West Branch falls in state semifinal

High School Sports West Branch falls in state semifinal By PRESTON BYERS November 10, 2026 4 min read Staff photo / Preston Byers West Branch’s Caidee Schroeder (7) takes the ball from Cincinnati Mariemont’s Claire Young during Tuesday’s Division IV state semifinal at Swank Field in Heath. Trending HEATH -- After 22 consecutive wins, the West Branch girls soccer team's perfect season came to a bitter end Tuesday, as the Warriors lost to Cincinnati Mariemont 3-0 in the Division IV state semifinals at Swank Field in Heath. An own goal in the 15th minute and a Mariemont counterattack in the 25th minute put previously undefeated West Branch in a first-half hole that it proved incapable of escaping. "I’m proud of my team," West Branch head coach Zach Dean said. "I know that the result didn't necessarily go in our favor tonight, but I’m proud of the effort and the hard work that they put in. They played with a lot of heart. Mariemont's a good team. I got to give them a lot of credit, and I wish them the best of luck in the finals." As was the case for most of the evening, West Branch found it extraordinarily difficult to break through the Mariemont defense. Additionally, the Mariemont attack was constant, with the likes of Meryck Bogle, Marisa Murphy and Addy Zawaly continually putting pressure on the West Branch defenders and goalkeeper Audrey Eaton. In the ninth minute, Eaton recorded a tough save after a hard shot by Murphy was deflected in the box. A few minutes later, Murphy threatened again, but her short-range shot went over the crossbar for a goal kick. Unfortunately, with 25:47 remaining in the first half, a low pass by Bogle in front of the West Branch net turned into an own goal when a defender, while trying to clear the ball, put it in the top-right corner of the net. More than 10 minutes later, Mariemont mounted a perfect counterattack, and Murphy raced away, eluded Eaton, who had come out to challenge her, and easily laid in another goal to make it 2-0 with 15:08 left before halftime. "Definitely great balls by them," Dean said. "They played some nice balls. Unfortunately, we weren’t in the spots, and they put them away." To erase the two-goal deficit in the final 40 minutes, West Branch needed to not only shut down the highly efficient Mariemont offense, but also score at least a pair of goals, which only four teams had managed to do all season. The beginning of the second half indicated that neither would likely happen, as Murphy put a shot on goal a minute in, and her next attack a few minutes later went just over the crossbar. Zawaly, a University of Wisconsin commit, effectively iced the game a little more than halfway through the second half when she got the ball to her right foot and tucked it into the bottom-right corner of the net to extend the Mariemont lead to 3-0. Elli Colian, West Branch's top goal scorer this season, found more success late when attacking. But the Mariemont defense still held her off and closed out the shutout win in Heath. "They did a nice job defensively. They defended very well," Dean said. "They got numbers behind the ball. And I think by them getting numbers behind the ball, it really made it hard for us to break them down and get good looks." While Mariemont advanced to Friday's Division IV state championship game against Liberty-Benton in Columbus, West Branch's season concluded Tuesday. West Branch finished the year with a 22-1 record, having made the program's and Mahoning County's first girls soccer state semifinal berth. "One game doesn’t define us," Dean said. "We’ve made a lot of history with this team and this group. I want to start by thanking our 10 seniors. Without them, we wouldn’t be where we are today. They’ve left their stamp on this program, so I really want to make sure that I give them some credit. Those 10 seniors really have helped lead this group, and they’ve done a nice job. And just overall, everybody on this team, they’ve put in a lot of time and effort to make this season successful."