If nothing else, Oct. 5 indicated the Berkshire girls side knows how to navigate an icebreaker. Calm amid the awkward uncertainty of something new? No problem. Above all, though, the Badgers showed the importance of the response. Less than two days prior, they had a rough last-minute setback to Cortland Lakeview. Then, 40 minutes in against visiting Karns City (Pa.), they were in a one-goal hole. It’s nothing that some grit — not to mention timely intervention — can’t correct in order to deliver a nice talking point. Kelly McCandless’ brace bridging the hour mark powered Berkshire to a 2-1 win over a solid side making the interstate trek. “Yeah, we were a little too compact and a little too bunched,” Badgers coach Ian Patterson said of the opening 40. “And also, when the other team had the ball, we weren’t really marking. We were kind of standing in space and letting them pass around us. Kind of just a lazy Saturday start. After the first 40, it seemed like we were awake. That was the first thing I said when we went into the locker room. I said, ‘Are we awake now? Are we finally ready to play?’” Indeed they were. Once the Badgers (8-4-4) improved their spacing, the flow in the attack was much better and translated eventually to the end product, after falling behind, 1-0, in the 28th minute on a lovely strike from distance by Karns City’s Hanna Dailey. McCandless provided the equalizer in the 57th minute with a slick left-footed finish. Berkshire equalizer through Kelly McCandless 57th min1-1 match pic.twitter.com/OCmW4b5JpU — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) October 5, 2024 Freshman Emma Rucinski, who logged a strong match in the attack, was turned away in the 67th by Karns City goalkeeper Savanna Prescott. But she generated the assist on the match-winner in the 71st. Berkshire 2-1Kelly McCandless for the brace 71st min pic.twitter.com/gm5zdTHDay — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) October 5, 2024 She played a touch across for McCandless, who slotted a low-90 strike for her 22nd goal of 2024 and the eventual match-winner. “I just saw a play for Kelly, and I knew she could finish the ball,” Rucinski said. “So I just tried to play a through ball, and she got it. “Yeah, we had a talk in the locker room at halftime that we have to watch the wide players and try to get balls through the side and the middle. I think we did a lot better in the second half with that.” Badgers senior goalkeeper Liv Masink, a first-year starter, had a solid nine-save afternoon, including a big stop on Karns City’s Katelyn Van Dyke in the 72nd near post a little more than a minute following McCandless getting her brace. The matchup may have seemed a bit random with a side from Geauga County playing another around two hours away south of Interstate 80. But the six degrees of separation in a small soccer world was in play. “Actually, my assistant coach played against one of their coaches in college,” Patterson explained. “That’s how we found the matchup. We put out on OHSAA that we were looking for a game in August or late July. Nobody came back to us. Nobody wanted to play. We reached out to these guys, and they were like, ‘Yeah we have an open slot.’ So we set up a two-year home and home. We’re going to go to them next year.” Lakeview result aside, it’s been a good week for Berkshire, dispatching Madison and, now, a seven-win respected side from across the state line. Too late for district seeding, but timely enough for confidence — as well as to show these Badgers can handle icebreakers like old pros. “I think we’re feeling really good,” Rucinski said. “We’ve gotten a lot better throughout the season. I think that (Lakeview) game was just off on senior night. It was just hard to get through. I think we came back today.”