Staff photo / Brian Yauger Ursuline’s Dylan Casey, center, tries to fend off the defense of Salem junior Kade Pasco while Marco Pilolli moves in to support.

YOUNGSTOWN — Two weeks removed from their first matchup, Ursuline and Salem met up once again. While the Quakers were hoping to turn the tables in the rematch, Ursuline held strong, taking down Salem 2-0 in a Division II, Akron 1 sectional bracket final matchup.

“I thought the game was a good battle,” Fighting Irish coach Joshua Auden said. “Salem, we played them about two weeks ago and we beat them 3-0, so I knew that it was going to be a battle this time, too. They came out, it was a good game, it was competitive. I think Salem came out strong and we met that intensity and we came out with a victory.”

The Irish got on the board less than three minutes into the game with junior Abe Rogers connecting with the back of the net.

By the tail end of the contest, Ursuline had fired shot after shot at the net, but would only connect one other time. Sophomore Gage Sedoris hit the net with about 13 minutes left in the game. An aggressive attack which kept Salem out of the attacking third for large portions of the game worked wonders for the Irish.

Game planning for a team you just played provides its ups and downs. Things worked out for Ursuline, however, as the Irish anticipated the adjustments Salem would make and planned around that.

“That kind of gives you somewhat of a tactical advantage,” Auden said. “We saw that they adjusted. They tried to play on the outsides and swing it back across to try to catch us on our inside because we run a three-back but we were prepared for that. Shut that down because we figured that’s what they were going to try to do.”

Salem graduates a senior class of four, including captains Tim Stephens and Cameron Kelm. The offseason isn’t going to be a long one for the Quakers however, as Salem’s squad will be doing indoor over the winter to stay fresh.

“(The season) never quits anymore,” Quakers coach Travis Zeigler said. “We’re going to go right from this (to indoor). We’ve already got two teams registered, so we’ll carry a 16U team and an 18U team indoors and get these boys working. We usually start in January, we do some offseason training twice a week and next thing you know, it’s summer and we’re outside, getting ready for the preseason tournaments.”

Ursuline advances to the district semifinals, where it will take on Kenston. Start time is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at a site to be determined. This is a team the Irish haven’t been able to see, but they’re excited to go up against a new opponent.

“We’ve never played against Kenston before, but we’re excited about playing against new people. They’re a very strong team but we’re looking to match that and we should be able to come out with a victory if we play our game.”

Going into the game with Kenston, Ursuline is still looking to tighten up some things, namely getting the chemistry at its best.

“We’re still refining some of our chemistry and working on some of the passes in the final third,” Auden said. “That’s like the last piece of the puzzle that we’re working on.”

byauger@tribtoday.com