Good passing helps Wildcats to big win

The Wildcats had four different players score in the first half as they cruised to a 6-0 nonconference win.

Keystone demonstrated the meaning of sharing the wealth.

The host Wildcats had four different players score in the first half as they cruised to a 6-0 nonconference win over Lorain on Aug. 26.

“I love what I saw,” Keystone coach Tim Giesel said. “Good passing. Good movement. Good talking. It’s what we’ve been working on in practice. We’re young so it’s a work in progress.”

Coming out with an aggressive, pushing attack, Keystone had early scoring chances, only

to see them go awry. Only the play of Titans goalie Lexi Thompson kept the Wildcats (1-1) off the board early on.

Thompson stopped two point-blank shots and watched a third one sail over the crossbar. Although she never played goalie before and had only 10 days of practice, Lorain (0-1) coach Mike Fields was impressed with her play.

“She is a softball player so that is where her athleticism and good hands come

into play,” Fields said. “She was outstanding … she’s going to be something good this year.”

Thompson managed to keep the game scoreless for a while, but eventually Keystone broke through. Emily Yates lofted a perfect crossing pass over Thompson to Nichole Sinegar. Settling the ball down for just a quick moment, Sinegar put it into an empty net to give Keystone a 1-0 lead less than 12 minutes into the first half.

Giesel was happy to see his young team, which has only one senior on the roster, get on the board after the missed opportunities.

“Since we are so young sometimes you get nervous when you see a chance to take that shot,” Gielsel said. “Once they settled down and got into the flow of the game, things came as they were supposed to.”

Two minutes later, Grace Baracskai made it 2-0 as she got behind Lorain’s defense and beat Thompson.

Continuing to control the ball, Keystone spent a good portion of the first half in Lorain’s end. With solid passing, more scoring opportunities arose.

Faith Baracskai took a long pass from Hannah Clark and scored with 15 minutes left in the first

half. Amelia Whitman capped off the scoring barrage after a long pass from Emily Gonda to give Keystone a 4-0 lead at the half.

“We really took the whole week of practice, working on moving — even when we are off the ball,” Sinegar said. “That really helped us a lot.”

The constant movement Keystone preached during the week allowed Sinegar to get her second goal of the game midway through the second half. She was the only player to have more than one goal. It also was her first two goals of the season.

The final goal was a bad

break for Thompson. Emily Yates shot from the right side and the ball hit the left post and bounced in.

Though the Titans gave up two goals in the second half, it was a marked improvement for them as the defense stopped Keystone and move the ball back down the field. After not being able to get a shot on goal in the first half, Lorain managed to get four shots on goal in the second half.

“I think they fought all the way to the end,” Fields said. “The more we get into the season and they continue to play that hard, I think the results will come.”