photo by: Andrew Grimm

Steubenville’s Lucy Saccoccia greets Bailee Beall after one of Beall’s five goals in an 8-2 victory over Zanesville

STEUBENVILLE — While it was not the start Big Red head coach Annie Cutri drew up to Monday’s tournament opener, the finsih was just what she hoped.

After falling behind by a couple of goals early to visiting Zanesville in a Division III, East District postseason opener at Harding Stadium, Big Red netted the next eight goals to roll to a 8-2 victory.

“I told the girls pregame that Zanesville was going to come out flying and they did, they caught us off guard a little bit … but credit to our girls, being down 2-0 didn’t affect them,” Cutri said. “They kept playing like it was 0-0 and controlled the game after that. They played really good soccer, they played unselfish soccer.

“We’re still learning and growing, and we’ll learn from those first 10 minutes, but I’m proud of the girls for how they responded.”

Bailee Beall, already the program’s all-time leading scorer, netted five goals and an assist to factor into six of the eight goals.

“Bailee has done a lot of special things and scoring five goals in a tournament game is definitely another,” Cutri said. “And it was everyone being unselfish, Lucy Saccoccia making great passes from the wing, Gianna Thomas created a lot of opportunities, everyone was contributing and they want to see each other succeed.”

Steubenville (13-2-2), the No. 2 seed in the district, will host No. 4 Tri-Valley next Monday in the district semis.

Zanesville (6-10-1), which was the fifth seed, jumped up 2-0 in the first 10 minutes, but Big Red had surged ahead 4-2 at hafltime, then tacked on four more in the second half.

Saccoccia also had a big night, scoring Big Red’s first goal and registering four assists.

Thomas and Jaylin Crites also scored, while Kenzy Petrelle had an assist. Jodeci Geeen made two saves and Sadie Edwards four saves in goal.

Big Red out-shot the Blue Devils 22-6 in the game.