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LUCASVILLE — Just 13 minutes into Thursday night’s Division IV district championship game, Wheelersburg’s Makenzie Mullens had already landed a punch and the essential knockout blow.
Mullens’ two scores, coming at the 36:45 and 27-minute marks of the first half, had given the Pirates a 2-0 cushion and plenty of momentum to finish out a 6-0 victory over Alexander — securing the program’s first district crown since 2020.
Mullens ended the night with a hat trick, which was flanked by a second hat trick via Ella Hochstetler.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
“We were able to get a couple of Makenzie Mullens goals in the first half for a little bit of a lead and it gave us a little bit of a comfort level,” Wheelersburg coach Kevin Powell said. “In the second half, Ella Hochstetler did what she does. She found three balls and put them in the back of the net. It was just good ball distribution by all the players.”
Mullens scored the night’s first goal from about 20 yards out on a direct kick, giving her team a 1-0 lead and an early injection of momentum.
“Before the game started, we wanted to set the tone early and play our game,” Mullens said. “We ended up getting a direct kick and I’m usually the person that takes those. It’s what I’m [good] at. I took it and placed it and it definitely set the tone coming out.”
Less than 10 minutes later, Mullens struck again, finding the back of the net for a 2-0 lead — and, essentially, the knockout punch before her Pirates piled on.
“Kenzie Piguet had a great cross over to the middle and I finished,” Mullens said. “That definitely kept us strong and in the game.”
The 2-0 advantage was intact at halftime, but that’s not to say the Spartans didn’t threaten to score.
PHOTOS: Images from Wheelersburg’s district title win over Alexander
In fact, Alexander had several high-quality looks at the Pirates’ goal. But on each occasion, like she was all night long, Wheelersburg’s Krista Williams was there to negate a score.
“I can’t say enough about Krista,” Powell said. “For a kid that’s played goalie for a week and a half, she looked like a veteran out there. She did a great job.”
It was Hochstetler’s turn to light up the scoreboard next and she did so with 20:53 left in the contest. The sophomore’s first goal of the night broke the dam wide open.
Exactly seven minutes later, Hochstetler scored again, this time on an assist from Ella McGraw, to make it 4-0. She then completed her hat trick with 9:44 to go, on a second assist from McGraw, for a 5-0 tally.
Mullens’ third score of the evening came with 7:06 left, thanks to an assist from Giselle Miller, rounding out the night’s final and sending Wheelersburg into the Sweet 16.
In total, Wheelersburg tallied 10 shots on target while Alexander fired seven. Williams had four saves in goal, the PIrates took seven corners and were whistled for eight fouls.
Alongside three goals each from Mullens and Hochstetler, Piguet and Miller each had an assist while McGraw tallied two of her own.
Next on the docket for Wheelersburg is a matchup with either Worthington Christian or Columbus Academy, who will meet on Saturday in their own district final.
That game will take place at 7 p.m.,Tuesday at Zane Trace.
“I think it’s just our execution, solid play in the middle and, defensively, just being there to cover each other,” Powell said. “We changed our defense up when we put Krista in goal. We went to a deep sweeper and that gave Krista a little comfort level. We’re just going to have to build on that. Obviously, our next opponent, regardless of who it is, is a good, experienced team. But we are, too.”
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