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FALCONS SOAR
By Greg Gulas
AUSTINTOWN
Goals by Camryn Constance and Katlyn Klasic, and goalkeeper Lucy Vitullo’s second shutout of the season helped lift Austintown Fitch to a 2-0 victory Monday over Warren Harding.
The win in opening-round action of the of the Division I girls soccer tournament at Falcon Stadium, gives the Falcons a season sweep of their All-American Conference Red Tier opponents. In the regular season, Fitch twice defeated Haring by 4-1 scores.
IN the next round, the Falcons will meet Green on Thursday. Green defeated Canton McKinley 10-1 on Monday. The sectional title game on Thursday will be at Green High at 7 p.m.
“We played an excellent all-around game tonight — it was a total team effort,” Falcons head coach Bill Spencer said. “Credit Camryn and Katlyn for giving us the early lead, and Lucy for another fine job in goal.
“I love defense, however, and our center backs Moriah Berni and Sarah Egolf, who rarely come off the field, played the entire game once again and did a tremendous job,” Spencer said. “They’ve worked well together all season long.”
Constance’s fourth goal of the campaign came 79 seconds into the game.
“The ball came off of their goalie [India Stovell], bounced back to me and I was able to bury it.” Constance said. “This was a big win for us because we needed to build our confidence as we get set for Green High School on Thursday night.”
Klasic’s goal just 2:54 later was her sixth of the campaign as the Falcons (7-3-7) extended their lead to 2-0.
“We got the ball down the right side of the field and Abby Knight tried to cross it to the middle,” Klasic said. “The ball then came back to me and I was able to put it in the right corner of the net.”
The Falcons had 10 shots on goal, holding the Raiders (3-13) to one which came at the 1:28 mark of the opening half.
Vitullo was like the Maytag repair man in waiting. She applauded her defense for such an easy night between the pipes.
“Our defense was absolutely amazing tonight,” Vitullo said. “They step to every ball, push through and are like a wall in front of me. We played well at both ends of the field and it’s great to get that first tournament victory.”
Raiders head coach Diane Hernandez said if you take away the first five minutes of the game, it’s a different story.
“We played 74 minutes of outstanding soccer tonight,” Hernandez said. “It’s those first five minutes that I wish we had back.
“Austintown Fitch passes and moves really well, but we made some adjustments after those two early goals and it really paid off,” Hernandez said. “Not only did we play our best game against Fitch this year, but it was probably our best game overall for the season. Everyone played with a lot of heart tonight.”