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Kennedy rolls past Newton Falls, 10-1

WARREN — The cold, wet weather didn’t dampen the spirits of the John F. Kennedy girls soccer team Wednesday afternoon.

In fact, the Eagles rolled in a 10-1 rout of sixth-seeded Newton Falls in a sectional first-round game in the Division III Niles District.

The third-seeded Eagles (10-7) wasted little time lighting up the scoreboard as senior Caitlyn Condoleon found the back of the net 3 minutes into the game. Condoleon netted a hat trick. She has 32 goals, and amassed more than 100 in her career.

“We executed well today,” Condoleon said. “We had a job to do and that was to win. I’m very proud of our team because we worked our butts off to get this win.”

Condoleon’s powerful leg, speed and some slick footwork helped her get one in on the left side of the net for a 2-0 lead.

Kennedy senior Myriah Merten also scored three times. Merten scored the next two goals for a 4-0 advantage. She began her hat trick effort with an awesome take down field. As she raced past defenders, with a myriad of moves, she smashed the ball past the keeper. Thirty seconds later, Merten pounded the ball in from long range.

The Eagles took the 4-0 lead into halftime thanks to a strong showing by its defense. Sophomore centerback Faith Hollobaugh was a virtual wall on the back end of the Kennedy defense. It was nearly impossible to get around Hollobaugh as the Tigers managed just one shot on goal in the first half by junior captain Bailey Adams.

“As a defensive line we stood strong the whole game,” Hollobaugh said. “We played to our full potential. It’s important to keep our whole line together and communicating because that’s how we win games. If we stay strong and play like we did today, we’ll have a good chance in the next game.”

The Eagles scored six more times in the second half. Merten and Condoleon each got their third goal, while fellow senior Alissa Scattino scored a pair. Freshman Liana Pagano had a goal. Senior goalie Alexa Chieffo got in the act with a beautiful strike with a minute left in the game.

Junior captain and Newton Falls’ leading scorer Madison Haidet scored the Tigers only goal on an assist by Adams.

“We didn’t like getting beat like that,” Newton Falls coach Rick Guliano said. “We are a young team. My whole defense are all freshman. We’re building for the future. We have two seniors. Other than that, we have everybody coming back next year. We’re hoping for bigger and better things.”

The time is now for Kennedy as they move on to Monday’s sectional bracket final against second-seeded Ursuline.

“We can definitely win in the next round if my kids play like they did today,” Kennedy coach Kayla Zoccole said. “We played really well. Everybody got a chance to go in. It was a definite team win. We scored 10 goals which I don’t normally like to do. I don’t like to run the score up on teams, but I think it’s a good confidence booster going into a semifinal game. Letting these girls know that they can score, and if they try they can score goals. We were working the ball.”

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