of the net,” the HHS coach said. “That’s what we tell them to do.”

St. Ursula countered with a goal by freshman Matilda Miller off an assist from senior Maggie Ruehl with 9:19 remaining.

“I think it started in the midfield,” Oliver said. “I think we were all just stepping and not containing it to where she was able to dribble around everyone and score.”

It was the only down moment of the day for Oliver, who thwarted numerous Bulldog scoring attempts and made multiple diving saves. And she was happy to get a workout in goal.

“That’s so fun,” Oliver said. “I like the challenge. It’s better than just standing there.”

Perez, a sophomore, had five saves for St. Ursula while subbing for junior Gigi Vollmer. She has committed to Boston College and was on a visit to the school.

Bulldogs coach Fred Oduyoye liked a lot of his team’s play. Certainly it would be nice to get a win on a day when you’re in control more than not, but Oduyoye said he was fine with the outcome.

“I’m 58 now and in my younger years those kind of things would’ve bothered me, but when you see them responding to coaching points and making the changes they need to make, it’s nice to see them maturing,” Oduyoye said. “Even if the score doesn’t reflect it, you’re happy that you can see it in the play. It’s still early in the season.”

Responding was the key for St. Ursula, which turned up the heat to erase the 1-0 deficit and put more pressure on Oliver.

“That’s the switch that you’d like to see,” said Oduyoye, whose team will play Ursuline at the Blue Ash Sports Center on Monday. “I tried to do less coaching in this game. Obviously when we got down, then I was standing up and doing a lot of coaching, but you want the kids to be able to play and learn and develop with each other so you don’t have to do a whole lot of coaching. That’s what makes it fun for everybody.”

Oliver said Harrison should be proud of its overall performance, though she felt the Wildcats were on their heels a bit too much down the stretch.

“I think we fought for it, but I do think we need to work on trying to keep the ball up top and not letting it come back every pass,” Matheny said. “We need to try to work around them and not through them.”

She said there’s no reason why Harrison can’t set its sights beyond the regional semifinals, where the Wildcats have lost the last two years.

“I love this team,” Matheny said. “We’ve got high expectations. We’ve got a lot of girls on our team that I know can play to the top.”

Bill credited the Bulldogs for their play and persistence. The Harrison coach felt it was a great test and learning experience for her squad.

“We were hoping we could hang on for the 1-0 win, but I was proud of the girls,” Bill said. “They fought the entire game. They did what we asked them to do. It’s midseason and we’re obviously not in a league, so we’re playing for the tournament at the end of the year. We’re trying to get better every day.”

Bill said sophomore forward/midfielder Lucy Schwieterman was a standout.

“She was just willing to fight for everything, especially in that second half,” Bill said. “She put a lot of pressure on their defense.”

Junior Anabelle Wiesemann leads Harrison in scoring this season with 16 points (six goals, four assists). She’s followed by senior Evie Freel (five goals, three assists), sophomore Olivia Neal (four goals, two assists), freshman Autumn Hoch (four goals, one assist) and sophomore Payton Ross (three goals, three assists).

The Wildcats’ next two games are in Indiana. They’ll face Lawrenceburg on Monday, then head to Indianapolis on Saturday to play Cathedral.

Oliver will be in Indy on Wednesday to participate in a U.S. Soccer Talent Identification Center event.