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Warriors’ Maxwell delivers on offense

Everett’s Kaitlyn Maxwell is just a freshman, but she played beyond her years in the team’s opening round playoff game.

Maxwell gave the Lady Warriors a quick 1-0 lead with a goal in the opening minute and added another late in the first half to lead Everett past Ligonier Valley 2-0 in the first round of the District 6 2A playoffs Tuesday at Mansion Park.

Maxwell’s first goal came from close range just 50 seconds into the game off an assist from senior Kristen Mills.

“Kristen got me the ball, and I tapped it in to finish it off,” Maxwell said.

Makayla Donahoe nearly put Everett up 2-0 near the 26 minute mark, but Ligonier keeper Lexie Petrof dove to her right and reached behind her to corral the ball before it reached the net.

Everett continued to dominate, keeping possession of the ball most of the first half, and made it pay off late in the half when Maxwell jumped on a loose ball and beat Petrof with a high shot from about 15 yards out.

“It was a loose ball that bobbed over to me, and their goalie couldn’t get to it,” Maxwell said.

Neither team scored in the second half.

“They definitely played better in the second half than the first half. They have a large team with a lot more subs than we do,” Everett coach Rom Kalinauskas said. “It was a good game. I’m happy with the way we played.”

Mills nearly made it a three goal lead midway through the second half when Petrof got caught too far from the net. Her shot from the right side was deflected away by a Lady Rams defender sprinting to cover the open goal.

Tenth-seeded Ligonier had a couple scoring opportunities in the second half. The best came at the 12:29 mark, but Everett netminder Abby Johnson charged hard out of goal and dove on the loose ball just before a pair of Ligonier players got to it.

Maxwell jut missed a hat trick when she banged one of the the left post with 4:35 remaining in the game.

“From our scouting report, we knew they were strong offensively, and they were,” Ligonier coach Eric Vogelsang said. “It played like out all our other games this year. We didn’t give up more than three goals in any game, but we didn’t score more than three goals in a game either.”

The win advances Everett to the quarterfinals for a matchup against top-seed Bedford at 7:30 p.m. this Thursday at Bedford.

“We’ve played them before. We know what they’re like. They have a great team,” Kalinauskas said. “We have our work cut out for us. We can’t afford to make mistakes. If we do, it’ll cost us dearly.”

SCORE BY HALVES

Ligonier Valley    0  0 — 0

Everett      2  0 — 2

First half: E–Maxwell (Mills), 39:10; E–Maxwell (unassisted), 1:27.

Records: Ligonier Valley (8-10); Everett (12-7).

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