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South Range rallies for district title date
DePascale ends Lordstown’s season
By BOB ETTINGER
LORDSTOWN
South Range junior Marie DePascale knew she had no choice but to put the ball in the back of the net with the Raiders tied late in the second half in a Division III district semifinal showdown with Lordstown on Monday.
It wasn’t the fear of failure that had DePascale sweating so much as facing her coach, Paul Lindstrom, if she didn’t deliver.
DePascale needn’t have worried as she buried the shot to give South Range a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Red Devils at Lordstown Veterans Memorial Stadium to send the Raiders to their first district championship game.
“I don’t know how to describe it,” South Range sophomore Bree Kohler said as she battled to keep her emotions in check. “We didn’t give up when we were down.
“The defense did what it was supposed to do after we played so badly in the first half. We got our butts kicked [in the first half]. We didn’t give up.”
Fourth-seeded South Range (11-7) will play sixth-seeded Southeast at Niles’ Bo Rein Stadium on Thursday at 7 p.m. with a berth in the regional tournament on the line.
“We played a tough, tough regular-season schedule,” Lindstrom said. “That keeps us ready.
“The girls are always fighting. They played tough. I get to yelling at them, but they’re hard-working girls. They always give it their all.”
A breakout season came to an end for the top-seeded Red Devils (14-2-2).
“It was a great season,” Lordstown coach Matt Kresic said. “There were no thoughts in that moment [after the goal to put South Range ahead] other than a little bit of shock.
“[South Range] came out with tremendous intensity [in the second half] and we couldn’t match it. It seemed they had a little more in the tank [than we did]. It was a well-played game. I would’ve loved for the result to have gone the other way.”
Kohler sent a pass across the face of the goal to DePascale, who was standing alone on the left side of the field.
“I trust my teammates,” Kohler said. “I knew everyone [on the defense] would be coming to the ball and there wasn’t going to be much time [to shoot].
“I knew if I sent it over [to the other side of the field], somebody would be there. We practiced all week on not attack straight up the field.”
DePascale was right where she was supposed to be in that moment and, without hesitation, sent the ball into the back of the net to give the Raiders their first lead of the contest with just 2:23 to play.
“I was just thinking that if I didn’t get it in, Coach Lindstrom was going to yell at me,” DePascale said. “I was at the back post because [Lindstrom] always yells for us to be at the back post.
“I got there and it went in. I knew Bree was out there and she was going to cross it. I had so much open space. When it went by the goalie, I was there. There was no way I could mess that up.”
Lordstown took a 2-0 lead at the half behind a goal from Sarah Schneider in the 17th minute and another from Lexie Ensign on an assist from Cadence Lickwar in the 39th minute.
“Getting that first goal was huge,” Kresic said. “We were at home. Getting that first goal keeps everyone in the bleachers pumped up and gets everyone moving.”
Kohler cut the Raiders’ deficit in half with a shot that ricocheted off the near post, then Lordstown goalkeeper Abigail Slabaugh before hitting the back of the net in the second minute of the second half.
Addie Flowers netted the equalizer on an assist from Kiley McConnell in the 24th minute of the half.