Photo/LAUREN FLORENCE ST. CLAIRSVILLE’S Megan Malin works the ball up the field during Wednesday’s Division II district semifinal against West Holmes. The Red Devils fell to the Knights, 6-2.
CAMBRIDGE–Allie McMillen tallied the first of six West Holmes goals as the Knights knocked out St. Clairsville 6-2 in an Ohio Division II district semifinal on a misty Wednesday evening in Cambridge.
McCillen’s first goal came via a long pass when the KnSights’ leading scorer raced past the St. C. defenders to take possession of a long pass and buried it left past a diving Rileigh Wood with 31:58 showing in the first half.
Her second goal came with 24:53 left, when she took a quick dribble to her left and beat Wood with 24:53.
“I think their through ball with her speed, I think they underestimated her (speed) a little bit,” St. Clairsville head coach Wes Stoner said of McMillen. “She has a ton of speed and strength and they played a couple of long balls really well and with one touch, she got behind us.
“She’s really skilled too and a heck of a player.”
The Knights took a commanding 3-0 lead with 19 minutes left when Keira Freewalt dribbled in from the far left side and sent a perfect cross in to a waiting Averee Troyer, who converted for the third score of the game.
St. Clairsville appeared to get on the board with 9:18 left.
Makenna Booth perfectly placed a corner-kick from the left side that senior Megan Malin blasted towards the net via a hard-hit header. Knights’ keeper Mia Halverson blocked the shot, but St. C. junior Delaney Florence alertly got the rebound and put it past Halverson.
But the official waved off the goal, stating Florence was offside, much to a loud, vocal disagreement from the St. C. faithful.
“It would have been nice to be down 3-1 and not 3-0, but that one goal wasn’t changing the outcome,” Stoner admitted.
Goals from Casey Ogi and Aveona Yoder brought the deficit to 5-0 before the Red Devils finally scored.
Booth took a direct kick and perfectly arced a shot from about 35 yards away. Halverson jumped up and lightly tipped the shot, but it fell behind her and bounced into the net with 20:48 showing.
Malin later converted with 9:15 remaining to cut the lead to 5-2.
Kenzie Fair scored the final goal of the match with only a few minutes remaining.
The Knights advance to take on Dover, a fellow Wednesday-night winner against Carrollton. The East District 1 finale will take place Saturday at a site to be determined.
St. C., meanwhile, finishes the campaign at 7-7-2.
After three seasons of having a go-to scorer to rely upon, the Red Devils worked their way through the season producing goals.
Stoner admitted it was different, but was happy with the progress of his players who were forced into scoring roles.
“The amount of goal scorers we lost coming into the season, we knew we’d have to manufacture some goals,” Stoner said. “We did a decent job of it, but we could have scored a lot more, we just weren’t able to finish them.
“Delaney isn’t a shooter, Meg isn’t a shooter. They are both great at setting up, but they were forced into those roles because they gave us the best chance to score. And they did a good job at it.
“We have some coming up that we are grooming for that role.”
West Holmes finished with 22 shots on goal, with Wood stopping 15. Halverson needed only four saves to secure the win for the Knights.
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