Ward’s 24th goal helps Red Dragons eliminate Bulldogs

October 21, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

By Steve ruman

NILES

Prior to Monday, the Niles and Lakeview High School girls soccer teams had played a pair of matches and not a thing was settled between the two All-American Conference foes.

In early September, the Bulldogs and the Red Dragons played to a 2-2 draw at Niles. One month later, the two teams played to a 1-1 draw in Cortland.

In the deciding district semifinal contest, a tie wouldn’t do. Thanks to a fast start by Niles and a decisive second-half goal by Hannah Ward, the Red Dragons didn’t need extra time as they defeated the Bulldogs 3-2 in a rain-soaked game at Bo Rein Stadium.

The win lifts the Dragons’ record to 14-2-2 and advances them to Thursday’s district final game at Canfield.

Lakeview ends its season at 12-4-2.

A year ago, Lakeview edged Niles 4-3 in two overtimes in the district semifinals.

“This was a huge win, for this team and for the program,” Niles coach Jennifer Mease said. “We’re a young team, so hopefully this will continue to build confidence in this team and build interest for the future of this program.”

Niles set the tone of the first half early on when MacKenzie Cowell scored from 35 yards out at the 31:11 mark to give the Red Dragons a 1-0 lead.

The Red Dragons maintained their slim lead for the next 20 minutes, but they spent almost the entire time with their offense applying major pressure toward the Lakeview end of the field.

“We came out really strong, we executed well and kept the ball away from Lakeview’s potent offense,” Mease said. “That was our goal and that was key in establishing momentum.”

Niles broke through again with 11:21 left in the half when Delainey Cowell took a pass from Ward and found the net to give the Dragons a 2-0 lead which they would take to intermission.

“What I saw in the first half wasn’t anything close to what I ever taught our players and it was quite frankly embarrassing because Niles was beating us in all aspects of the game.” Lakeview coach Shawn Varley said. “It was like we never touched the ball before.

“We told our girls at the break that they had to come out with a different mindset. I challenged them for their pride.”

Lakeview did indeed respond. Eight minutes into the second half, Sam Wolff turned a rebound from a penalty kick into a goal to cut the Dragons’ lead to 2-1.

However, just as the Bulldogs seemed to be gaining all the momentum, Ward answered with a nifty goal, working the ball from the sideline toward the center of the field before firing it in from 25 yards out. It was Ward’s team-high 24th goal of the season. The sophomore also leads the team with 18 assists.

“That was a beautiful goal, and it was huge because Lakeview came out and really applied pressure and had us on our heels,” Mease said. “With a two-goal lead, we didn’t come out very aggressive offensively in the second half, and it almost cost us. That was all on me, and it was a learning experience.”

Abby Pavlik provided the final goal at the 23:48 mark.

“This was an important win over a very good team,” Mease said. “To be moving on to the district final is a big step.”