Staff photo / Brad Emerine Sydney Spencer (3) of Austintown Fitch greets Katlyn Klasic, center, after Klasic scored the game-winning goal Thursday in the Falcons’ 2-1 overtime win over Uniontown Lake.

AUSTINTOWN — A small combination made the biggest play Thursday night, as the Austintown Fitch girls soccer team defeated fifth-seeded Uniontown Lake, 2-1 in overtime, to advance to a Division I district semifinal game Monday.

Standing only 5-feet-2, senior forward Katlyn Klasic headed in a corner kick from 4-11 junior midfielder Sydney Spencer with 9:43 remaining in the first overtime session to give the fourth-seeded Falcons the victory.

“I was on the back post to start, but we had a lot of girls push up so I went back a bit,” Klasic said. “Most of (Spencer’s) corners land near the middle of the box and I got the corner of my head on it and got it to go far post.

“I felt like we needed it and I wanted to make a play for us. I’m only 5-2, but I guess the extra adrenaline made me a little taller today.”

Even from her vantage point, Spencer was able to see the ball hit off her teammate’s head in the middle of the skirmish.

“It was pure shock,” Spencer said. “All I saw was it hit Katlyn’s face and then it was in the back of the net. We kept getting one corner after another the whole game and it was very frustrating because we had so many opportunities. But we kept pressuring and sooner or later we were going to get it done.”

The Falcons, who improved to 11-3-2, will play at top-seeded Massillon Jackson at 7 p.m. Monday after dominating the Blue Streaks, who finished 9-7-2.

Fitch attempted 24 shots, but most were off target as Lake goalkeeper Savannah Slider finished with nine saves. The Blue Streaks managed only four shots.

“We expected a good match because we beat them 1-0 at their place in the opener and that also came off a corner right before halftime,” coach Bill Spencer said. “We knew it wouldn’t be easy, but it was a little frustrating. Hey, it’s soccer and these things happen sometimes.”

Fitch had 10 shots at halftime, with Abby Knight’s lofted strike from about 35 yards giving the Falcons a 1-0 lead with 17:53 left. Lake put its first shot on goal with 1:43 left, and it knotted the score as Mackenzie White did nice work around a pair of Falcon defenders to score from about 27 yards out.

“They got a long cross in there and their girl made a nice play and our keeper (Sylvia Direnzo) got a hand on it but couldn’t stop it,” Spencer said. “It was one shot. But (Direnzo) was getting her first varsity action in goal due to injuries and she played well. She wasn’t even a keeper two weeks ago.

“I thought we dominated in the midfield and our defense did a good job limiting their attempts. That was the game plan going in and we did that with one exception.”

Coach Spencer said the girls can enjoy the win, but they will be back at work Friday in preparation for Jackson, which is 13-2-3.

“We’re hoping to build on this excitement because we need to up our game,” he said. “Jackson ended our season last year (4-0 in a sectional final). They are a fantastic program and they’ve been in the (district) final maybe the last six or seven years.”