Karns City girls claim D-9 soccer title, 1-0
CLARION — A 1-0 lead in soccer often seems tenuous, but it never seemed that way for Karns City's girls team against Brookville.
The Gremlins controlled play for the vast majority of Tuesday's District 9 Class AA championship game and that dominant effort allowed Olivia Rumbaugh's goal in the 23rd minute of play to hold up at Clarion University's Memorial Stadium.
“You'd always like to score more than one, just for more leverage,” said KC coach Tracy Dailey, “but sometimes one goal is all it takes and that was the case tonight.”
The victory was KC's seventh straight district title and 21st crown in 24 seasons.
The Gremlins (13-4) had several scoring chances when the game was still scoreless, including a pair of corner kicks. Rumbaugh's goal was made possible by an accurate pass from teammate Maura King.
The sequence began with the Gremlins taking a throw-in to the left of Brookville's net. The Raiders (9-10) were unable to clear the ball and King took possession.
“I knew I had to push the ball toward the net,” said King, a senior midfielder. “I saw a gap and was able to get the ball to Olivia. It was a great goal on her part.”
The goal was scored against a team that was heavily focused on limiting KC's scoring opportunities as much as possible.
“We wanted to come out tonight and defend. That was our main goal and I think we did that the whole night,” said Raiders' coach Kaitlyn Hill. “Every girl out there played defense and played with intensity.”
The Raiders succeeded in keeping the game close, but had precious few scoring chances. Brookville had no corner kicks in the game and forced KC goalkeeper Cambree Powers to make just a pair of saves. The first came in the 50th minute, followed by one in the 70th minute.
The last time the Raiders held possession in the attacking third of the field came with Madison McAninch's throw-in in the 77th minute. The Gremlins soon cleared the ball without a threat of a score.
“Every area of the team did their part tonight,” said Dailey. “We were sound defensively, worked hard in the midfield and our forwards had some dynamic runs. We needed to win the 50/50 balls and we did.”
Brookville goalkeeper Avery Gilhousen made eight saves.
It was not the smoothest ride to district gold for this year's Gremlins. A knee injury erased the team's top returning goal scorer in midfielder Hannah Knoll.
“Losing Hannah was hard. I had played with her for years,” said King, “but everybody put a lot of hard work in. We knew we could still be a good team. This was a great day.”
“I'm very pleased with how our season has turned out,” said Dailey. “The girls have done a good job of playing through some adversity and we've been able to create a lot of opportunities.”
Brookville was a surprise qualifier for the final. During the regular season, the Raiders had dropped a pair of games to Saint Marys by a combined score of 11-0. In last week's semifinal round, Brookville dealt the Dutch a 2-1 defeat.
“We were excited just to get to this point,” said Hill.
The Gremlins will open play in the state playoffs Tuesday against the runner-up from District 10.
