Ramirez scores twice in Perkins girls soccer win

PERKINS TWP. — Perkins could have hung its heads. The Pirates took one on the chin Monday in a 3-0 home loss to Norwalk. Perkins bounced back Wednesday, getting two goals from Isa Ramirez in a 3-0 win over Huron in Northern Ohio Conference play. "Our mindset was today was a new day," Ramirez said. "We had to work together more as a team. We had a meeting together on how to keep our composure and work as a team. I think we did that really well tonight." The Pirates improved to 7-4-1 overall and 4-1 in league play. The Tigers fell to 6-3-3, 3-1-1. Both will need help for a shot at a league title as Norwalk (7-4-1, 3-0-1) now sits atop the conference standings alone. "It's one game at a time like we always do," Perkins coach Scott McVeigh said. "To have a chance at the league, we have to take care of ourselves the rest of the way. Norwalk is good. Their approach is the same as ours in order to win the league. "The toughest thing is it is out of our hands. We have to take care of what we can take care of and get better every day." After a tough and defensive opening 15 minutes, Ramirez got the scoring started for the Pirates. She took a pass and slipped past the Huron defender. She found herself one-on-one with Huron goalkeeper Lucy Hinners and rocketed a shot into the back of the net. That put Perkins up 1-0 with 20:39 left in the first half. "Isa showed a lot of composure tonight on the first goal," said McVeigh of the senior. "She had perfect touch where she just placed it in." The Pirates didn't wait long to add to it. Perkins was the beneficiary of an own goal by the Tigers off of a Pirates corner kick. That gave Perkins a 2-0 edge with 13:35 to go in the first half. "Honestly, I thought we played great in the first half," Huron coach Josh Thompson said. "Perkins got that first goal to open the scoring and I felt like we fell back on our heels. Since I've been at Huron, it's been a mental block playing at Perkins. It's kind of been the same result every year." Ramirez struck again early in the second half. She again took a pass and got past the Huron defense. Ramirez launched a shot past Hinners to make it 3-0 with 31:35 to play. "I'm familiar with Isa in club, coaching her there with my assistant," Thompson said. "We knew they wanted to focus their attack through Isa. We did a good job at it for the most part. Two balls got through and we didn't play it cleanly." The Tigers are off until Monday when they host Bellevue (8-5, 4-1). Huron is playing without senior Erin Findley, who was injured in a game against Clyde on Sept. 16. "It's our lack of ability to create good goal-scoring opportunities," Thompson said. "That's the bread and butter of winning games. We're not doing a good enough of doing that against good teams." Perkins also returns to action Monday at Clyde. "I give our girls all the credit in the world, coming off of Monday," McVeigh said. "It was a tough loss to Norwalk. They came back tonight and showed a lot of grit and a lot of toughness. We played on a higher level tonight than Monday. It was nice to see."