Oct 15, 2025
Staff photo / Preston Byers Brookfield’s Timya Allen (22) and Cardinal Mooney’s Dara Bogan battle for the ball during Tuesday’s Division V sectional final match in Youngstown.
YOUNGSTOWN — Cardinal Mooney kicked off its postseason Tuesday with a dominant win against visiting Brookfield.
The fifth-seeded Cardinals controlled the action from the get-go and cruised to an abbreviated 8-0 win over the No. 34 Warriors in a Division V, Northeast 5, sectional final at Don F. Bucci Field in Youngstown.
Within the opening 20 seconds of kickoff, Mooney recorded its first of many shots on goal. The near constant pressure paid off soon thereafter, as Leah Hudak cashed in on a run down the left wing and cross into the box by Abigail Markey to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead just over two minutes into the game.
Less than two minutes after that, Julia Diorio took away the ball from a Brookfield defender outside of the Warriors’ box and promptly scored. Hudak then added her second goal, and Diorio similarly scored again 49 seconds later.
After taking a 4-0 lead in under eight minutes, Mooney head coach Agni Cvercko began to clear her bench, making multiple substitutes and continuing to rotate her roster throughout the half.
“We got a lot of other players that normally don’t get playing time some play, and they played a great game,” Cvercko said.
Brookfield goalkeeper Isabella Williams, despite the rough start, settled in after the early barrage and repelled more than a half dozen Mooney shots to keep the Warriors only four goals down for more than 20 minutes.
“I just thought my goalie played extremely well, even though I know it’s 8-0,” Brookfield coach Jim Getz said. “But Mooney is a really good, solid team that we came across. And they’re going to do very well in the future. … I can’t tell you how proud I am of the goalie. I understand it’s 8-0, but you have to understand what we faced. She did a phenomenal job.”
However, under the persistent Cardinals attack, Williams eventually let up two more goals before halftime. Katie Pregibon scored the first 9:35 to go, while Dara Bogan fired a strong kick into the top of the net 45 seconds before the end of the half.
After the break, Mooney wasted little time in finishing off Brookfield; 23 seconds into the second half, Kiera Fitzgerald scored, and four-and-a-half minutes later, with exactly 35:00 left, Fitzgerald scored again, which triggered the OHSAA’s eight-goal playoff mercy rule.
Tuesday’s loss ended the 2025 season for Brookfield, which finished with a 3-12-0 record in the first year under Getz, who was optimistic about his team, most of which he said had not played much soccer beforehand.
“We’re injured, and I had a very short staff – I only had about 12, 13 girls to play this game … so we hardly had any substitutions this game. But I’ll tell you this: this is the best my girls have played all year with what we had to work with,” Getz said.
“We stay positive no matter what happens. When I came in, that was one of the things I worked on with the girls. I try to explain to the girls that sometimes it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about when you go out on that field and you play the game and you played as hard as you can, that’s all that matters. It’ll work itself out. These girls will win, but it just takes time. It’s gonna come.”
As for Mooney (12-3-1), Cvercko hopes that Tuesday was just the beginning of a long postseason. The Cardinals, who are unbeaten in their last six matches, will have eight days before they get their chance to extend it any further, though.
Cvercko said that the team, as usual, will have some “intense” practices, including intrasquad scrimmages to prepare for their next match.
Mooney will host its district semifinal on Oct. 22 against either Waynedale or Lake Center Christian, who play tonight in Apple Creek.
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