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PLAINS TWP. — The Wyoming Valley Conference’s increasingly brutal schedule was beginning to wear down on Coughlin, and coach Desiree Boris pinpointed exactly where her team needed to right the ship — in the midfield.

Her midweek adjustments panned out as the middies controlled the pace of play to propel Coughlin to a 3-1 come-from-behind win over Pittston Area Thursday in girls soccer action.

“I’m tremendously impressed with how our girls responded today,” Boris said. “We needed a win because we’ve had three tough losses in a row with Dallas, Lake-Lehman and Wyoming Valley West. They were all tough losses.”

Coughlin’s two second half goals to break a stalemate came on a pair of Aby Davis-from-Kendall Pearage corner kicks. Twice, Pearage telegraphed her corner kick. Twice, Davis expertly finished with a goal.

After the Patriots’ Grace Mimnaugh nearly went 60 yards on a scoring chance a minute earlier, Coughlin (3-3) responded by taking the lead by creating a corner kick chance in the 47th. Pearage sent a pass perfectly placed at Davis’ forehead from five yards out.

Coughlin’s usual suspects clinched the victory in the 78th minute. This time, Pearage sailed a ball beyond the keeper to Davis, who charged in at the goal line.

“We spent a lot of time practicing our corner kicks,” Boris said. “Kendall is a very talented player so she is able to place the ball in different spots to our girls. It’s a very good thing for us. She makes it look easy.”

Pittston Area took an early lead on its own set-piece goal in the eighth minute. Center back Nicole Mayers hit a direct kick from 30 yards out that made its course through a line of defenders and into net for an early lead.

“I thought it was a pretty evenly matched game,” Pittston Area coach Nicole Tieso said. “We weren’t able to finish the opportunities we had. And Coughlin did a good job with theirs. They scored twice on the corner, and we just didn’t finish.”

Ten minutes later, it was Pearage and Davis again teaming up for the equalizer. Davis retrieved the ball out of a scrum in the box and dished it left for Pearage. She sent a shot to the top-right corner of the net for the goal.

Pittston Area (3-3) struggled holding onto possession, particularly in the midfield, with a just a handful of scoring chances in the second half. Their best chance at evening the score came when Mimnaugh won a ball off a defender and charged 25 yards to the left side, but her 71st-minute shot was grabbed by Courtney Wartella.

“We’re a relatively young team,” Tieso said. “So it’s just finding the right combinations.”

Led by center-mid Mallory Balchun, Coughlin’s midfield limited the opportunities of Patriots’ strong forwards. Pittston Area finished with just six shots.

“We were definitely more involved in our midfield,” Boris said. “We focused a lot on that because we have not been able to maintain it. We’ve been losing out there lately.”

Anjelica Singer made 14 saves for Pittston Area.

Crestwood 7, Wyoming Valley West 3

Crestwood’s Cassidy Brumagin, Melissa Herrera and Nina Atie all had two goals each.

Wyoming Valley West’s Kennadi Josefowicz and Tiffany Michalek put together three goals in the first half, followed by six Crestwood goals in the second.

Coughlin 3, Pittston Area 1

Pittston Area`1`0`—`1

Coughlin`1`2`—`3

First half — 1. PA Nicole Mayers, 8th minute; 2.COU Kendall Pearage (Aby Davis), 18th. Second half — 3. COU Davis (Pearage), 46th; 4. COU Davis (Pearage) 78th.

Shots — PA 6, COU 25. Saves — PA 14 (Anjelica Singer); COU 4 (Courtney Wartella). Corner kicks — PA 2, COU 9.

Crestwood 7, Wyoming Valley West 3

Crestwood`1`6 —`7

Wyoming Valley West`3`0 —`3

First half — 1. CRE, Cassidy Brumagin, 8:53; 2. WVW, Tiffany Michalek, 16:30; 3. WVW, Kennadi Josefowicz (Michalek), 19:53; 4. WVW, Michalek (Josefowicz), 24:46. Second half — 5. CRE, Melissa Herrera, 42:26; 6. CRE, Brumagin, 59:49; 7. CRE, Nina Atie, 73:36; 8. CRE, Atie, 75:35; 9. CRE, Herrera, 77:46; 10. CRE, Taylor Tomalinas, 78:48.

Shots — CRE 17; WVW 14. Saves — CRE 8 (Cortney Dushanko); WVW 8 (Emma Grimes). Corner kicks — CRE 4; WVW 2.

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By Jay Monahan

For Times Leader

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