By Eric Frantz for the Dayton Daily News

SPRINGFIELD | Ron Griest isn't shy. His Northwestern girls soccer team is one of the area and state's most competitive programs.

"Obviously, we are the favorite in the district and we should be," Griest said. "But you still have to play."

Over the past 11 seasons, Griest's squads have played extremely well. With five Division II regional final appearances since 1994 — including the past two years — Northwestern is poised to challenge for its first state berth.

The Warriors, the Dayton 2 district's top seed, enter postseason play 14-1-1 and ranked eighth in the D-II state poll. Northwestern, which opened tournament Thursday at home against Twin Valley South, is second in the Miami Valley Soccer Coaches Association poll behind Alter. The Warriors' lone loss was 3-2 to Youngstown Cardinal Mooney, the state's fifth-ranked D-II team. They tied Tippecanoe.

According to Griest, this run of excellence was expected.

"I've coached these girls since they were 6 years old in the Northwestern Lady Warriors Soccer Club," Griest said. "And we always knew with this group of kids that we were going to have a pretty good three-year run once they hit high school. Next year should be just as good."

Led by skilled defenders Abby Griest, Heather Harshbarger and Amy Kistler, the Warriors have hung their hat on defense. Two years ago, Northwestern allowed six goals in the regular season. Last year the Warriors surrendered eight and this year gave up 13.

"We've always been a good defensive team," Griest said. "We simply don't let people score. We figure if we can get one goal, we've got a pretty good chance to win. Defense is our strength."

Offensively, junior Jenna Cooper has carried the load. The "real deal" according to Griest, Cooper leads Northwestern with 28 goals and seven assists.

Should the Warriors reach the regional final again, it will mark a first. Twice Northwestern teams have advanced to back-to-back regional finals.

"We went in 1997 and '98 and ran into Missy Gregg and Alter both times," Griest said. "Neither of those games were very close, but when we lost to Bexley

(3-0) two years ago I think that was our wake-up call. A lot of these girls were freshman playing in that game and that showed them where we needed to be. Last year when we lost (to Dublin Jerome 2-1) I felt like we should have won the game. We think we match up pretty good this year."

In year's past, Northwestern has gone north for the regional usually facing Columbus teams. This season a shift has the Warriors in the Cincinnati/Dayton regional. A rematch with the Knights (or a meeting with Hamilton Badin) may be in the cards should both reach the regional final.

"The regional will be incredibly difficult," Griest said. "But it's fine with us. You can go to an easier regional but at some point you're going to have to beat someone who is very good. You have to play everyone eventually and we're not afraid of anyone. We know we have our limitations but we're not going to run. We're going to show up and play the best we can."