CONNELLSVILLE – Claudia Prinkey scored a hat trick and Connellsville held off a second-half push from Southmoreland to earn a 7-3 nonleague victory Saturday morning at Connellsville Stadium.

“I’m not going to lie to you, conceding seven goals, I’m not happy about that. It’s a weird feeling. I don’t think we played bad,” said Southmoreland coach Josh Pajak.

The Lady Scotties had the possession advantage in the offensive zone for most of the first half, but it was Connellsville that scored five goals.

The Lady Falcons relied on their speed and opened the scoring at 32:35 with Rylee Leasher’s first goal of the game.

“Speed ​​on the wing will be our strength. We just need to play a lot of balls through the middle,” said Connellsville coach Jeff Puskar. “We just need to be a little more cohesive defensively in the middle.”

“It takes a little while in the middle.”

Puskar added: “I was happy with the way we scored goals. We were stingy at the beginning. Sara made great saves (at the start of the first half). That changed the momentum. They scored goals and the game became much closer because of that.”

Leasher’s goal stood for 15 minutes when Southmoreland goalkeeper Autumn Bartos was unable to control Prinkey’s shot and the ball bounced over the prone goalkeeper, into the air and over the goal line, giving them a 2-0 lead.

Addison Bandemer assisted on the goal.

Amelia Lincoln gave the Lady Falcons a 3-0 lead at 10:53 of the minute when she took a pass from Emily Burkus and put the ball in the net.

About 8½ minutes later, Prinkey scored her second goal of the half.

Leasher’s defense set up Lincoln’s second goal of the half with 22 seconds left. Leasher stole the ball in front of the Southmoreland goal and made a pass to Lincoln, who converted the shot to make it 5-0 at halftime.

“As a team, we really have to work on switching to defense and it’s just a matter of attitude. Our team has to grind through and not allow them to take a shot,” Pajak said. “For three of their goals, they never should have taken a shot. Put your body in front of a shot.

“We will work hard on that this week.”

Prinkey completed her hat trick six minutes into the second half when she won the ball in front of the goal and shot over Destiny Auer.

Connellsville became a little complacent after taking a 6-0 lead and Southmoreland took advantage of the lack of focus with a natural hat trick from Megan Mehall.

“When we’re focused and have our starting 11 on the field, we’re pretty good. But sometimes, I don’t know what it is, the girls tend to lose that,” Puskar said. “My job is to put together the best team out there. Hey, we’re finding our way.”

Mehall scored her first goal at 29:03 when she controlled a bouncing ball and put it behind goalkeeper Sara Tinkey.

Mehall’s second goal came from a missed shot two minutes later. The junior was at the post to Tinkey’s right and fired the ball into the net.

The hat trick was achieved with a shot from around 27 meters, which sailed over Tinkey’s outstretched arms 18:03 minutes before the end of the half.

“I don’t think we played bad from the 30-yard line to the 30-yard line. As a group, we played bad in our final third,” Pajak said. “In the first half, we weren’t as tenacious in their final third. That’s why we couldn’t score.”

Leasher scored her second goal late in the game when she sprinted alone down the left wing and fired the ball into the net.

Both teams don’t begin section play until after Labor Day, so they have a few games left outside of their section to get into their rhythm.

“We have about two weeks left before the section starts and we want to make sure we play at 80, 90 percent because if not, we’re in big trouble,” Puskar explained.

Girls volleyball

Carmichaels 3, Brownsville 1 – The Lady Falcons stayed in contention with a second set win, but Carmichaels finished off the non-sectional match by winning the next two sets.

The Lady Mikes won the first set 25:23, lost the second 25:19 and won the next two 27:25 and 25:23.

Payton Evanchak had a double-double for Brownsville with 11 service points and 12 kills. Skyler Gates was strong at the net with 18 kills and six blocks. Kenzie Adams finished with 16 service points.

Boys football

Mount Pleasant 4, Connellsville 2 – The Vikings prevailed against the Falcons in the second half and secured a home win outside of the section.

Mount Pleasant (1-0) led 1-0 at halftime.

Gavin Rummel scored a goal and assisted on one for the Vikings. Tyler Kurtz and Landon Stuart added goals in the second half, and Aydan Gross finished the scoring with a penalty kick.

Grayson Gardner secured the win with four saves.

Bentworth 3, Trinity 1 – Ryan Moessner scored two goals as the Bearcats opened the season with a win over the Hillers in the Canon Mac Showcase.

Andrew Vipperman also scored a goal for Bentworth. Adam Moessner, Dillan Colbert and Isaac Reynolds added assists.

Bentworth (1-0) led 2-0 at half-time. Trinity scored its goal late in the second half.

“It’s always rewarding to see the hard work in training translate into results on the field. Trinity is a solid and experienced team and we were definitely challenged today,” said Bentworth coach Nicholas Malarbi. “My boys played hard for 80 minutes and that’s all I can ask for this early in the year.”

Ringgold 4, Elizabeth Stürmer 3 – Nick Evans’ goal with about 15 minutes left in the game was the difference in the Rams’ victory in the Moe Rosensteel Memorial Kickoff Classic.

The Warriors scored the first goal after 30 minutes, but Evans responded just over a minute later with his first goal of the game.

Lucas Wukovich gave the Rams their first lead with a goal at 18:29. Elizabeth Forward tied the game about three minutes later, giving them a 2-2 lead at halftime.

Wukovich’s second goal gave Ringgold a 3-2 lead 10 minutes into the second period. The Warriors tied it 16 minutes later.

football

Summit Academy 20, Frazier 16 – The Knights earned a non-league victory with a fourth-quarter touchdown on a 13-yard run by Demetrius Crosby.

The Commodores led 8-6 after the first quarter and 16-14 at halftime.

Frazier’s Derek Diamond scored a 5-yard touchdown and Brady Secrist found Andrew Bandish for a 44-yard touchdown pass.