PrinkeyĢƵ hat trick leads Lady Falcons to 7-3 victory
CONNELLSVILLE – Claudia Prinkey scored a hat trick, and Connellsville held off a second-half push by Southmoreland for a 7-3 non-section victory Saturday morning at Connellsville Stadium.
“I’m not going to lie to you, to give up seven goals, I’m not happy about that. ItĢƵ a weird feeling. I don’t think we played horribly.” said Southmoreland coach Josh Pajak.
The Lady Scotties held possession advantage in the offensive zone for most of the first half, but it was Connellsville that netted five goals.
Relying on their outside speed, the Lady Falcons opened the scoring at 32:35 with Rylee LeasherĢƵ first goal of the match.
“Speed on the outside is going to be our strength. We just have to get a lot of balls slotted across the middle,” said Connellsville coach Jeff Puskar. “We just need to be a little better cohesive in the middle defensively.
“It takes a little bit of time there in the middle.”
Puskar added, “I was happy with the way we scored goals. We were stingy early. Sara made the great save (early in the first half). That changed momentum there. They score and it makes it a lot tighter game.”
LeasherĢƵ goal stood for 15 minutes when Southmoreland goalkeeper Autumn Bartos was unable to control PrinkeyĢƵ shot with the ball bouncing over the prone keeper, flipping into the air and landing over the goal line for a 2-0 lead.
Addison Bandemer assisted on the goal.
Amelia Lincoln gave the Lady Falcons a 3-0 lead at 10:53 when she settled a pass from Emily Burkus and managed to find the back of the net.
Prinkey scored her second goal of the half about 8½ minutes later.
LeasherĢƵ defense set up Lincoln for her second goal of the half with 22 seconds remaining. Leasher stole the ball in front of the Southmoreland net and rolled a pass to Lincoln, who buried the shot for a 5-0 halftime lead.
“As a team, we’re going to have to really work on transitioning to defending and itĢƵ just about a mindset. Our team has to dig in and not let them get off a shot,” said Pajak. “Three of their goals, they should’ve never got a shot off. Get your body in front of a shot.
“We’re going to work hard on that this week.”
Prinkey completed her hat trick six minutes into the second half when she won a ball in front of the net and popped a shot over Destiny Auer.
Connellsville got a bit complacent after with the 6-0 lead and Southmoreland took advantage of the lack of focus with a natural hat trick by Megan Mehall.
“When we’re focused and we have the starting 11 out there, we’re pretty good. But, sometimes, I don’t know what it is, the girls tend to lose that,” said Puskar. “My job is to make the best squad out there. Hey, we’re finding our way.”
Mehall scored her first at 29:03 when she controlled a bouncing ball and slipped it behind goalie Sara Tinkey.
MehallĢƵ second goal was the result of a mishandled shot two minutes later. The junior was on the post to the right of Tinkey and muscled the ball into the net.
The hat trick came on a shot from around 30 yards out that sailed over TinkeyĢƵ outstretched arms with 18:03 remaining in the half.
“I don’t think we played horribly from the 30-yard line to the 30-yard line. As a group, we played poorly in our final third,” said Pajak. “In the first half, we weren’t as tenacious in their final third. ThatĢƵ why we couldn’t get on the board.”
Leasher scored her second goal late in the match when she sprinted alone down the left wing and drilled a shot into the net.
Both teams won’t start section play until after the Labor Day holiday, so they’ll have a few non-section matches to settle into a rhythm.
“We have about two more weeks roughly, before section starts, and we want to make sure we’re playing at 80, 90 percent, because if not, we’ll be in big trouble,” explained Puskar.
Girls volleyball
Carmichaels 3, Brownsville 1 – The Lady Falcons stayed alive with a win in the second set, but Carmichaels closed out the non-section match by taking the next two sets for the victory.
The Lady Mikes won the opening set, 25-23, dropped the second, 25-19, and won the next two, 27-25 and 25-23.
Payton Evanchak had a double-double for Brownsville with 11 service points and 12 kills. Skyler Gates was tough at the net with 18 kills and six blocks. Kenzie Adams finished with 16 service points.
Boys soccer
Mount Pleasant 4, Connellsville 2 – The Vikings held off the Falcons in the second half for a non-section home victory.
Mount Pleasant (1-0) led 1-0 at halftime.
Gavin Rummel scored a goal and assisted on one for the Vikings. Tyler Kurtz and Landon Stuart scored second-half goals, and Aydan Gross closed the scoring on a penalty kick.
Grayson Gardner preserved the win with four saves.
Bentworth 3, Trinity 1 – Ryan Moessner scored a pair of goals as the Bearcats opened the season with a victory over the Hillers in the Canon Mac Showcase.
Andrew Vipperman also netted a goal for Bentworth. Adam Moessner, Dillan Colbert and Isaac Reynolds had assists.
Bentworth (1-0) led 2-0 at halftime. Trinity scored its goal late in the second half.
“It is always rewarding to see hard work from practice translate to the field. Trinity is a solid and experienced team and we were definitely challenged today.,” said Bentworth coach Nicholas Malarbi. “My guys played hard for 80 minutes and that is all I can ask for this early in the year.”
Ringgold 4, Elizabeth Forward 3 – Nick Evans’ goal with around 15 minutes remaining in the match was the difference in the Rams’ victory in the Moe Rosensteel Memorial Kickoff Classic.
The Warriors scored first at the 30-minute mark, but Evans responded just over a minute later with his first goal of the match.
Lucas Wukovich gave the Rams their first lead with a goal at 18:29. Elizabeth Forward tied the match about three minutes later for a 2-2 halftime tie.
WukovichĢƵ second goal gave Ringgold a 3-2 lead 10 minutes into the second half. The Warriors pulled into a tie at the 16-minute mark.
Football
Summit Academy 20, Frazier 16 – The Knights rallied for a non-conference victory with a fourth-quarter touchdown on Demetrius CrosbyĢƵ 13-yard run.
The Commodores led 8-6 after the first quarter and 16-14 at halftime.
FrazierĢƵ Derek Diamond scored on a 5-yard run and Brady Secrist found Andrew Bandish open for a 44-yard touchdown pass.










