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Central girls soccer team holds off Edison’s late threat

THRILL OF THE CHASE — Edison’s Lauren Ferralli and Catholic Central’s Naomi Spencer run after a loose ball in the first half of Wednesday’s game at the Tony Recinella Soccer Field. The Crusaders beat the Wildcats, 3-1. (Matthew Peaslee)

STEUBENVILLE — Catholic Central controlled the first half. Edison had the better of the play in the second half.

In the end, the Crusaders scored two goals in the first half and added another in the second half en route to a 3-1 victory over the Wildcats in a girls’ soccer game on Senior Night Wednesday evening at the Tony Recinella Soccer Field.

“It was senior night, so we let the seniors pick the positions they wanted to play,” Catholic Central (7-4) head coach John Madden said. “That was contingent on how we were doing in the game. We have six seniors who normally start for us, and they were playing in different positions. It is a tradition that dates back 15 years and probably longer.

“The defenders want to have a chance to score once in their high school careers. The goalkeeper wants to play in the middle field or on defense. They quickly find out it is a lot different from their normal position. That is why the coaches normally assign the positions rather than the seniors.”

The visitors had their chances to score, but the girls in black were unable to capitalize on all but one of their opportunities.

“We played better in the second half,” Edison (3-7-1) head coach Jeremy Angelo said. “In the first half, we played, but we did not have a lot of shots.”

Offensively for the hosts, Shayna Mirabella tallied two goals, and Allie Zapolnik produced a goal and two assists.

The Blue and Gold used two goalies. Regular goalkeeper Emily Stevens started in the net, and she played the entire first half in goal making two saves. Alex LaRue came on in the second half and recorded five saves. A Catholic Central defender also picked up a save by clearing a ball off of the goal line during the second half.

Lauren Ferralli tallied the lone goal of the game for the visitors off of an assist by Alexa Irvine.

The Wildcats also used two goalies. Chessa Cunningham played in the net in the first half making two saves. Abby Booth came on and played the second half. She made one save.

Edison ended up outshooting Catholic Central, 13-10, and the Wildcats took nine shots on goal, while the girls in white took seven.

“When you have close to double digits in shots on goal and you only put one in, you are not taking advantage of your opportunities,” Angelo said.

The Wildcats took 13 goal kicks in the game, while the Crusaders took seven. Edison ended up taking five corner kicks in the game, while Catholic Central took two.

“Jeremy always brings a strong team,” Madden said. “They always have a strong defense. I have not figured out how he does it, but he always puts together a really strong defense. It is always hard to penetrate. It doesn’t matter if he is having a good year or a bad year. It doesn’t matter if they are having a good year or a bad year. Their defense is always strong. They make it hard to work around or to go through it.”

Zapolnik opened the scoring in the game for the Crusaders with a goal from the outside with 24:45 left to play in the first half. The goal was unassisted.

Later, the Crusaders extended their lead to 2-0 on a goal by Mirabella — off of an assist by Zapolnik. Zapolnik sent the ball into the box, and Mirabella was able to get a foot on it and knock it into the net.

“We started out OK,” Madden said. “We started all the seniors even if they are not regular starters. We had people starting who are normally substitutes.

“With all of the seniors starting, there was not a lot of chemistry out there. We had people in positions they don’t normally play. They were passing to and working with people they are not used to working with. We did not spread the field.

“They were nervous playing positions they don’t normally play or moving from the left side to the right side instead of where they normally play.”

The Wildcats got on the scoreboard early in the second half when Ferralli found the back of the net off of a feed from Irvine to cut Edison’s deficit to 2-1.

The Crusaders responded quickly as Mirabella scored for the second time in the game off of a pass from Zapolnik. Mirabella’s shot hit off of the crossbar and bounced into the net to make the score 3-1.

“We expected a good game both ways,” Angelo said. “We thought it would be back and forth. It usually is. There is was nothing that surprised either one of us.

“We created opportunities. We just did not take advantage. It has been the same story all season. We outshoot teams, and have most of the play and we create opportunities, but we do not put the ball into the net.”

The Wildcats had multiple chances the rest of the way, but they were unable to get a shot to go into the net.

“I don’t know what it is,” Angelo said. “We had one chance where the ball came right to one of our players right off of the goal, and she sent it clear wide almost for a throw in.

“All a coach can do is show them what they are supposed to do and put them in a position to succeed. It is up to the players to succeed. We put them in the right spots. After that, it is up to them. We put people in position, and it is up to them to do what they are supposed to do.”

Catholic Central’s seniors are Aly Orsatti, Theresa Duff, Naomi Spencer, JoElla Daniel, Gabby Capaldi, Stevens, LaRue and Mirabella.

Both teams are scheduled to play Saturday at Harding Stadium in the Fourth-Annual Together For A Cure Awareness Day. Edison will play Indian Creek at noon, while Catholic Central will play city-rival Big Red at 4 p.m. in the final game of the day.

“I have not seen them play yet this year,” Madden said. “It is going to be a big test. They are our rival. We are both from here. No matter what type of year they are having or we are having, both teams are going to bring a lot of energy. I expect to be a hard-fought game. Nobody is going to walk over anybody.

“It will be a fun game. It will be a soccer game. With us being rivals, I am sure the kids will have some extra adrenaline, and they will play up above their normal level. It is always that way no matter what type of year both teams are having.”

The Catholic Central boys will play Indian Creek at 10 a.m. in the first game of the day, while the Big Red boys will play Edison at 2 p.m.

The Catholic Central football team will play Bellaire at 8 p.m.

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