Girls soccer: Presley McConnell's free kick gives Cloverleaf win over Field

BRIMFIELD TWP. — Some people have a lucky penny or maybe a horse shoe. The Cloverleaf girls soccer team might have a lucky Logan, as the younger brother of sophomore Lainey Manns sprinted onto the field in an attempt to see his sister. A few minutes after the stoppage, Presley McConnell drilled a high free kick from 35 yards for the winning goal in the Colts' 2-1 Metro Athletic Conference win over Field. It was a nice change of luck for the Colts (7-0-1, 4-0), who were very unlucky until the perfectly-placed shot from McConnell. "I am always looking for the goal," McConnell said. "I have a pretty strong foot, I would say, so I am always looking for the long-range ones. I hit some pretty good balls in, and that one was just on target. I had one right before that that hit the crossbar, so I was kind of hoping that this one would work out for me." Cloverleaf dominated the Falcons (5-3, 3-1) in every aspect but entered the break even at 1. Field matched a Kayla Shook goal with a free kick goal when Reese Tucker's drive hit the crossbar and somehow landed the ball just across the line with just 1:18 left until halftime. Statistically, the Colts won every major category convincingly with a 15-3 shot edge and a 6-2 margin on corner kicks to go with just one goal kick to the Falcons' 23. "I think in the second half (coach Guillermo Porras) just told us to slow down and that we needed more possession," Shook said. "Just work more together and talk more. Just keep doing what we were doing in the first half but keep doing it throughout the second half. Don't let anything get to our heads and keep going." The Falcons' only two corners came 15 seconds apart with a little more than five minutes left. The second led to the Colts' lone goal kick. The vast majority of the play was on the Falcons' half of the field. "We switched up our defense formations a little." Presley said. "We knew they would try to target Delilah (Rahe). She's a great player, so we knew we needed to lock her down because that is who they were going to target for opportunities. Shook got things started for Cloverleaf when a ball was misplayed by a defender. Shook picked up the loose change, raced in and finished for a 1-0 lead. "I saw that Riley (Werner) stepped to it, and I just went to the goal," Shook said. "We need to get to the slot balls because it doesn't always have to be super pretty to get a goal. If we just keep going to the ball and keep working for it and pressuring the keeper one of them was going to bounce and if I followed it and got a shot off it could go in and that is what happened." The Cloverleaf win also keeps them unbeaten in the MAC and on a Sept. 24 collision course with Streetsboro, which also stayed perfect in conference games with a win over Ravenna. The Rockets knocked off Cloverleaf 2-1 in the MAC title game last season. Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Cloverleaf 2, Field 1 CLOVERLEAF&emsp;1 1 — 2 FIELD 1 0 — 1 First C — Kayla Shook, 11:42. F — Reese Tucker, 1:18. Second B — Presley McConnell, 13:19. Shots on goal — Cloverleaf 15, Field 3. Corner kicks — Cloverleaf 6, Field 2. Saves — Stella Bennett (C) 2, Carlee Fafrak (F) 13. Records — Cloverleaf (7-0-1, 4-0), Field (5-3, 3-1).