Girls Sectional Soccer: Ella Riley's hat trick leads Elyria Catholic past Brookside

ELYRIA — Elyria Catholic struck early and struck often. The Panthers piled on six goals, highlighted by a hat trick from freshman Ella Riley, during a 6-0 win against Brookside in the Division IV, Northeast 3 sectional final Tuesday. No. 11-seeded Elyria Catholic (10-5-2) will face No. 22 Perry, which upset No. 13 Beachwood 2-1 in overtime Tuesday, in the district semifinals Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. No. 28 Brookside's season ends at 7-10. "We just found those through balls and I was just able to score them," Riley said. "It feels really good to advance. I hope we can make it even further. It was really exciting and we all did really goal. I think this boosts our confidence a lot and let's just see how far we can go." Elyria Catholic wasted no time getting on the board when junior forward Trinity Metzinger won a one-on-one with the keeper and buried the first goal of the game in the left net less then three minutes in. Things settled in for the next 15 minutes before Riley scored her first goal, stealing the ball from the Brookside defense, controlling it with a header and finishing in short order. Senior Gabriella Rodriguez joined the party two minutes later with a high looping goal that even she looked surprised found the back of the net. Riley's next two goals came in the second half — first coming on a header off a corner kick feed from Metzinger and the other in transition down the left sideline to complete the hat trick. "I think the team stayed very positive the whole time," Elyria Catholic coach Jose Perez said. "I think we knew how the game was going to go. We knew they were going to play a very high line. We had a game plan and we knew we had to find all of our offensive line with those through balls. We were able to do that a couple of times and that helped the team find those goals." The Panthers ultimately outshot Brookside 32-1, placing 23 on goal while the Cardinals did not register a shot on goal. However, Addie Roth did have a couple of moments where she snuffed out Brookside's attack before it got going. Meanwhile, junior goalkeeper Khloe Racz was busy for the Cardinals, recording 17 saves. Rodriguez's second goal bounced off one of her defenders and into the net. "I'm nothing but proud of them," Brookside coach Jonathan Wright said. "This is the best season this team has had in over a decade. We've been working really hard. We have a lot of first- and second-year players on this team. They came out, fought hard and I'm proud of them. I'm looking forward to next season." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. Elyria Catholic 6, Brookside 0 GOALS: (EC) Trinity Metzinger (3rd minute), Ella Riley (18th, 51st and 68th minutes), Gabriella Rodriguez (20th and 73rd minutes). ASSISTS: (EC) Rodriguez. SHOTS: Brookside 1, Elyria Catholic 32 SHOTS ON GOAL: Brookside 0, Elyria Catholic 23 SAVES: (B) Khloe Racz 17; (EC) Addie Roth 0 FOULS: Brookside 5, Elyria Catholic 11 CORNER KICKS: Brookside 0, Elyria Catholic 4 FREE KICKS: Brookside 11, Elyria Catholic 5 GOAL KICKS: Brookside 10, Elyria Catholic 5 HALFTIME: Elyria Catholic, 3-0