However, the freshmen on the Boardman girls soccer team made their presence known in a 3-0 win over Massillon Perry on Monday in the first round of the playoffs.

“I think we were really prepared for this one,” Spartans coach Mark D’Eramo said. “We looked at a lot of the results, and we played a lot of similar teams because they’re a Federal League team. We played three Federal League teams on our schedule. When you play a Federal League team, you’ve got to come to play. We game planned, we did a scouting report and we executed tonight. We’re excited to get the chance to keep going.”

Boardman (5-7-5) didn’t waste time getting on the board with the Spartans, scoring twice in the first 10 minutes.

Freshman Sarah Blasco opened the game with a score after beating Perry goaltender Addison Disman. Kathryn Taghaboni picked up her first of two assists on the goal.

Staff photo / Brian Yauger Sarah Blasco, of Boardman, right, battles for possession with Massillon Perry's Brianna Stolicny, who attempts to head the ball to a teammate.

“It feels pretty good,” she said. “Especially because I’m a freshman and it’s my first ever (postseason goal).”

Continuing with the theme of strong freshman performances, freshman goalkeeper Faith Walston finished the match with five saves and picked up her fifth clean sheet of the season. Walston is playing the role for the first time, which makes the feat more special.

“It’s pretty amazing,” said Walston about having a shutout in her first playoff game. “It’s kind of nice because I’ve never played goalie before this year. I mean it’s all new to me, but a shutdown is pretty great.”

Less than a minute after Boardman’s first goal, the Spartans struck again. With help from Taghaboni, junior captain Shayne Harris found an opening and beat Disman again to give Boardman a 2-0 lead early in the game.

“I saw my opportunity,” Harris said. “My teammate was going for the ball, but I called her off it because I knew it was mine. I could just see the goal happening, and I shot it and it was a banger.”

Ashley Harding sealed the deal for Boardman late in the first half, tacking on one final goal to give the Spartans a 3-0 lead. On the assist was another freshman, Kendall Scriber.

Boardman remained aggressive in the second half but was unable to get another ball past Disman, who had a strong performance for the Panthers.

The Spartans travel to Nordonia on Thursday to take on the Knights in a second-round matchup. Nordonia is an impressive team, but after the tests they’ve faced this season, D’Eramo knows his team can compete.

“Nordonia is an excellent team,” D’Eramo said. “I’m excited. We’ve played excellent teams. We played Jackson last year. We’ve played teams of that caliber, and we know we can compete. We just played Magnificat last week. We know we can compete, but we’re going to have to play a perfect game.”

As the 19th seed, there’s only one opponent remaining that the Spartans could face at home. Assuming that this was the final game at Spartan Stadium this season, D’Eramo is happy for his seniors, who were able to win their last home game.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “We have a ton of freshmen that were able to come out here and win a playoff game, and our seniors were able to win one more at home, so what more can you really ask for?”