Kaelynn Walker, left, celebrates with Veronica Pannapara after scoring a goal on Thursday against Preble Shawnee at Preble Shawnee.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
CAMDEN – The Lehman Catholic Cavaliers girls’ soccer team knocked off Preble Shawnee 2-0 at Preble Shawnee in a Division V district quarterfinal matchup on Thursday.
“I’m happy about the effort,” Lehman Catholic head coach Oshae Peart said following the victory. “Everything we worked on in practice today proved to be better. The girls worked extremely hard and were persistent and consistent.”
The Cavaliers struck first with a goal from Kaelynn Walker with 18:20 left in the first half when she re-directed a breakaway pass into the back of the Arows’ net.
“We worked on a lot of crosses and she was right there,” Peart said of Walkers’ goal. “She was in the right position to score, that was something we worked on a lot in practice.”
Lehman held Shawnee scoreless in the first half and took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
It looked as if the Cavaliers might add to their lead with 22 minutes left to play, but the Lehman goal was called back due to an offside call.
Lehman battled the Arrows’ defense and managed to find another goal when Emi Wray striped a long shot into the net with 12:31 left to play that extended the lead to 2-0.
“With Emi, we worked on pressing whenever a team plays back,” Peart said. “We always have to focus on getting the ball. We did a really good job of that.”
Aside from the scoring, the Cavaliers were helped to the win by senior goalkeeper Callie Giguere who batted away numerous Shawnee shots and led the team vocally from her post.
With the win, Lehman advanced to the district semi-final where they will travel to take on Botkins on Monday at 7 p.m.
Reach assistant editor / sports writer ryan Harless at 937-538-4651 or follw @RyanHarless_ on X (formerly Twitter).
