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Canfield blanks West Branch, faces Niles for title
By StevE WILAJ
CANFIELD
At halftime, Canfield girls soccer coach Phil Simone thought his team could have led West Branch by three goals, maybe more.
However, after 40 minutes of play in Monday’s Division II district semifinal, top-seeded Canfield was stuck in a scoreless tie thanks to Warriors goalkeeper Lea Bock.
“We had the control and a lot of opportunities,” Simone said. “Hats off to their goalie. She made a bunch of phenomenal saves that really kept them in the game in the first half.”
But in the 50th minute, Canfield finally broke through Bock. Anita Mancini, with an assist from Bailey Fischer, scored with 29:24 remaining in the second half.
That goal stood up as Canfield defeated fifth-seeded West Branch, 1-0, to advance to Thursday’s district final against Niles.
“It was really great teamwork,” Mancini said. “It was a great through-ball by Bailey and I really wanted it. The whole team really wanted it today and I’m just glad we were able to finish.”
The sophomore’s goal was the only blemish for Bock, who finished with 14 saves as the Warriors season came to an end with a 14-2-2 record.
“We came out more defensive than we normally do,” West Branch coach McKenzie Wallace said. “We practiced that over the weekend. The goal was to hold, figure things out and then push forward. Unfortunately we didn’t get many chances to push forward.
“But we shouldn’t have any regrets. We’ve had a really great season, worked extremely hard and the girls played their hearts out.”
The Warriors, playing without top scorer Melinda Trimmer due to injury, certainly didn’t have many scoring opportunities. Canfield goalkeeper Olivia VanDevender had a relatively easy night with four saves, as the Cardinals (14-4) controlled possession for a majority of the game.
“Everybody we’ve played so far, locally, has played defensively and tried to slow us down,” Simone said. “So we were expecting that again and we’ve been working on possession and trying to break down the defense. We got our opportunities but we have to finish a little better.”
Canfield will get the chance to capitalize better on its opportunities against second-seeded Niles. Although the Cardinals haven’t faced the Red Dragons yet this season (the teams scrimmaged in the preseason), Simone knows Canfield “can’t take [Niles] lightly.”
Mancini said, “I think it will be a really good game. I’ve played against some girls on that team before and it’s always been real competitive. As a team, we’re really confident and we want it really bad.”