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First Posted: 10/22/2014

PLAINS TWP. — Emma Sukowaski drilled the ball off a direct kick and watched it sail toward the net.

The Coughlin junior saw it whack off the cross bar and right back in the hands of Tunkhannock keeper Brittney Sickler.

A bad break? Perhaps. A few inches lower and the ball sneaks in.

Little did she know at the time, though, it was a sign of things to come.

Sukowaski opened the scoring with one minute left in the first half, and Coughlin found the back of the net five times in the final 40 minutes as the No. 3 Crusaders rolled to a 6-0 victory over the Tigers in an opening-round District 2 Class 2A girls’ soccer match.

The win vaults Coughlin into Friday’s quarterfinal where it will face off with No. 6 seed Holy Redeemer, a winner over Nanticoke.

The start certainly looked eerily similar to last week’s match to close the regular season, one where Coughlin squeezed out a 2-1 victory.

The end was just another dominating performance from the No. 3 seed.

“Tunkhannock does a good job defending and it’s so tough to get the ball wide on this field,” Coughlin head coach Joe Spagnuolo Jr. said. “There is just no room here. We made an adjustment in the second half where we moved one of our midfielders up to forward and we moved Mary (Tona) back. And it just freed everything up.

“We really struggled against Tunkhannock for three halves. Finally, we were able to break through.”

The Crusaders controlled the field, playing most of the match on Tunkhannock’s end of the pitch. They blasted eight shots toward Sickler in the first 29 minutes, but the keeper was steady and solid.

Two beautiful crosses by Tona right at the goal went for naught. Several long-distance shots by Sukowaski just missed or connected with the cross bar.

“We struggled in the first game against them,” Sukowaski said. “I sensed the goals were going to come. If you keep firing and firing, one of them is bound to go in. Once that happened, the game just kind of opened up.”

It sure did.

Sukowaski connected on a ball about 25 yards out. Again, it was a high bullet, but this time, the ball just slipped through the keeper’s hands and hit nylon as Coughlin grabbed a lead with 1:41 left.

The Crusaders outshot Tunkhannock, 20-1, and held a 7-0 edge in corners.

“That goal felt so good, especially since it was the first one to open the scoring,” Sukowaski said.

The flood gates opened in the second half.

A Tona cross was tipped by Sickler, bounced off the bar and slowly trickled into the back of the net.

Then two goals in a two-minute span.

Tona’s gorgeous bender in the 53rd minute gave Coughlin a 3-0 lead. Then on the team’s fifth corner, Sukowaski kicked the ball in to teammate Megan Lercara, whose far-side back corner shot beat Sickler for the commanding edge.

“Last week’s game was pretty defensive,” Tunkhannock head coach Bill Melan said, “but we managed to hold them better than today. They are good, really good. They move the ball well and they are physical. There is a reason they are the third seed. We played on our side of the field the whole game, and it’s tough to generate any offense when you do that. That just tires everyone out.”

Tona’s second goal of the match, off Sukowaski’s third assist, gave the Crusaders a 5-0 lead with eight minutes remaining, and Cassidy Steligo’s penalty shot with 1:15 left set the final score.

“This is districts, so it’s a whole new game,” Tona said. “It’s a whole new season basically. We had to come out 10 times harder than we did in the regular season. We had a lead after the first half, but we knew that we had to pick it up. It was nice to put together a good half.”

Sickler had 13 saves in net for Tunkhannock, while Paige Davis had a quiet night for Coughlin, stopping one first-half shot.

District 2 Class 2A first round

Coughlin 6, Tunkhannock 0

Tunkhannock`0`0`–`0

Coughlin`1`5`–`6

First half — 1. COU, Emma Sukowaski (Hailee Dumont), 1:41. Second half — 2. COU, Casey Lello (Mary Tona), 38:11; 3. COU, Tona (Sukowaski), 29:55; 4. COU, Megan Lercara (Sukowaski), 27:39; 5. COU, Tona (Sukowaski), 8:47; 6. COU, Cassidy Steligo (PK), 1:15.

Shots – TUN 1; COU 20. Saves – TUN 13 (Brittney Sicklet); COU 1 (Paige Davis). Corner kicks – TUN 0; COU 7.