Mariemont’s first trip to a girls soccer state final ended with the program’s first state championship. The Warriors defeated Findlay Liberty-Benton 6-1 on Friday, November 13, in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division IV state championship game at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
The six goals tie the overall state record for goals by one team in a girls soccer state final, matching Summit Country Day’s total in a 2015 final, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Mariemont finishes 20-1-2; Liberty-Benton finishes 20-3-1.
Senior Addy Zawaly, the team’s active career goals leader, a University of Wisconsin commit recently named a Top Drawer Soccer All-American, scored the goal that put Mariemont ahead for good late in the first half, the Enquirer reported. Off a corner kick, Claire Young delivered a ground ball to Zawaly at the top of the goal box — with a teammate letting the ball run through her legs to distract the defense — and Zawaly fired into the far post for her 15th goal of the season and a 1-0 halftime lead.
The Warriors then scored twice quickly to open the second half, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Just 12 seconds after the kickoff, a hard Zawaly shot was deflected to senior Alyssa Dewey, who knocked in the rebound for her 12th goal of the season and the 51st of her career. A few minutes later, freshman Claire Young dribbled into space and scored from more than 20 yards — her 10th goal, making her the fifth Warrior in double figures this season.
Young scored her 11th midway through the second half off a Dewey pass, and Zawaly got her second of the game a minute later from Meryck Bogle to make it 5-0, the Enquirer reported. Liberty-Benton got one back on a deflection off a free kick with 16 minutes left, and Bogle — who played with a cast on her arm, as did starting center back Ella Garrison — closed the scoring with seven minutes left on another Dewey assist, her 12th goal of the season. Mariemont finished with a 19-8 edge in shots.
The title completes a remarkable turnaround arc: Mariemont lost its season opener 4-0 to Ross on August 14, drew with Taylor and Indian Hill in early September, and then won its final 15 games by a combined 82-4, outscoring its opponents 94-14 across the whole season, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Zawaly graduates with 68 career goals, and Dewey with 51 goals and 74 assists.
It is a fitting sendoff for a nine-player senior class — Elizabeth Curran, Ella Garrison, M.J. Stevens, Alyssa Dewey, Emme Padjen, Jenna VanScoy, Camdyn Bogle, Hannah Iwanicki and Addy Zawaly — five of whom started the final, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. The scoring depth runs underclass-deep, too: junior Marisa Murphy posted a team-high 18 goals this season, and Young’s two-goal final came as a freshman.