Ontario has been waiting all season for a possible girls soccer district championship match against Clear Fork. In less than one half on Tuesday night, junior Abbey Brokaw moved it from possible to certain.
Browkaw scored three goals and assisted on a fourth during the first 40 minutes of a resounding 6-2 win against Norwalk in the Division II district semifinals in a match played on the turf at Ashland High School’s Community Stadium.
The win, coupled with Clear Fork’s 6-0 rout of Clyde in the second game Tuesday night, sets up the aforementioned, long anticipated district title game on Saturday at 1 p.m. between the Warriors (14-2-2) and the Colts (13-4), also at Community Stadium.
That clash comes two weeks after Clear Fork claimed a 1-0 win at Ontario in the regular season finale for both state-ranked programs. But that game didn’t mean a great deal for two programs who judge their success by how far they advance in the state tournament.
Fortunately, both have experienced a great deal of success. Ontario lost in the Division III state title game a year ago, moving up to Divison II this season. Clear Fork advanced to the D-II regional finals a year ago.
Browkaw brushed off the compliment that she had carried the day for her club.
“I give all credit to my teammates. I would be nothing without them,” she said. “We all came out ready to play tonight.”
For the first 15-plus minutes against Norwalk, it appeared the high-powered Ontario offense had been slowed considerably by the Truckers defense and some bad luck on the flat pitch.
Senior Mackenna Pabst clanged a shot off the crossbar at the 31:48 mark that somehow dropped down without going into the net. A couple of questionable offside calls then thwarted two Ontario break-aways. At the 28:10 mark, senior Jayde Niss struck a great cross only to see Pabst’s enusing shot bounce off the left post. At the 26 minute mark, Browkaw fired a shot that goalkeeper Kaitlyn Gilson leaped to save and then bobbled before recovering.
“We played with the ball a little too much early,” said Ontario coach Larry Atkinson said. “Once we figured out to go short pass, short pass and then long pass we started getting the shots we wanted and finished.”
The Warriors finally broke through with 24:43 left in the first half when Brokaw fired another shot that rebounded off the post. This time, sophomore Olivia Shaver was there to slam the rebound into the net for a 1-0 Ontario lead.
About six minutes later, Ontario made it 2-0 when Brokaw scored on a header, assisted by freshman Taylor Beard.
With 6:26 left in the half, Ontario struck again. Niss smoked a great crossing pass and Browkaw slammed it home for a 3-0 lead. About three minutes later, Browkaw had her “hat trick,” driving in an unassisted ball from the top of the circle for a 4-0 halftime lead.
Less than three minutes into the second half, Pabst slammed in a goal to make it 5-0. At the 19:15 mark, freshman Brittany McC auley sent a crossing pass that senior Lindsey Varden pounded into the net for a 6-0 edge.
After Atkinson cleared his bench, Norwalk managed two late goals on scores by junior Laurel Campbell and junior Quinn Schick.
For the same, Ontario had a huge 26-5 edge in shots on goal and a 16-1 advantage in cornerkicks. Two Warrior goalkeepers, sophomore starter Katherine Beech and senior Meredith Remy, combined for five saves. Gilson had nine saves for the Truckers.
Brokaw said her team would be ready for Clear Fork on Saturday.
“It’s easier to get motivated now since this is the tournaments,” she said. “We take tournament games much more seriously and we get ready sooner. This should be a great game. We are really good rivals.”
To Atkinson, it’s not just a matter of his team peaking at the right time.
“We’re healthy,” he said. “That’s important. Last year at this time, I lost my fastest player to an injury and didn’t have her for the state finals.
“Our forwards were constantly moving tonight. We tell the girls it’s hard to guard someone who is always moving. It’s easy to guard someone standing still. We had a lot of opportunities tonight and we just needed to finish. We won’t get that many opportunities on Saturday and it’s important we take advantage when we get them,” Atkinson said.
Like his Clear Fork counterpart, Brittany Bechtel, Atkinson is looking forward to Saturday,
“It should be a very good match,” he said. “The team that executes and takes advantage of opportunities will win the game. Regardless of how it ends, whoever wins will represent this area very well going foreward.”
