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Gualtiere, Copeland combine for 7 goals for Indian Creek girls soccer team

WINTERSVILLE — The Indian Creek girls soccer team is dangerous up top. The Redskins use their speed to their advantage by creating a bunch of scoring chances throughout their matches.

Their offensive arsenal was on full display Wednesday night against East Liverpool. The No. 6 seed Redskins recorded four goals in each half, en route to an 8-1 victory against the No. 10 seed Potters in a Division II Eastern District sectional final at Kettlewell Stadium.

“It was a good night,” Indian Creek (12-4) head coach Joe Lewis said. “This was a sectional win, which is huge. The girls played really well (Wednesday). I told them after the game I could not single out one girl. They all played great across the board from the 11 starters to the girls who came in as subs. The girls played a tremendous game.

“The backline played well defensively. We moved and passed the ball extremely well. We had a lot of combination passes. We had girls with shots on goal, and they were unselfish and they crossed the ball or passed it to another girl for an even better shot. I’m proud of the girls.”

East Liverpool head coach Charles Councell declined to comment after the match.

With the win, Indian Creek will play No. 3 seed Dover in the district semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night on the road. Dover advanced to the match by defeating No. 15 seed West Holmes, 4-0, Wednesday night.

“I told the girls if they lose (Wednesday), our season is over,” Lewis said. “We did not want to lose this game. If you win, you stay alive. Now, we go to Dover for the district semifinals. We don’t want to lose that game. We want to go onto the district finals.

“Dover is a tough team. They won our district last season and went on to regionals. They were the top team in our district. They are a very good team and are fast. If we play like we did (Wednesday), we can give them a game.”

Senior standout Rileigh Gualtiere tallied four goals to lead Indian Creek, while Abby Copeland produced a hat trick to go along with two assists. Abigail Starkey collected a goal and an assist. Sam Ratkovec contributed two assists, while Hailey Clark picked up one.

The Redskins used two goalies in the victory. Makenzie Taylor started and made five saves before being replaced late in the game by Faith Stewart, who made two saves.

Allie Kidder scored the lone goal for the Potters and was unassisted.

Alessandra Ferrazzano was in goal for East Liverpool. She made some big saves to prevent Indian Creek from scoring more.

“We did not see them during the season, so we did not get a chance to see what they had,” Lewis said about the Potters. “I went and scouted them. They are pretty good. I saw their backline and who they had up top. I saw their weaknesses and their strengths, and that showed.”

The Redskins netted the first five goals before the Potters scored off of a corner kick to make the score 5-1. Indian Creek scored the final three.

“The boys have a game (today), so we are taking a day off,” Lewis said. “After that, we are going to get back to work to get ready for Dover on Tuesday.”

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