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HOWLAND-POLAND NEXT
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HOWLAND - FITCH - (5) Sara Ford of Fitch gets tangled up with (1) Tyler Nicholas during their game Monday night in Howland.
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HOWLAND - FITCH - (6) Tori Koch of Fitch battles (1) Tyler Nicholas for the ball during their game Monday night in Howland.
Albani’s goal nets Tigers 1-0 win
Fitch’s season ends with a 13-5-1 record.
HOWLAND — Howland High’s Gina Albani was a little nervous about her interview following the Tigers’ game with Austintown Fitch in the Division I girls soccer district semifinal.
“Did what I say sound good?” asked the junior forward.
Albani did just fine in talking with reporters but it was her play on the field that was more important.
Her shot of a loose ball near the front of the Fitch goal found the back of the net at 32:08 of the first half to give the Tigers its only score in a 1-0 victory over the Falcons.
Howland (15-4-3) moved on to face Poland Thursday at Howland at 7 p.m. for the district championship.
“I was standing there waiting for the crossing pass to happen,” Albani said about the game-winning goal. “The ball ricocheted off of Kelly Drew and I saw it there and I said, ‘I just have to get it in.’
“I just pounded it and prayed to God.”
The goal gave the Tigers the early lead and tons of confidence against a Fitch team that won the Federal League and was known for its tenacious defense.
“Getting that goal was really important because I felt like that was my job to help us get an early lead,” Albani said.
Howland coach Pat Hovance said the early score by the Tigers set the tone for the rest of the game.
“Any goal against these guys is big,” Hovance said.
“They won their league and didn’t give up a goal so we knew getting a goal and getting it early was big.”
Hovance said that the early lead enabled the Tigers to attack more throughout the contest.
Up unto that point, Fitch (13-5-1) had the offensive advantage by forcing the action but after getting the lead Howland controlled the ball and had field advantage for most of the rest of the contest.
Howland outshot the Falcons 8-4 and forced the Falcons to play defense.
“We made one mistake,” Fitch coach Carlo Trafficanti said. “We had our own early opportunity when we hit the crossbar five minutes before they scored.
“The difference was they capitalized on their chance and we weren’t able to capitalize on our chances.”
The Falcons were the second-seeded team but elected to jump into the first-seeded Howland bracket which is why the two programs met in the semifinals.
“We knew we had to face them sooner or later so we wanted that challenge,” Trafficanti said. “If we win then we would have a championship game at our place.”
As much as the Tigers offense kept the ball away from the Falcons for most of the contest, its defense was stellar when it needed to be strong.
Led by defenseman Megan Long and goalkeeper Casey Haering, Howland limited Fitch to just four shots.
“Defense is very important,” Long said. “I knew it was going to be a close game, one goal either way, so we had to take care of the back and keep it clean.
“It was a very physical game and our girls love that style of play so we stayed right in there with them.”
Fitch kept the game close because of the outstanding play of its own goalkeeper Ali Tolich.
Tolich had seven saves but most of them were spectacular, including several leaping and diving stops.
That gave the Falcons one last chance to press the Tigers in the final three minutes and nearly produced the game-tying goal.
Fitch’s Kristen Schmidt kicked the ball on a high bounce that appeared to bounce over Haering’s head but the senior recovered to dive backwards and grab the ball before it crossed the goal.