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Riley Exford of DeKalb, right, heads upfield with Mishawaka Marian’s Mia Garatoni in pursuit during Wednesday’s Class 2A regional match in Mishawaka.
MARK MURDOCKMISHAWAKA — DeKalb wanted to stress offense a little more after falling behind by a goal in Wednesday’s Class 2A girls soccer regional game.
Mishawaka Marian took the same approach, possessing the ball most of the time and keeping the majority of play in the Barons’ end of the field.
Like most of the Knights’ opponents, DeKalb couldn’t get much going, and Marian ended the season for the Barons with a 3-0 win.
The Knights (18-3) will host the regional final Saturday against either Hanover Central or West Lafayette. They remain unscored upon in the postseason.
“We have some talent on our team. They have a lot of talent,” DeKalb coach Terry Exford said. “It was a tough match, and we knew it was going to be.
“We tried to make some switches in the way we were going to approach the game, and it worked out. But they have a lot of talent and they got a few through.”
The first 20 minutes or so were played in a light rain. The Knights kept the Barons (12-7-1) bottled up in their defensive third much of the time.
Marian broke through when Mia Garatoni knocked in a cross along the end line from Addison Schade with 20:56 to go in the half.
“We started with a strong defense in the first half,” Exford said. “They got one on us. We were hoping to get into the half 0-0. That forced us into trying to get one ourselves and I had to move up some girls to an offensive position, and it didn’t quite work out.
“Our girls fought hard. I was very proud of the way we played tonight.”
The Knights doubled their lead when Hannah Davis put one into the box. Baron keeper Sydney Mansfield came off her line to play it, but it skidded by her on the wet turf, and Daisy Moody had an open net to shoot at with 33:44 left.
Just more than five minutes later, Marian’s Mary Murphy made a run from right to left to create space at the 18, and fired one into the right side of the net to cap the scoring with 28:20 to play.
The loss stung, but the Barons have plenty in which to take pride, dealing with a late coaching change and having a winning year that included a sectional title.
The team started 6-5, and went 6-2-1 the rest of the way.
“I’m very proud of these girls,” Exford said. “Our coaching staff coming in late and directing them in how we wanted to see them play, and they caught on. At the beginning, it was a little rough. We ended up with 12 wins and capping it off with the sectional title.
“It speaks a lot to how hard these girls worked.”
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