Valerio, Smith each score twice in Warriors’ win

The win may have been costly as EF senior captain Brooklyn Baldensperger was carted off with a lower-body injury.

The Elizabeth Forward girls soccer team picked up right where it left off last season with an impressive 7-1 victory over West Mifflin Monday night.

Kicking off Section 4-3A play in front of the home fans, the Warriors (1-0, 1-0) gave the large crowd a lot to cheer about with their play.

Mia Valerio and Maicee Smith found the back of the net twice while Caylin Seabol, Peyton Miller and Leilana Speney also managed to score for EF. West Mifflin’s (01, 0-1) goal was scored by Jada Downs, who looked dangerous throughout the match.

“We put in a couple of new faces, and they scored goals in a variety of ways,” Elizabeth Forward coach Sotiri Tsourekis said. “We’re dangerous from the left, we’re dangerous from the right, through the center, on set pieces and quick restarts. We play quick, we think quick, and it was evident today. Early in the season, we have some things we want to work on so there was some rust, but we’re happy with the win.”

Unfortunately, the performance was hindered by an injury to senior captain Brooklyn Baldensperger, who was carted off after a lengthy pause in the action towards the end of the first half.

“Even though we won, we’re always focused on girls that get injured,” Tsourekis said. “We’ll pray for the best for her.”

The Warriors opened the scoring in less than a minute as Seabol latched onto a ball in the 18-yard box and half-volleyed it over the reach of West Mifflin goalkeeper Hayden Mroz to quickly give EF a 1-0 advantage.

Two and a half minutes later, Mroz made her first save of the match, but it spilled right to Maicee Smith who tapped it home and doubled Elizabeth Forward’s lead at 2-0.

The Titans came up with their first chance of the match shortly after as Downs was sprung forward and had a chance to shoot on EF’s Adysson Davis, but the goalkeeper was able to save her effort and stop the danger.

Then, it wasn’t long before the Warriors managed to find the back of the net once again after a wellworked move from two of the squad’s captains.

Baldensperger found space down the right wing and put in a great cross that was met by Valerio, who volleyed it home perfectly into the left side of the net to make it 3-0 in favor of the home team just 10 minutes in.

Baldensperger almost got on the score sheet herself with 24:27 left in the half as she headed a cross from Speney towards goal, but it ended up just above the crossbar and out for a goal kick.

From there, West Mifflin settled things down in the back and generated another chance moving forward. It was Downs once again that managed to get played in behind, but Davis was up to the challenge with her second save of the match to keep the score at 3-0.

The action was halted for a few minutes with 12:55 remaining in the first half when Baldensperger went down.

“We’re concerned because of the injury, and we’re praying for Brooklyn,” Tsourekis said. “That threw us off a little bit because a lot of the team looks up to her in every facet of the game. So, it took us a little while to readjust to the game plan, but we executed well.”

After the pause, West Mifflin continued to work into the match and eventually broke through with its first goal of the match through Downs to make it 3-1 and give the Titans some life.

It was all West Mifflin for the first 10 minutes of the second half as the Titans continued to find chances through Downs, but Davis kept on rejecting her. She made two key saves on the impressive sophomore before the Warriors responded in the final half.

Against the run of play, it was Speney that decided to let loose from about 25 yards out and unleashed a perfect strike into the top right corner that few goalkeepers could hope to save. With 26 minutes left to play, she gave the Warriors another three-goal advantage and helped them take control of the play once again.

EF suddenly began generating chances and could have had one or two more goals right after Speney’s effort, but West Mifflin’s back line held firm.

It did until the 65th minute, when Valerio played a diagonal ball to Speney who slotted one home to make it 5-1.

With less than 10 minutes left, Miller scored an impressive goal by popping a shot over the reach of Mroz and Valerio bagged her second on a penalty kick to cap the scoring at 7-1.

Elizabeth Forward will be back in action Wednesday at Plum.