Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Photo
Canfield’s Cheyenne Story, right, tries to keep West Branch’s Braddin Williams from the ball during Monday’s district semifinal girls soccer match.
By Brandon Judeh
Canfield
Using tremendous speed and footwork, the Canfield High girls soccer team dominated Monday’s Division II district semifinal match against West Branch.
In rolling to a 5-0 victory, the Cardinals (15-3) controlled the ball 80 percent of the game, limiting the Warriors (5-6-3) to four shots on goal.
“We work on passing the ball around a lot, our game is more of a possession game,” Canfield head coach Phil Simone said. “We also have some girls who can fly, especially on the outside.”
After a couple of near misses, including a shot off the side of the goal post, Canfield finally broke through in the 11th minute of the first half.
Junior defender Kelsey Yankush rocketed a shot, off of a rebound, past goalkeeper Lauren Martig to open up the Cardinals’ onslaught.
“It felt really good to get a goal in such a big game, I was shocked,” said Yankush of her first goal of the season.
The turning point came with moments remaining in the first half. Instead of running out the clock, Simone elected to be aggressive.
His plan worked.
Bailey Fischer pushed the ball past several Warrior defenders and scored with just two seconds remaining.
“We played a little sloppy in the first half and I do think that Fischer’s goal got our girls up and set the pace for the second half,” Simone said.
Fischer said, “Coach wanted us to stay aggressive and get another goal before the half. It felt really good to get that goal and it really helped us pick it up in the second half and pull away.”
In the second half, junior Paige Bidinotto scored two goals while Fischer, a sophomore, added her second goal. Erin McGraw made an assist for the Cardinals.
Victoria Villano and Olivia Governor combined for the shutout.
For West Branch, Martig made 14 saves and Lea Bock four.
Yankush is anticipating Thursday’s district championship showdown against All-American Conference archrival Poland.
“I can’t wait to play them, I’m really excited,” Yankush said.
Fischer agrees.
“It’s always a big game when we play Poland, it’s made even bigger since a district title is on the line, I can’t wait,” Fischer said.