Lady Raiders shut out Yough, 4-0
Darnell Graham
The Lady Raiders鈥� Bailey Fudala (26) dribbles around the defense of Yough蘑菇视频 Amber Biros (12) during Thursday蘑菇视频 Section 3-AA match at Waynesburg Central High School.
Darnell Graham
The Lady Raiders鈥� Bailey Fudala (26) attempts to control the ball as Yough蘑菇视频 Autumn Baumeister (14) closes in during a Section 3-AA match at Waynesburg Central High School.
Waynesburg Central's Jillian Kijowski (21) battles for control of the ball with Yough's Autumn Baumeister (14) during Thursday's Section 3-AA match at Waynesburg Central High School.
WAYNESBURG 鈥� The Waynesburg Central girls soccer squad faced its stiffest test this year in Section 3-AA play and the Lady Raider were up to the challenge, defeating Yough, 4-0, Wednesday night.
The Lady Raiders (7-1, 4-0) extended their winning streak to seven games and are still undefeated in section play.
鈥淔or some reasons we have been slow starters these last couple of games,鈥� Waynesburg coach Joe Kijowski said. 鈥淲e picked it up on defense in the second half. Credit to the girls because they are in excellent shape and kept after it in the second half. Yough is a very good team and it蘑菇视频 nice to see our defense get tested. Tonight was a clean, hard-played game.鈥�
The last time these two teams met was in last year蘑菇视频 Class AA first round match at Mount Pleasant. Waynesburg won the match, 2-1.
鈥淚 took a lot of positives out of tonight,鈥� Yough coach Dann Appolonia said. 鈥淲aynesburg is a really good team and they have an excellent player in Madison Clayton. It seems like the ball always bounces to her. We played well in the first half, but I thought Waynesburg got their legs in the second half and we couldn鈥檛 respond.鈥�
Both teams had their fair share of scoring chances in the first half, as both Waynesburg and Yough possessed the ball well in the midfield and were able to lace passes to each other in the offensive end.
The Lady Raiders grabbed the opening goal of the contest, as Madison Clayton found space in the box and cashed in on a marker at the 18:59 mark of the first half.
Jillian Kijowski earned the assist on the goal.
The Lady Raiders increased their lead to 2-0 eight minutes later when Clayton found a streaking Kylie Sinn down the sideline and the freshman took a hard shot to the left of the goalkeeper.
鈥淲e have a couple of young kids that have speed and can get some goals for us,鈥� coach Kijowski said. 鈥淜ylie is an athletic kid with speed and can track the ball very well. The defense collapse around Madison, and Kylie was able to get the pass and got off a clean shot for the goal.鈥�
Both teams tallied nine shots apiece in the first 40 minutes, as the Lady Cougars (4-3, 3-2) trailed 2-0 at halftime.
Clayton collected the rebound off a corner kick by Bailey Fudala and smashed her second goal of the night at the 33:58 mark of the second half to give Waynesburg a 3-0 lead.
Clayton completed the hat trick the 13 minutes later, when she converted a pass from Sinn in front of the net.
With the hat trick, Clayton now has 24 goals on the season.
鈥淢adison got man-marked all game tonight, but she was still able to deliver,鈥� coach Kijowski said. 鈥淪he has great instincts on the field, and is able to get rebounds off of shots. Her teammates are crashing into the offensive end and our midfielders have really possessed the ball well this season. Her runs off the ball have improved immensely and she is not stationary.鈥�
Emily McCarty picked up the win in net for the Lady Raiders with three saves. Behind the strong defensive play of Lauren Rose, Elle Hampson, Claire Garber and Abby Virgin, McCarty has posted three shutouts and has only allowed nine goals in eight matches this season.
Yough蘑菇视频 Ashlynn Swauger made several key stops in between the pipes and ended her night with seven stops.
鈥淲e were down two players tonight, so our bench was a little thin,鈥� Appolonia said. 鈥淭he girls fought the whole night. I was disappointed in the loss to Charleroi on Monday, but I take a lot of positives from this loss. We passed the ball well and we just need to cash in on some goals.鈥�