St. Clairsville Girls Soccer Advances To D-IV Regional
Top-Seeded Red Devils Blank Coshocton, 1-0; Now 18-2
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NEW CONCORD - John Glenn's high school soccer field has been good to the St. Clairsville girls over the years. For the second time in six seasons, the Red Devils have captured an Ohio Eastern District championship at the Muskingum County facility.
Top-seeded St. Clairsville scored a goal in the first minute-and-a-half Wednesday night and the Red Devils' defense kept No. 3 Coshocton scoreless in a 1-0 victory for the Division IV, East 1 title.
"I love it here," a relieved, but happy St. Clairsville head coach Wes Stoner said. "We play well here. The district championship is the third in Stoner's tenure as the Red Devils made it to the regional finals two seasons ago.
The Redskins (15-4-1) had recorded seven consecutive wins - six by shutouts - and had blanked their previous five opponents while scoring two dozen goals.
However, it didn't take the Red Devils (18-2) long to figure out how to tickle the twine. Senior Ashlynn Lednik's shot was blocked by a Coshocton player in the lower box, but the ball found the left foot of Molly Schultz. The freshman one-timed it into the back of the net.
"Coshocton played really, really well," Stoner said. "My girls played really, really well, as well. It was a tough, physical game, and we knew it would be going in."
From there on both teams relied on their defense and goalkeeping.
St. Clairsville senior Kiya Kyer finished with a dozen saves, some of the highlight reel variety, in achieving her program-record 33rd blanking of her career, and her third straight in the postseason.
"This one was huge," Kyer said. "Our defense really picked it up. They play really well in front of me."
There were a couple of anxious moments for the Red Devil faithful as two balls got behind Kyer. One she chased down, the other senior Kaylee Shafer attempted to clear but struck teammate Addie Mobley directly in the face. After some time on the bench, Mobley returned to action.
"The first one went right through my hands. I don't know what happened," Kyer recalled. "My defense is really good and Kaylee bailed me out on the second one.
"Coshocton was a really good team and we knew how they played," Kyer added. "We're the top seed and everyone wants to knock us off."
Stoner had nothing but praise for his senior goalkeeper.
"Kiya saved the day a couple of times," he stressed. "She dove and tipped one away there in the second half and, honestly, a couple of years ago she would have never got that. She has worked so hard with a goalie coach and with us on those high, outside shots. We're in overtime if it wasn't for that save."
Stoner was referring to a play in the 54th minute when Coshocton's Jersey Stipes' blast from the left wing was headed towards the far top corner. However, the 5-5 Kyer leaped high into the air to get a piece of the ball, deflecting it wide of the cage.
Meanwhile, the Red Devils weren't able to solve Coshocton goalkeeper Madi Macdonald who was credited with 10 saves.
"Their goalie was outstanding," Stoner noted. "She made a save while lying on her back."
With the hard-earned victory, St. Clairsville, which now has 13 straight wins, advances to Tuesday night's Region 14 semifinal against No. 4 West Holmes, a 1-0 winner over fifth-seeded Philo in the East 2 final, at McFarland Stadium in Cambridge. The match starts at 7 o'clock.
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- The victory was the 50th for the senior class. They are now 50-23-4, with nine of those setbacks as freshmen.
- With the one goal, that gives St. Clairsville 120 as a team, breaking the single-season record.