Girls regional soccer: Columbia loses 8-0 to Chippewa in semifinal

WOOSTER — Columbia could only hold Chippewa back for so long. The Raiders kept the Chipps in check for the first half, but once Chippewa found the net again it exploded for an 8-0 win in a Division V, Region 20 semifinal hosted by Wooster High School on Tuesday night. "If you watch Chippewa, if you see any of their games, you know if they score one, they score many," Columbia coach Blaze Pratt said. "That was something we knew going into the game. I think we did a good job in the first half, holding out, but it's hard to compete with the youth and numbers we have. I think once the chips fell, the chips fell, but these girls have a lot to be proud of. Obviously, this is not the way we wanted to go, but they accomplished so much and I'm so proud of them." Chippewa (20-1) will face Kirtland (15-6), a 1-0 winner against Cardinal Mooney (14-4-1) in its semifinal, in the Region 20 final at North Royalton on Saturday. Columbia concludes its season at 15-5-1 and, according to the school, brought home the program's first district championship. Most of the Raiders' core consists of freshmen and sophomores, including five of its top seven point producers, top two goal scorers and goalkeeper. "There's nothing to be upset about because we still made history," Columbia senior Alyssa Goebel said. "We did really big things. We should never look down upon that because we still hold the district title. I'm proud of what our team did." Chippewa, the defending Division V state runnerup, outshout Columbia 30-5, placing 16 on goal to only two for the Raiders. However, despite facing 19 shots in the first half, Columbia only trailed 1-0 with goalkeeper Gianna Stervagi making eight saves. The Chipps' only goal came at the 26:01 mark when Emme Donnelly's cross bounced off a defender and into the corner of the net. The Raiders top two goal scorers each had solid opportunities to even the score in the opening half. Sophomore Natalie Miller broke free down the right sideline with 11:31 left and played a nice cross to Khrystyna Tomashchuk, but the defense recovered in time to break it up. With 7:42 left, fellow sophomore Allison Boardman forced a turnover at midfield and fired off a 20-yard shot that forced goalkeeper Gianna Neely to make a diving save. Chippewa junior Delaney Marshall scored all three of her goals in the second half, including one from 30 yards out that triggered an automatic finish with 14:44 left. The Chipps scored on all seven of their shots on goal in the second half. "They have a lot of speed," Miller said. "The one girl in the back who can kick it, when she kicks it long, they're faster than us so they're going to get a run at us. It's just a matter of being able to put an attack on them and today we didn't really do that. "This is definitely just the beginning for us. We have a lot of good freshmen coming up, so it's going to be exciting for the next few years." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. Chippewa 8, Columbia 0 GOALS: (CH) Emme Donnelly (14th minute), Myra Lewis (43rd minute), Delaney Marshall (45th minute, 52nd minute, 66th minute), Cally West (49th minute), Lilly Davis (51st minute), Makayla Berlin (62nd minute) ASSISTS: (CH) Donnelly, Lea Farrell, West SHOTS: Chippewa 30, Columbia 5 SHOTS ON GOAL: Chippewa 16, Columbia 2 SAVES: (CH) Gianna Neely 2; (C) Gianna Stervagi 8 FOULS: Chippewa 1, Columbia 3 CORNER KICKS: Chippewa 7, Columbia 1 FREE KICKS: Chippewa 3, Columbia 1 GOAL KICKS: Chippewa 3, Columbia 16 HALFTIME: Chippewa, 1-0