Fitch girls oust Boardman

By Steve Wilaj

sports @vindy.com

BOARDMAN

At first glance, it appeared to be the same Austintown Fitch High girls soccer team — which lost twice to Boardman in the past year — that showed up for a third matchup with the Spartans.

However, there was one major difference Thursday night.

This time, the Falcons played with an edge.

Fitch exacted some revenge by handily defeating Boardman, 4-1, in the second round of the Division I tournament. Not only did the Spartans defeat the Falcons earlier in the season, but they knocked them out of last season’s tournament, too.

“It’s our senior year and it’s our rival,” Fitch goalkeeper Andrea Precurato said. “To be able to beat our rival in our senior year when they took us out last year in the second game, it feels awesome.”

Fellow senior Jayme Ritchie agreed.

“It feels amazing,” she said. “It’s nice to do it in the tournament when it really counts.”

Fitch’s edge was on display from the beginning, as Kaelyn Puhalla’s score in the 14th minute gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead. Senior Madison Hefner said that goal did more than just give Fitch (7-9-2) an early advantage.

“That gets us going,” Hefner said. “It gives us hope and makes us believe we’re good enough to beat them.”

A goal by Lauren Bower in the 48th minute put Austintown up 2-0. The Falcons then added two more scores with goals by Maia Totterdale (54th minute) and Megan McNally (62nd minute).

“For us, it’s as soon as we score a goal, we get up,” Ritchie said. “We get our spirits up and get our momentum going.”

Precurato, who finished with seven saves, said Fitch did a good job of executing its game plan.

“We went to the ball a lot more,” Precurato said. “We were more consistent and they were getting nervous. They stepped off more.”

Boardman finally got on the board in the 70th minute with a goal by Alexis Cailor. Spartans head coach Fawzi Mujahed said his team simply made too many mistakes.

“They put a lot of pressure on our girls and we committed some mistakes they took advantage of,” he said. “The field was an advantage for them because they have the speed and it was very muddy.”

With the loss, Boardman ends its season with a record of 8-6-2.

“I believe my girls played good but the mistakes we committed on defense hurt us,” Mujahed said. “We did not play out our usual level, but Fitch played tough and with a lot of intensity. I give them credit for that.”

The Falcons advance to play top-seeded Jackson High on Monday. Fitch head coach Tex Martin admits it will be a tough task, but one his girls are anxious to tackle.