Mancini, Petracci, Klacik score in Canfield victory

By Dan Hiner

sports vindy.com

HOWLAND

The Canfield girls soccer team took care of business early against Howland on Wednesday night. The Cardinals were aggressive on offense en route to a 3-0 victory over the Tigers.

Canfield (6-1, 6-0 All-American Conference, Red Tier) didn’t waste any time, with junior Anita Mancini and sophomore Alana Petracci scoring early in the first half for a 2-0 lead.

“We were aggressive to the ball up top, [we] had some good movement on some of the goals and we had a killer instinct going forward,” Canfield head coach Phil Simone said.

Senior Haylee Klacik delivered the final blow after she slashed her way through the Tigers’ back line and lofted the ball just out of reach of Howland goalie Kamryn Buckley, giving the Cardinals a 3-0 at halftime, and all but putting the game out of reach.

“We were just really pumped up — we were ready for it. We started getting some plays up top and we started getting some goals,” Klacik said.

Howland (4-5-2) had trouble maintaining possession in the first half. The ball seemed to be on the Tigers’ side of the field most of the game.

“At halftime we had a talk,” said Howland head coach Joe Megyesi. “I don’t want to keep saying we have a young team, but each game we are trying to learn more and more. You got to give it to Canfield, I was really hoping it was going to be a lot tighter, and it should have been.”

Howland’s offense struggled throughout the game — due in part to the Canfield defense, which limited the Tigers’ shot attempts. Simone credits his back line for the Cardinals’ defensive play this season.

“Defensively, we’re pretty tough. We’ve got our two center defenders — this is their third year starting back there,” Simone said. “We’ve got some experience, but overall we try to get them to play high-pressure all over the field. So that does help our backline a little bit more, and we’re pressing a little bit higher, but overall they’ve been solid this year.

“I think they only had two shots, one in the first half and one in the second half. I always love playing a game where the goalkeeper is bored to death. That means we shut them down defensively. I’m very happy with our defensive job tonight.”

Megyesi said Howland has played a difficult schedule to this point in the season, and even though the Tigers are struggling to play consistently, he doesn’t see a bad loss on the team’s record and hopes the team is gaining experience throughout the season.

“We have a tough schedule. I like it that way,” Megyesi said. “We’re certainly hoping to keep it that way next year because I feel, once we get into the playoffs, I feel that we are going to be more confident in Division II schools that we essentially belong to.”

Canfield has played well since entering conference play. The Cardinals are unbeaten in the conference, and the win over Howland was their second over the Tigers this season.

“It’s always nice no matter how your team is doing,” Simone said. We thought we could possibly be there again this year, but at this point we’re one game over the halfway point in the conference. It’s a good feeling to have beaten all the teams (in our) first round. Howland was the first team we beat twice, to get that win as well.”

Klacik gave a little advice for the team as they try to stay undefeated in conference play.

“[We need to] focus on one game at a time, and keep our heads in the game.”