KC girls soccer returns to District 9 title game
KARNS CITY — Karns City hit the Dailey Double — its own version, anyway.
Sophomore midfielder Hanna Dailey scored on a pair of penalty kicks — during the second and 18th minutes of the first half — in sparking the Gremlins girls soccer team to a 4-0 victory over Elk County Catholic in a District 9 1A semifinal Wednesday night at Diehl Stadium.
The win puts Karns City (17-1-1) in the district championship game, facing the Brockway-Brookville winner, at a date, site and time to be determined.
“Two penalty kicks in one game like that, especially that close together, is pretty rare,” KC coach Tracy Dailey said. “Hanna’s usually the one I send out there, but I hesitated about having her do the second one. That can be a lot on a kid.
“She had no problem with it, though, so we went with her.”
KCV’s Bree O’Donnell was knocked to the turf in the box while trying to finish a play only a minute and 26 seconds into the game. Hanna took the penalty kick and beat ECC goalkeeper Emily Mourer up high, into the left corner of the net.
Another collision near the net in the 18th minute resulted in the Gremlins’ second penalty kick. Hannah took another shot into the upper left corner and Karns City had a 2-0 lead.
“I think I’ve taken four or five penalty kicks this year,” Hanna said. “I usually try to read the goalkeeper’s eyes, sometimes I just get a feel for where I want to go. I can shoot to different spots.
“I almost gave that second penalty kick to someone else, but decided I wanted to do it.”
Hanna leads the Gremlins with 19 goals on the season.
Karns City controlled play all night. Layla Colsey scored an aggressive goal in the 33rd minute, dribbling through two defenders while losing her footing, returning to her feet and deftly maneuvering the ball past Mourer to give her team a 3-0 lead. It was Colsey’s third goal of the season.
The Gremlins had 15 shots on net to the Crusaders’ one. The lone ECC shot on net occurred from 25 yards out in the 72nd minute. KC goalkeeper Savanna Prescott made a routine save on the play.
Karns City registered five corner kicks — four in the second half. ECC (13-7) did not have a corner kick.
“We never got anything going offensively,” ECC coach Michaela Cashmer said. “We had trouble possessing the ball.”
Phoebe Brandon closed out the scoring for the Gremlins in the 54th minute, getting loose down the right side and beating Mourer with a shot across the crease, into the far corner of the net. Brandon has 16 goals on the year.
“Karns City’s been good for a very long time,” Cashmer said. “They were good when I played and that was a number of years ago.”
The Crusaders have reached the District 9 playoffs eight consecutive years under Cashmer. Samantha Straub led the team with 19 goals while Seanna VanAlstine had 28 points this year.
But this night belonged to the Gremlins, who have no seniors on their roster and only four juniors.
“These girls are still learning to play together,” Coach Dailey said. “Layla played football last year and is with us for the first time this season. Her, Phoebe and Bree bring a lot of speed and athleticism to us up front. We play from the back end, up, and we’re hard to defend.
“Our one loss, we outshot Indiana 21-8. As young as we are, I’m pleasantly surprised the way this season is going.”
