Correction
Earlier versions of this story misidentified the McDowell player in the accompanying photo. It is Mariah Elwell.
Taking little time to get its offense going, McDowell unleashed a torrent of first-half goals, then coasted to a 7-0 rout of Strong Vincent to capture the Class AAA District 10 championship at Veterans Stadium on Thursday.
Getting three goals in the game’s first 10 minutes, including two by senior forward Sammy Valloud, the Trojans quickly put to rest any hopes of an upset by the Colonels, who were shut out by McDowell 5-0 and 8-0 in two previous outings this season.
“That was our game plan, to get on them right away,” McDowell coach Jason Perkins said. “All season, we’ve had trouble at the beginning of the game, and this week we focused on getting started right away and going right at our opponent.”
Valloud opened the scoring 5 minutes, 41 seconds into the game when she placed a high shot from 30 yards over Vincent goalie Rachel Burnett’s arms and under the crossbar.
Just 24 seconds later, Natasha Lennox made it 2-0 when she beat Burnett on her far side from a sharp angle on the left. Valloud then scored her second goal of the game 2:16 later, beating Burnett from point-blank range, increasing McDowell’s lead to 3-0.
“We were definitely psyched up when the game began,” said Valloud, McDowell’s leading scorer with 23 goals. About her two early goals, Valloud said, “Being a senior, this was my last D-10 game, so I knew I had to give it my all.”
Vincent held the Trojans off the board for the next 10 minutes before Caroline Mashyna scored twice to up the lead to 5-0. Lennox added her second goal of the half followed by a score by Julia Marn to put McDowell up 7-0 at intermission.
Burnett made several excellent saves in the second half, preventing further damage.
The District 10 AAA championship was the Trojans’ 16th in the past 19 years, and their fifth consecutive. On the season, McDowell outscored its D-10 AAA opponents 61-1.
Next up for McDowell (13-6) is a trip to the first round of the PIAA AAA playoffs, where the Trojans will meet the winner of Penn-Trafford and North Allegheny on Tuesday, at a site to be named.
Strong Vincent’s season closed at 7-9-2.
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