Photo by Kim North Linsly’s Haylen Cook (3) controls the ball as Steubenville Catholic Central’s Kathryn Bolster (20) defends during Thursday night’s OVAC Class 1A/3A girls soccer tournament semifinal.

WHEELING — Linsly’s Mirian Martinez only made one save Thursday night. However, it was by far the biggest.

Pressed into action between the pipes in the 39th minute of Thursday night’s OVAC Class 1A/3A girls soccer semifinal tournament match on the artificial outdoor pitch at The Highlands Sports Complex, the junior backup goalkeeper dove — fully extended — to her right and used her right hand to prevent the ball from reaching the goal line.

Leading 2-0 at the time, second-seeded Linsly (8-6-1) rode that wave of momentum throughout the second half en route to a commanding, 5-0, triumph over No. 3 Steubenville Catholic Central (5-6) and a berth in Saturday’s finals against Wheeling Central, which owns a 1-0 victory earlier this season when the two city rivals met.

“She’s very good as a backup keeper and she’s really good in situations like that,” Linsly head coach Chuck Neighoff said of Martinez. “She came up big.”

Martinez was inserted when starting goalkeeper Arabella Andy received a yellow card. The sophomore charged out of the net to play the ball as the Crusaders’ Ellen Rohde neared the rolling sphere. Rohde appeared to have a clear path to the net, but Andy reached out for the ball as the Crusaders’ senior went to the turf.

According to the referee, Andy could’ve been called for a red card and been ejected. However, since she was playing the ball, the foul was downgraded to a yellow card. She returned to start the second half and didn’t face a shot until the 71st minute when the score was 4-0.

“We finally played up to our abilities. We moved the ball well and we finished our opportunities,” Neighoff said. “Defensively, we were very solid. We played well as a team. I think the tough schedule that we’ve played really helped us out tonight.”

Linsly took a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute when junior Helen Bossart rifled in a blast from the middle of the field that tickled the twine to the right of Steubenville Catholic Central goalkeeper Megan Brown. Haylen Cook recorded the assist.

Six minutes later, Cook and Brown collided while chasing down a loose ball, with the deflection going to Abby White. The sophomore settled the ball down before letting loose a laser that found the back of the net.

The margin grew to 3-0 as Cook’s blast from the right of the cage in the 64th minute. Junior Riley Maroney made it 4-0 two minutes later from about the same exact spot as Cook scored from. Bossart assisted on both tallies.

Linsly capped the scoring on a beautiful cross from the right wing by junior Payton Storch found the right foot of Maroney who one-timed it into the net in the 75th minute.

Andy recorded half-a-dozen saves. The combined shutout was the seventh by the Cadets.

Brown stopped six shots for Steubenville Catholic Central.

“Linsly is a well-coached team that plays with intensity. They are always organized and they play through every 50/50 ball,” Crusaders’ head coach Jonathan Hoover said. “If we could’ve converted a couple of our opportunities in the first half it might have been a different story. Unfortunately, the ball didn’t bounce our way.”