Falcons shut out Rams, 5-0
By Jason Black
For the MV Independent
Through four matches this season, the Connellsville girls soccer team has been nearly flawless in almost all aspects.
On Tuesday, the Falcons continued their dominant run through Section 2 (3A) with a convincing 5-0 win over Ringgold at Connellsville Stadium.
The Falcons scored all five of their goals in the first half and have now outscored opponents 35-0 this season.
“We talked about doing our thing and working on the things that we can control,” Connellsville coach Jeff Puskar said. “When we play as a group, we play really well.”
As a group, the Falcons blitzed the Rams in the opening half and were able to build a comfortable lead in the early minutes of the contest.
Mary Kate Lape scored the first three goals of the match. Her first tally came off a throw-in from Jocelyn Gratchic less than four minutes in. Lape found the net again just moments later off another assist from Gratchic. Then less than eight minutes into the match, Lape completed her hat trick off a nice feed from Grace Bosnic to make it 3-0.
“One-on-one, she is a phenomenal player,” Puskar said of Lape, as he noted her speed and foot skills. “She is only getting better, but we’ll need more than one girl scoring.”
After picking up an assist on Lape’s third marker, Bosnic found the net herself when she ripped a shot into the goal off an assist from Gratchic, her third of the match.
Gratchic then completed the scoring when she skipped a shot past Ringgold keeper Emily Doleno, who also made some nice saves to prevent the Falcons (4-0, 4-0) from winning by a bigger margin. But despite some fine stops by Doleno, the first half clearly belonged to Connellsville.
“In the first half, they broke down our shape and they were pulling us out of position defensively,” Ringgold coach Olivia Wilkerson said.
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