“We were a little messy,” Cardinals coach Holly Seimetz said. “We played last night, a victory over Stow, who’s a Division I school, and we played really hard and left nothing out there. I knew today coming in that we were just going to try and work some basics.”

That approach worked well for Canfield as the Cardinals fired off six goals in the first 10 minutes of the contest.

Emily Wilson had a game-high four goals for the Cardinals, a season-high for the junior. Sarah Grohovsky scored three, and Bryanna Corll scored twice. Gwen Lolakis, Elena Martin, Ally Wilson, Paige Christoff, and Taylor Stansloski added one goal each for Canfield.

As the postseason approaches, the Cardinals are eager to prove themselves. Canfield has taken down all three Mahoning Valley teams, Poland and Boardman twice and Mooney once, but wants to use its balanced scoring attack to make some noise outside of the area as well.

Staff photo / Brian Yauger Canfield attacker Sarah Grohovsky, right, makes a push upfield with the ball while fellow Cardinal Sevada Green moves in to box out a defender.

With last season getting shut down and Canfield losing a large senior class, the Cardinals upperclassmen have been playing every game like it’s their last.

“We’re really looking forward to tournaments,” Seimetz said. “Last year, we lost eight or nine seniors, never had a chance to play. This year I have a good group of four seniors, and my juniors are really picking it up and starting to play as a team. We are really playing and gelling together as a team.

“Every girl can score, and that’s really nice and they’re starting to play much better as a team. We’re really looking forward to tournaments coming up because I think we can get in there and show everybody we’re a good program.”

Canfield goalkeeper Karley D’Apolito recorded five saves on the night. To Siemetz, D’Apolito and her defensive core play just as important of a role in the offensive game as they do in the defensive game.

“She (D’Apolito) has done an awesome job and the four girls that play with her, they have it down to a science and they have really improved since the beginning of the year,” Siemetz said. “You can just see they are a well-oiled machine. They know who to pick up and who’s cutting, so they’ve done a nice job and Karley back in the goal has really helped settle everybody and move everybody around.

Staff photo / Brian Yauger Emily Wilson, right, of Canfield, spins out of the way of Boardman’s Malysea Flood. Wilson had her season-high of four goals in the 14-2 win over the Spartans.

“That’s why we won last night’s game. Karley was able to see where our defense needed to be to stop the cutter, so she’s even an important part of the offense, even though she’s back on the defense. She keeps the ball going that direction.”

The Cardinals (10-3-1) close out the season against Hathaway Brown in a makeup contest from earlier in the season.

“They’re going to be one of the top-seeded teams (in the district),” Seimetz said.

“It’s a makeup game from early on. I thought at first we should just wait until tournaments (to play again), but I’d rather go play because I think our girls are ready for it. It’ll be a good game.”

Boardman ends its regular season against Poland. The Spartans (2-11) graduated a 15-person senior class in 2020, so the lineup this season is very fresh. Their focus is to go into the postseason on a high note.

“We’re all still learning, so it’s been an up-and-down season,” Boardman coach Matt Pavone said. “We’ve played some really tough opponents, but hopefully we’ll get a W at the end of the week, and then we’ll go onto the tournament.

“They’re playing better, but they’ve just got to trust each other and it comes down to trust and the simple things.”

Both of Boardman’s goals came within 10 seconds of each other. Offensive midfielder Priya Shah scored for the Spartans.