ON THE PITCH — Beaver Local’s Leah Stewart dribbles the ball as Edison’s Izzy Mitchell (3) and Riley Conkle (2) converge on Wednesday in a Div. IV sectional contest. - Michael S. Burich

CALCUTTA — Beaver Local’s girls soccer team is already enjoying its two young stars and this is just the beginning.

Sophomore Peyton Dunn had four goals and three assists while her freshman friend Leah Stewart added two goals and two assists in a 10-0 rout of Edison in a Div. IV sectional contest on Wednesday at Pastore Field.

“They work hard and soccer is their life,” Beaver Local coach Liz Connor said. “They bring a lot of fun to the game as well. It’s a big spark when they are on the field for us.”

The top-seeded Beavers improved to 15-2 and will play No. 10 seed River View at 6:30 p.m. on Monday in a district semifinal rematch of last season. The Black Bears beat No. 12 seed Carrollton 1-0 on Wednesday in their sectional.

No. 15 seed Edison (0-18-1) started the evening with just 12 available players and quickly fell behind a relentless onslaught as the Beavers led 6-0 after eight minutes played.

The Beavers were able to work in a variety of players after the sixth goal and reached the eighth goal with 9:33 to play in the first half — meaning under Ohio High School Athletic Association rules that if a team is up eight goals at halftime the game is over.

Adding to the Beaver tally was Jansen Ours and Riley Springer with two goals each as well as Ally Wright with two assists. Edison did not attempt a shot on goal.

Dunn, who had a single-season record 51 goals last season, is up to 37 goals this season. She said she wants to eclipse her father (2005 Beaver Local graduate) Shawn Dunn’s mark of 111 by the time she’s done. It certainly looks like it may come early in her junior year if she keeps up the pace.

“It comes from a lot of motivation to beat my dad’s record,” Peyton said about the way she plays.

Her coach said a lot of the pressure she had on her to provide offense last season is lessened with the introduction of Stewart into the lineup. A highly skilled athlete who has been playing soccer since she was 4 and club ball since she was 8, Stewart has acted as an ideal partner up top for Dunn as she has 24 goals and 24 assists of her own.

“It was really nice having (Stewart) because I knew what to expect when she came up as a freshman so it was really easy to blend together on the field because I already knew her and had played with her for years,” Dunn said.

Stewart said she appreciates Dunn being their to show her the ropes.

“She’s been my best friend since I was younger,” Stewart said. “We’ve played club together for a while, so we basically have good connections on the field, so it’s fun playing with her because I have known her for so long. We can trust each other with the ball to move it up the field.”

Connor said it’s nice to have them as a unifying force on the team since it took a while for the Beavers to figure out a lineup this season.

“We didn’t have a starting lineup until 3/4ths of the season was complete,” Connor said. “We have eight seniors who contribute for us and we have a lot of underclassmen that are very skilled. When someone was sick or someone was injured we always had people that stepped up.”

Despite only tying one game, Edison coach Danah Beaver said there has been improvements on her team this season.

“We have improved in a lot of spots that we were working on,” Beaver said. “We had more shots on goal overall but just less completed goals. We had a lot of freshman that came out this year.

“Some of them played on club teams and some of them are brand new to the sport. We had some older girls come out that were brand new. We’re just continuously working to get better.”

Notes

• Dunn scored on a penalty kick in overtime to eliminate River View last season in the district semifinal. River View is 5-11-2 this season.

• While they have played on club teams together in the past, Stewart and Dunn have gone their separate ways on the club circuit for now. Stewart plays for an Elite Club National League club in the Akron- Canton area, while Dunn is assigned to Beadling out of Pennsylvania.

• Stewart has assists to seven different goalscorers.

• Dunn has had 10 game-winning goals for the Beavers this season.