Mooney blasts Struthers in soccer match

By BOB ETTINGER

sports@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Holding onto the ball is something every soccer team tries to do in some capacity or another.

The Cardinal Mooney girls, however, have put their own twist on the strategy and used it to perfection in Monday’s 16-0 victory over Struthers in a Division II sectional semifinal at Farmer’s National Bank Field.

“That’s definitely our identity,” Mooney coach Thomas Beck said. “We have a big sense for possessing the ball.

“We try to control the speed of the game with possession,” Beck said. ”We try to open up the defense. If it’s already open, we try and go forward right away.

“We did a god job going forward today,” Beck said. “I call it possession with a purpose. Really, what that means is when we have the ball a lot, we want to move the ball forward a lot.

“We did a fantastic job of doing that tonight.”

The sixth-seeded Cardinals (10-3-4) will play third-seeded Howland in a Division II sectional championship game at Howland on Thursday at 7 p.m.

The purpose Mooney possessed with seemed straightforward. The Cardinals were looking to put the ball in the back of the net and they did so early and often.

Grace Venturella scored twice in the first eight minutes and Anna Wollet added another goal in that span as Bre Evans assisted on two of those goals.

“Mooney is a great-coached team,” Struthers coach Ron Batholomew said. “Their kids have a lot of talent, a lot of heart. They’ve played together for a while. They’re a terrifice team and they’re going to be a force.”

Paige Pavlok, on an assist from Venturella, and Lexi Saunders then added to the total with goals just 24 seconds apart to put the Cardinals ahead, 5-0, with 27:24 to play in the first half.

Alexis Ghossain got in the action next before Evans finally scored her first goal as the lead ballooned to 7-0 with 11:47 to play in the half. Evans then assisted Ava Szalay before netting her second score in the final minute of the half as Mooney took a 9-0 lead at the intermission.

Evans completed the hat trick in the fifth minute of the second half before assisting on goals from Pavlok and Wollet to make the score 12-0.

Evans finished with three goals and five assists.

“They were finding space in the midfield and that helped us move forward,” Evans said. “Then we were getting the ball wide and cutting in and crossing it in. At first, I was frustrated. Then, I calmed down. I tell myself to take it easy and I’ll score.”

Gia Diorio scored two goals and Lucy Graziano and Gia Diorio each added another. Venturella assisted Graziano.