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LaBrae whips Rovers

Staff photo / Brad Emerine Briley Daniels of LaBrae dribbles past Rootstown’s Esther Shackleford through the midfield early in the second half of a Division III district semifinal Monday night. The host Vikings won 9-1.

LEAVITTSBURG — After a bit of a shaky start, the LaBrae High School girls soccer team caught fire in its home Division III District semifinal match against Rootstown on Monday night.

The top-seeded Vikings allowed penetration and two quick shots early and then missed a penalty kick on the other end, as well as a follow-up attempt.

But LaBrae dominated from there, using its speed and strong play in the midfield to completely overwhelm the young Rovers, who started seven freshmen, to post a 9-1 victory.

“We played extremely well and were solid in the midfield, and our defense did a great job,” LaBrae coach Diane Downey said. “I thought our outside midfielders, Briley Daniels and Emma Jones, were fantastic. We told our girls that winning the 50-50 balls were vital to our success, and we did a great job winning those balls. Rootstown got the 50-50 balls (in a sectional final) against Lordstown and that shifted that game. They beat Lordstown (5-1 on Oct. 17) and Lordstown beat us earlier in the season (2-1 on Sept. 4).”

But that was a while back. The Vikings improved to 14-3 and have won nine of their past 10 contests. They will play third-seeded John F. Kennedy in a district final at 7 p.m. Thursday at Hubbard. The Eagles upended second-seeded Ursuline, 4-2, in their semifinal on Monday.

“We’ve really come a long way as a team,” said freshman forward Laura McCoy, who scored two goals and had two assists. “We just kept working harder every day in practice all year long. We knew it wasn’t going to be a breeze against Rootstown. Every game gets tougher, and we just focus on what we can do better in practices, and it’s paying off.”

Getting the first score on Monday seemed to open the floodgates for LaBrae.

Junior midfielder Kylie Thornton scored that first one at 29:05 of the first half, and McCoy scored the next two, with the her second coming off an assist from Aryanna Hartman.

“We knew if we could score quick and get the momentum going, that we’d have a good chance to win this game,” McCoy said. “That’s what we did against Brookfield last game (in a 10-0 win Oct. 17 in a sectional final). We knew we could do it again.”

Hartman then scored two of her own in the final minute of the first half. The first came off a feed from McCoy with 46 seconds left, and the second came with 12 seconds to go before intermission.

West Branch, which finished 5-13, used a goal from Peighton King 75 seconds into the second half to get on the board. While that lifted the Rovers’ spirit, it didn’t change momentum in the game.

Senior Ava English made it 6-1 Vikings when she converted an assist from McCoy at 29:10, Daniels tacked on a goal at 12:52 and sophomore Alaydren Beck scored at 8:36. Thornton scored her second goal with 5:49 left.

The Vikings took 29 shots, and senior Faith Hartman made four saves. Rootstown attempted 11 shots.

But LaBrae is bracing for a bigger challenge from Kennedy.

“Everyone that reaches a district final is a solid team,” Downey said. “What bothered me a bit was we haven’t played on turf this year because our game with Liberty was canceled. But when Kennedy won the other semifinal earlier today, it made it even. They have a grass home field, too. So it could take both of us a while to adjust to the turf.

“We just want to play with speed and use our quickness, and if we can do that, we’ll give ourselves a chance. We’re playing very well.”

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