Staff photo / Brian Yauger. Garfield senior forward Kaelyn Tasker shoots on net during the team's 4-0 victory over Newton Falls.

NEWTON FALLS — Garfield controlled the pace of Wednesday’s game from the very start, taking down Newton Falls, 4-0.

The 2025 season has gone off to a much better start than last season.

Sitting at 1-0-1, Garfield has scored six goals already in two games. Last season, in which they won just three games, they scored 12.

“(I’ve seen) a tremendous amount of growth,” G-Men coach Aaron Gilbert said. “We look like we’re playing soccer. We’re connecting on passes. We’re finally having things we work on in practice show up on the field. It’s just very different than last year. Last year, we were very close. We were in some one and two-goal games that we just didn’t have. This year, the goal is finishing those games and being on the plus side of that.

“We’re still a ways from competing with some of the tougher teams in the conference. We just don’t have the skill at this point, but hopefully, the confidence comes from doing these little things. Having 17 corners today, and getting close on those, that’s huge. It’s huge for the kids.”

What else was huge for Garfield was its control of the offensive zone. In the first half, the G-Men spent almost the entirety of the first 40 minutes in the attacking third.

They walked away with one goal, scored by senior forward Kaelyn Tasker.

That opening half was an encapsulation of everything Gilbert has enjoyed about his team’s play during this young season, and what they need to work on to go further.

“I told them at halftime that we dominated the first half, but we only have one goal to show for it, so we need to work on finishing those opportunities,” Gilbert said. “Last year we had several games where we were up. Heck, even Monday (against Crestview), we’re up a goal, and they pop one in with three minutes to go (and we tie). In soccer, one goal is not a big lead. It’s kind of like a field goal or a touchdown without an extra point in football, where it’s easy to get right back in the game.

“That’s a big thing for us is to try to extend some leads. It’s all about finishing. We just need to finish in the box and you can’t finish in the box if you don’t get opportunities. Now we’re getting the opportunities, so we need to finish in the box.”

The G-Men finished in the second half, adding three goals to their total.

Two of them were scored by senior midfielder Emily Seni, and the third with an own-goal by the Tigers.

The Tigers fall to 0-2 on the season and look to rebound on Saturday on the road against Rootstown.

Garfield will square off with rival Crestwood on Saturday.

“They’ve gotten us pretty good the last couple of years,” Gilbert said. “Saturday afternoon, we’ll see what we can do.”