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WAVERLY — Behind a first-minute goal from Maggie Risner, a second half explosion and a sterling defensive effort, the Minford Falcons will be traveling to a place not seen by their program in the first 20 years of existence … the Sweet 16.
Minford earned the school’s first-ever district championship with a dominant 6-0 win over Eastern Brown on Thursday night at Waverly’s Raidiger Field.
The Falcons (16-2) entered the title game scoring over seven goals per contest, but a stingy defensive effort by Eastern held the vaunted Minford attack to only an early goal from Risner in the first half.
CREDIT: Raymond Gleadle/SOSA
To open the contest, Minford’s Lexi Conkel was able to break away from multiple defenders before getting a shot away that Eastern’s Emilee Moremond was able to parry away. But unfortunately for the Warriors, the ball fell at the right foot of Risner, who ripped a shot from outside of the right of the box for a goal with 39:23 to play in the opening half.
“On the bus ride here, the coaches told me to stay back a little and take my shots [from afar] because I can [score] from there,” Risner said. “So I took my space and just took it.”
Conkel nearly dented the scoreboard with 22 minutes to play as she was able to tap the ball away from Moremond. But a streaking Maredith Barrow made a non-goalie save for the Warriors (5-12-1) to keep the score at 1-0.
The Warriors looked to make a push forward while still playing high-level defense, getting excellent work in transition from Amber Whitaker, Addalyn Perkins and Makena Corbin. But they were ultimately unable to light up their side of the scoreboard.
The credit for Eastern’s inability to score goes directly to the Falcons’ collective defensive efforts.
The combination of Ella Estep, Allie Sanders, Claire Clevenger and Marlee Pendleton, along with goalkeeper Addison Lemon, negated any attack that Eastern was able to put forward, something they have done over the past 400 minutes of play. During that stretch, they have conceded a single goal.
“Our defense works really hard in practice and they always work hard in games,” Risner said. “It’s so valuable knowing that when a ball gets played back there, as a midfielder, I’ll do my best to get back, but if I don’t, our defense is going to do their absolute best to get the ball out. They play well with each other, talk really well and they have shutouts almost every game.”
PHOTOS: Images from Minford’s district title win over Eastern Brown
To their own credit, the short-handed Warriors — playing with only 11 players dressed — continued to battle throughout the opening half, slowing the high-powered Minford attack.
The defensive duo of Vivian Grimes and Sammie Estes were given the unenviable task of slowing down Conkel, the all-time leading goal scorer in the Southeast District.
However, after the halftime break, Minford’s offense finally exploded as five different players found the back of the net, pushing the Falcons closer to the elusive district championship trophy.
Sadie Tieman got the scoring started with 35:06 to play as she scored off her own rebound from 20 yards out and Conkel was able to earn her way into the scoring column for the 40th time this season, after a fantastic cross from Risner with 31:39 to play.
“It felt really good,” Conkel said. “I was working really hard this game because I did have a lot of defenders on me. Being able to finish like that and to just kind of lock in the district championship felt really good. At the very beginning of the season, this was our goal. We knew we wanted to make history in our senior year. To lock that in, it felt amazing.”
Conkel returned the favor to Risner with 25:24 to play, who scored from range again, this time from 35 yards out to make it 4-0.
McKenna Enz continued the barrage with 20:19 to play as she finished a cross from Ava Cronin around the penalty spot. Finally, the scoring closed with Lexi Pendleton scoring from close range with 15:56 to play.
The Warriors end their season, but did reach the district title game with only a pair of seniors, Moremond and Whitaker. Moremond finished her final game with 12 saves in goal.
Minford advances to a Division V regional semifinal at 8 p.m., Tuesday at Chillicothe’s Herrnstein Field. The Falcons will matchup with Lynchburg-Clay, a 3-0 winner over Fairfield.
The two met way back on Aug. 17. Minford won that contest by a 2-1 final.
“We’ve talked about this since our freshman year,” Risner said. “We wanted a district title and there’s never been one in our history. We knew we were the group that could do it. We’ve worked so hard these last four years. It wasn’t all just this year. Our underclassmen have worked hard. As a team, we knew this is where we could be. And we’re not done yet.”
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