Staff photo / Brian Yauger. Cardinal Mooney’s Angel Alvarez celebrates after the team’s 4-0 win over Ursuline on Wednesday night.

YOUNGSTOWN — The first time Cardinal Mooney and Ursuline played this season, the Cardinals had to come back to force a tie.

They weren’t making the mistake of falling behind again.

Cardinal Mooney punched its ticket to its fifth-straight district title game, dispatching Ursuline, 4-0 on Wednesday night.

“The first time we played, we were down 3-0 in that game,” Mooney coach Matthew Britton said. “Technically, we scored seven straight if you want to look at it that way. We just had a different mentality coming to this game. We were banged up that first game. We had some injuries, and we were as close to healthy as we can be at this moment. The game plan worked perfectly. We know Ursuline has some phenomenal players, Gage Sedoris being one of them, so we knew we had to limit his influence in the game. That was a huge factor in this game. We really limited him. I don’t think he really had any touches in a dangerous area. One of our big issues was to take him out, and we did that.”

Mooney’s first goal came just 10 minutes into the game, but wouldn’t score again until the final 15 minutes.

Both of those goals were scored by Dimitri Zoumis, who tacked on the hat trick goal soon after.

“He’s probably the most underrated player in this area,” Britton said of the junior. “He gets absolutely no love, and he had his chance for his moment tonight with all eyes on him, and he performed and that’s what he’s done all season for us. I think this is now either 19 or 20 goals he’s got on the season now for us.”

Donovan Whetstone scored the team’s final goal briefly after.

Ursuline’s season ends at 11-7-2, a stark improvement from the team’s four-win mark last year.

“They were just a fantastic group,” Irish coach Joel Monaco said. “A very strong senior group, great juniors. I don’t think anybody had any expectations for us this season, and we just came alive. We took that personally and we just had a great season, we really did. I’m very proud of our season.”

Ursuline graduates a strong senior class of eight.

“It’s crazy. We had a great crop of freshmen this year, and we’re very thankful for our freshmen,” Monaco said. “It’s always hard to lose your best players, your seniors, when you lose them. The young kids had great role models to look up to, so we look forward to them filling in their shoes and doing their own thing. But you don’t ever replace (what they brought).”

Mooney (10-6-1) takes on Mogadore Field in the district title game on Saturday in Avon.