Carson Francis, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by Holzer Health System.
CHILLICOTHE — Unioto’s Elliana Myers isn’t just on a typical hot streak.
Simply put, the senior is on fire.
Coming into Thursday’s non-league rivalry match with Chillicothe, Myers had already tallied 17 goals through Unioto’s first nine contests. And when the lights came on, she continued to light up the scoreboard to lift the Shermans to victory.
Out of Unioto’s four first-half goals, Myers scored two while assisting on another to quickly put away Chillicothe in a 4-0 shutout – marking back-to-back victories for the Shermans.
CREDIT: Carson Francis/SOSA
“We definitely trusted each other. We trusted our back line, we trusted [Unioto goalkeeper] Jillian [Mathey]. Not much gets past Jillian and she had two amazing saves,” Myers said. “Our midfield has been very strong. Me and [Taylor Wellman] have been connecting on passes, and her through-balls are amazing.”
While Unioto (7-3) had dominated the possession battle in the first 20 minutes, the Cavaliers (1-3) were able to hold their ground to start. Unioto’s first five shots consisted of three that were on target, and all three were corralled by Chillicothe keeper Elaina Crall.
But at the 19:12 mark, Myers opened up the floodgates for Unioto.
With nothing but the keeper standing in her way, Myers launched a shot at the net before it was batted down by the keeper. But Myers stayed alert and followed her shot, knocking the rebound through for the first goal of the evening.
“[Myers] just has an eye for the goal. She’s very strong, fast and skilled,” Unioto coach Jeremy Clark said. “She’s a good leader and keeps everyone going. When everyone starts getting down, she picks them up.”
The Shermans never looked back from there.
Myers stayed hot on offense, and at the 12:32 mark, got a teammate involved in the scoring brigade. She dished the ball to Indie Lambert, who floated it into the right side of the net to extend Unioto’s lead to 2-0.
Then, Myers would net her second goal of the night – and 19th of the season – just 92 seconds later to make it a 3-0 count. Mariah Annon would then assist Taylor Wellman for another goal with 9:20 left to cap off a 4-0 Unioto run.
“The first ten minutes, we were kind of lethargic. But after that first goal, I thought it was like, ‘Oh, we’re playing soccer now,'” Clark said. “That was our tenth game in about a month and a half, so we had some tired legs. But they didn’t quit, and I’m super proud of that.”
The Shermans’ four goals that all came within less than 10 minutes of each other would be all Unioto needed to chalk up their fourth win in five tries — and the program’s second straight win against the Cavaliers.
“I’m glad we didn’t underestimate [Chillicothe]. That’s a good team. Their foot skills are great,” Wellman said. “I think our teamwork really sold it. I think our connection in the middle, our triangles, that’s what [coach Jeremy Clark] preaches a lot is triangles and tiki taka, and I think we executed.”
Chillicothe will look to rebound on Tuesday, traveling to Hillsboro in FAC action. For the Shermans, their next action will also take place Tuesday evening when they welcome Fairfield for a non-league showdown.
“It’s not just a team of individuals, it’s a team of eleven, and you have to work it from the goalie all the way up. There’s just certain things we can’t do without each other,” Myers said. “We can’t get upfield without the midfield, and we can’t stop other teams from getting goals without defense. There’s always something that someone can be doing, and I feel like we’ve all really learned our positions and our roles on this team.”
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