SIDNEY — On paper, it appeared to be a really good matchup for the Lehman Catholic girls soccer program to open the season with Saturday afternoon.
Visiting Springfield Catholic Central was a district finalist a year ago, and lost only four matches all season.
But Lehman has been to the district finals ever year since 2013, winning three district titles along the way. The defending D-III district champions showed no signs of that changing anytime soon in an impressive 8-2 win.
“Catholic Central is a really good team,” Lehman Catholic coach Jeremy Lorenzo said. “They were a district finalist last year and got knocked out by the state champions.”
Lehman got off to a fast start and never looked back.
Just 3:04 into the game, Samantha Edwards sent a ball down the field and sophomore Lindsey Magoteaux easily outran the Catholic Central defenders to the ball and buried it in the back of the net on a 1v1 opportunity.
“We are working on being more aggressive this year,” Lorenzo said. “Lindsey (Magoteaux) is one of the fastest players I have ever seen.”
Megan Galluch answered for Catholic Central with a direct kick at the 28:29 mark to even the game at one.
“Our field is really wet,” Lorenzo said. “And they did a nice job on the set piece. Nobody was going to stop that kick.”
But, Lehman quickly took control of the game.
Grace Monnin and Magoteaux scored off assists from Grace Olding and with 2:25 remaining in the half, Monnin took a ball from Rylie McIver at the top of the box and put it in the net to make it 4-1 at the break.
Monnin would finish the day with four goals and one assist.
“She (Grace Monnin) is a four-year starter,” Lorenzo said. “She is leader out there and she showed that today.”
Carly Edwards opened the second-half scoring for Lehman with a long shot from 25 yards out to make it 5-1.
“She (Carly Edwards) has that ability,” Lorenzo said. “We are always telling her to take that shot. It was great to see he take the shot and it was even better when it went in.”
Monnin made it 6-1 on a shot from 15 yards out, with an assist from McIver.
After the Irish’s second goal, Lehman had the final two goals of the afternoon.
McIver cleaned up in front of the net, with Magoteux getting the assist before Monnin had the final goal on an assist from Anna Cianciolo.
“Rylie is another young player that has worked really hard,” Lorenzo said.
Lehman outshot Catholic Central 24-13 and Hannah Giguere had eight saves, while Catholic Central’s Libby Woeber had nine saves.
“Hannah (Giguere) is following Camille Brown in goal and as you know that is not easy,” Lorenzo said. “I thought Hannah had a great game. I thought she had a number of diving saves and really played well.”
Lehman will be back in action Thursday, hosting Coldwater at 5 p.m. in a WOSL game — after a great start to the season Saturday.
