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Coshocton unable to contain Edison, Ferralli

RICHMOND — Lauren Ferralli is a high-performance athlete.

The multi-sport athlete, though, does her best work on the soccer field, and she excelled in her trio of roles as a finisher, facilitator and defender in the biggest game of the season.

Ferralli delivered one of the best performances of her career, as the senior standout tallied a hat trick and two assists to lead the third-seeded Edison girls soccer team to a 5-0 victory against fifth-seeded Coshocton in an Ohio Division III, Region 11 sectional final Thursday evening.

“Absolutely, she is our goal scorer,” second-year Edison (8-7-1) head coach Jordan Tice said. “She has a natural talent to put the ball into the back of the net. What else can you say? It has been four years. I have run out of things to say about her. She’s smart. She played very smart tonight. She did a great job setting up corner kicks.”

Both of Ferralli’s assists came off of corner kicks, as Holly Valentine netted two goals off of her assists. Valentine knocked the first one in during the first half, and she scored her second goal on a header off of a Ferralli corner in the second half.

Gracie Dennis and Laine Murphey also produced assists for Edison. Ali Grimes made nine saves in goal to record the shutout.

“We have had some shutouts this season, but this is the best one,” Edison assistant coach Kim Judy said. “Ali truly deserved this shutout.”

Jade Hasseman made nine saves in the loss for the Redskins.

“I did not know much about them coming in,” Tice said. “I knew it was going to be a battle. I saw that they had played some tough teams.”

With the win, the Wildcats claimed their first sectional title since 2016.

“It feels really nice,” Tice said. “It is nice to be on the other side this year. We lost by a goal last year. This has been our goal since the beginning. Last year, we hosted a sectional final here for the first time, but we lost. This year, we wanted to host a sectional final and win it. It feels good that we were able to do that. The girls wanted to see Hiland again.”

Edison will now play No. 2 seed Hiland in the district semifinals Wednesday at a time and place to be determined. The Hawks advanced to the match by blanking No. 7 seed Catholic Central, 14-0, Thursday night.

Two years ago, Edison defeated Sandy Valley, 2-0, on the road that season before falling to Catholic Central, 3-2, in the district semifinals at Dover.

Last season, the Hawks defeated the Wildcats, 5-4, to win a sectional title.

“It was a one-goal game,” Tice said. “We lost a one-goal game. We talked about it all week at practice. It was the first time we played a sectional final here at home.”

Ferralli opened the scoring when she lofted a shot over Hasseman’s head on a free kick from 30-35 yards out to give Edison a 1-0 lead with 31:35 remaining in the first half. The Wildcats extended their advantage to 2-0 almost 20 minutes later when Valentine scored off of a Ferralli corner.

“It was a good night,” Tice said. “We finished the ball. We took advantage of some opportunities on set pieces on the corner kicks and the fee kick. That was nice to see.”

Edison struck again minutes later, as Dennis sent a long ball through the Hiland defense to Ferralli, who beat Hasseman for the second time to make the score 3-0. Ferralli finished off her hat trick when she scored in the second half off an assist by Murphey to extend Edison’s advantage to 4-0.

Valentine’s header off of Ferralli’s corner kick capped the scoring with 25:18 still showing on the clock.

“The first one hit off Holly,” Tice said. “The second one she headed into the net. She has been working hard on headers. It was nice to see her capitalize on one of those.”

Ferralli was taken out of the game around the midway point of the second half before returning to the field minutes later as a defender. Ferralli cleared the ball away a few times during her 10 minutes or so of defense before coming out of the game for good.

“The seniors really wanted to leave everything out here on the field, and they did,” Tice said. “They worked hard all summer long for this.”

Tice and Judy both played soccer at Edison for former Wildcats’ head coach Jeremy Angelo, who is in his second season as head coach at Weir High. The Wildcats played on their home field for the first season when Judy was a senior.

“They developed this field my senior year,” Judy said. “It has gotten a lot better. All of the bumps have smoothed out. I remember in July laying hay on the field. It is getting better and better the last few years. It is a great field now. We are lucky to have this field to play on at the high school.”

Tice did not play on the current home field, as Edison played its home games out at the old Rich Gregor Field at Springfield in Bergholz.

“I remember my last game at home,” Judy said. “It was really raining. It was pouring.”

GAME NOTES

¯ The Wildcats have won four straight games.

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