ELYRIA — As far as Elyria was concerned, Jonathan DiFiori picked the wrong time to score his first high school hat trick Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
The Mayfield senior took advantage of his opportunities late in the first half to send the Pioneers to a 3-0 defeat in their first test of the season. Mayfield improved to 2-1.
“I don’t really know what to say,” DiFiori said. “I just saw the ball go and tried to give it a chance. I’ve had hat tricks before, but this was the first one in high school.”
DiFiori got things started with just under 11 minutes left to play when he took a pass from goalkeeper Josh Anderson and outran Elyria’s defense to pound it in. He added a second goal off a pass in front of the net from Carey Spear with 4:14 left in the half and added a third with less than three minutes to play off a scramble in front when he managed to push it past Elyria goalkeeper Adam Turnik.
“I don’t know what happened,” DiFiori said. “The ball took a wild bounce and went right underneath him. It snagged the corner.”
“That No. 10 is a phenomenal, phenomenal player,” Elyria coach Greg Leininger said of DiFiori. “He has a great set of skills to him. This was their third game and you could tell they were a little more composed.”
That third goal was crucial as far as Leininger was concerned.
“I would have preferred a two-goal deficit going into half,” he said. “That’s the hardest lead to hold on to. If it had been 2-0, I think we could have crawled back a little bit.”
The Pioneers played the Wildcats tough after intermission but were unable to really pressure Mayfield’s defense. Elyria’s opportunities to score were few and far between.
“The first half, those goals came from us taking advantage of some mistakes they had,” Mayfield coach Art Skupniewicz said of the Pioneers. “We were able to capitalize on some holes they had in the back. That being said, they adjusted well in the second half and gave us a pretty tight fight.”
Elyria’s defense kept the ball away from DiFiori for most of the second half. Robert and John Supel, Alex Smith and David Meyer kept the ball away from the net. Turnik smothered a couple of point-blank shots, but the Pioneers never really threatened. The few shots they took were from long range.
 “Our young team that first half came out with some jitters,” said Leininger, who has five freshmen on his roster. “It’s our first varsity game — first game in high school for a lot of our players. Second half we came out and played even.”

Mayfield 3, Elyria 0

Goals: Jonathan DiFiori (3).
Assists: Josh Anderson, Carey Spear, Ethan Brown.
Shots on Goal: Mayfield 11, Elyria 3.
Saves: Josh Anderson (M) 2, Adam Turnik (E) 5.
Halftime: Mayfield 3, Elyria 0. 

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment. If you aren't already registered, click here.
If you are registered, click here to log in.
Need help? Email Us.