Wednesday’s girls soccer match between Canfield and Howland proved just that, as the schools were locked in a defensive duel until the Cardinals took advantage of an opportunity late in the first half en route to a 1-0 win over the Tigers.

“Howland (vs.) Canfield is always a tough game,” Cardinals coach Phil Simone said. “It was a little different environment this year because we’re used to playing at their other field, so this is their first game on (their new turf), so it’s kind of a new environment for both teams.”

Although it was a home match, Howland coach Dan Daniluk talked about how different it was adjusting to the new field.

“It’s like playing at an away game until you get used to it,” he said. “This is the first time we’ve played on the field with goals, so it just takes a little time to get used to it so. We adjusted and they adjusted. But at the end of the day, you got to score.”

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Alli Malinky, left, and Sabrina Goodrich celebrate after Goodrich scored the game’s only goal Wednesday.

The goal that guided the Cardinals to victory came off the foot of Sabrina Goodrich with less than three minutes remaining in the first half.

“I was pretty confident since it was like a wide-open goal, since everybody thought it went through already,” Goodrich said. “I think we all just trust each other a lot in our abilities, so it allows us to move around.”

Bayann Jadallah made six saves for the Cardinals.

“I’m proud of myself and, most importantly, my team,” Jadallah said. “They played really strong. My defense was able to make sure that I had few shots on me, and that helps a lot.

“Shoutout goes to Jackie (Podolsky) my goalie coach, because she helps me a lot, and Sabrina (Goodrich) for pushing us to play a little harder, too.”

Jadallah kept focused during the whole match.

“You’ve just really got to stay on your toes,” she said. “You’ve got to be ready for anything, even if it’s like at (midfield), you still have to be ready and just be there.”

Daniluk knew that the Tigers had little room for error.

“We talked before the game that somebody was going to make a mistake and somebody is going to capitalize on it,” he said. “We made a mistake and they were able to capitalize on it, which is usually the difference in games between Canfield and us. It just comes down to one play. Tonight, they made it and we didn’t.

“We had our opportunities. We didn’t capitalize, so hats to Canfield.”

The Cardinals (8-1) are dealing with some injuries.

“Luckily, we’ve got some depth,” Simone said. “That helps us. We are missing some key players, but our system from the JV to the varsity is the same. We have the same philosophy through the program, so the girls stepping up (from JV to varsity) is not a huge change. We’re fortunate it have that.

“We have Chloe Kalina, a senior captain,who was out. We had (Goodrich) go down. (She) played a half of JV tonight as well. Addy Masters, who is our starting center back as a freshman, was out and Cadin Tsvetkoff really stepped up these last couple of games t center back.”

Howland (6-2-2) knows it has to be ready going forward.

“In our next match, we play North Allegheny, which is a real powerhouse out of western Pennsylvania, coming at us,” Daniluk said. “They are a legit program, a first-class operation that plays high-level soccer, so we really need to get up our speed of play.”

Simone is pleased with the success Canfield has had to to this point.

“We take all the wins; we don’t take them for granted,” he said. “We’ve been successful and we know that every team that we play is coming after us, so we’ve got a tough game every game that we step on the field.

“We just tell the girls, take it one game at a time and play as smart and as hard as we can.”