Katie Norris scores five goals to lead Manchester to OHSAA girls soccer district final

NEW FRANKLIN — Manchester seniors Katie Norris and Emily Allman were ball girls on the sidelines just a few years ago during Panthers varsity matches at home.

Norris' older sisters, Ashley, 25, and Molly, 23, played on the Manchester girls soccer team.

"I am like the baby," Norris said Monday night with a smile after an 8-0 win at home over Fairless in a Division III district semifinal.

"I grew up with them playing at the middle school and them playing at the high school. I was ball girl during their whole entire high school careers and even when they were in middle school, I was always there watching them play. I was always a ball girl here. It was fun being here and being a ball girl."

Norris had fun Monday night when she scored five goals and had one assist as Manchester (19-0-0) advanced to meet Northwestern in a district final at 6 p.m. Thursday at Northwest High School.

Allman finished with three goals and one assist and junior Ellah Craddock contributed three assists before the match was stopped with 6:32 remaining in the second half because of the new OHSAA rule that stipulates a postseason match be deemed complete when the goal differential reaches eight.

Manchester beat Fairless 10-1 and 9-0 in the regular season, and also topped Northwestern 8-0.

Monday's match was Manchester's final one at home on its new synthetic turf field, which replaced a grass field that was in play for decades.

"Our first three years [of high school] with the grass, we definitely had an advantage because no other high school teams had grass, so people really didn't know how to play on it," said Norris, a Walsh University recruit.

As Norris reflected, Allman chimed in: "We had rough grass, too."

Norris then said: "We had bad grass."

Allman, Norris and several of their teammates are comfortable playing on grass and turf.

"We play on club teams and we grew up playing on turf," said Norris, who has a 3.98 GPA. "This is nothing different. It is definitely cool. This is the first Manchester team that has ever played here and we will be known for that."

Ashley and Molly Norris played on the grass at Manchester, and so did Allman's older brother, Devin, 21, who was on the Panthers boys soccer team.

"I was a ball girl in seventh and eighth grade," Allman said. "I would always come to the girls games with Katie and all of my friends to help out."

Allman's circle of friends on the Manchester girls soccer team features a lot of familiar faces as she joins Norris, Lauren Gunsett, Gina Tipton, Kennedy Boal, Grace Soles and goalkeeper Madi Cox as fourth-year starters on the varsity.

Those seven players plus Monday's other starters — Craddock, seniors Rowan Olechnowicz, Carrie Clark and Myah Schaber — helped Manchester make a Division III state semifinal appearance last season.

"We have worked together for so long and we really connect well with each other, so I feel like a lot of teams don't have the connections that we have together," said Allman who has a 4.21 GPA. "I feel like going down the road we will continue to work together, continue to connect and Katie will finish all of these goals."

Norris and Allman are also meeting goals academically as both have over 30 college credits from taking classes at Stark State College and the University of Akron, respectively.

Allman and Norris said they are in the National Honor Society along with senior teammates Boal, Schaber, Gunsett, Soles, Clark, Cox, Olechnowicz, Jaydyn McKinney and Karsen Movsesian.

"The girls had it in their minds before the game started that this was their final game here and it kind of affected the game a little bit," Manchester coach Eddie Kissner said. "I don't think we played as a sharp as we could have tonight, but we still got the job done. There was a little nostalgia today. It is always difficult knowing that this is our last home game regardless of what happened.

"One of the things I try to do since I have been the coach is try to keep everything in the family, what I call the soccer family. We have had a lot of older sisters that have played in the program and now their younger sisters are playing in the program. There is a familiarity with everything. We have coached this senior group for a long time."

Kissner scanned the roster and said he has coached older sisters of Norris, Clark, Schaber, Craddock and Gunsett.

"Kennedy and Myah are cousins, so that is family," Kissner said.

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Katie Norris and Emily Allman lead Manchester to district final