Stein time: Cards top Falcons

Canfield-Fitch girls soccer

Gallery

By Dan Hiner

dhiner@vindy.com

Austintown

Hannah Stein scored four goals to lead the Canfield girls soccer team over Austintown Fitch 7-0 on Wednesday at Falcon Stadium.

Stein also used some supernatural powers to put the Cardinals in front. Well, maybe not supernatural.

Hannah Stein found her twin sister, Ally, to put Canfield (3-1-1) up 1-0 less than three minutes into the game.

“It‘s like she always knows where everything’s going,” Hannah Stein said. “I know where she’s going, she knows where I’m going. It’s perfect.”

The twin telepathy rarely makes an appearance on the field.

Ally Stein plays center back and the twins usually never play near each other. But Hannah Stein found her sister in front of the Falcons’ net for the opening score.

“When I looked up and I saw her there, that was the most exciting [feeling] ever,” Hannah Stein said.

Marisa Scheetz and Chloe Kalina also scored for the Cardinals. Scheetz scored on a breakaway in the second half and Kalina scored on a header following a corner kick in the first half.

The Cardinals had a nine-day break and head coach Phil Simone said the team need to knock off a little rust. But Canfield didn’t look rusty, scoring five goals in the opening 10:30 to put the game away early.

“One of the things we were working on was attacking quickly, pushing the ball up the field quickly and trying to get a ton of shots off in the first five minutes,” Simone said. “The girls did everything we asked them to do tonight, especially in the first 10 minutes.”

Austintown Fitch head coach Bill Spencer said the loss was a “tough one to swallow” after the Falcons won their first game of the season on Sept. 5 against Louisville.

“Allowing five goals in 10 minutes, there was no formula to come back from that,” Spencer said.

Fitch didn’t have many opportunities to score. The Falcons (1-2-3) didn’t attempt a shot on goal until the opening minutes of the second half.

Canfield goalie Lauren Slanker made just two saves. She spent most of the game gathering loose balls and setting up the Cardinals’ defense.

“The goalkeepers hate it but [coaches] love when the goalkeeper’s bored to death, Simone said.

“It’s tough to keep the 0 on [the board]. You only get three or four shots, you gotta be engaged, staying engaged in the game when you’re not getting action ... when she did get the action she did a fine job.”

Fitch was without its starting goalie. Lucy Vitullo was injured in the Falcons’ win over Louisville and freshman Kristen Klaus got the start.

Klaus made two saves but also allowed five goals. She was replaced by senior Megan Bartley, who made three saves, to start the second half.

Spencer had to pull Bartley for a couple minutes after she appeared to get kicked while diving for a loose ball. After staying on the ground for a couple minutes, Barley returned and finished the game.

“Fortunately we had two healthy goalkeepers coming in and the freshman was able to come back in and give us some minutes there,” Spencer said. “We’re a work in progress.”