Rylee Hutton's hat trick leads Salem girls soccer past Marlington

SALEM — Rylee Hutton's hat trick sparked the Salem Quakers to a 3-1 win over the Marlington Dukes in an Eastern Buckeye Conference girls soccer match at Sebo Stadium on Wednesday night.

The victory by the Quakers (10-2-0, 4-0-0 EBC), their eighth consecutive, sets up a showdown next week against rival West Branch for the EBC championship. West Branch has won the last eight conference championships in the EBC and its predecessor, the Northeastern Buckeye Conference.

"I am looking forward to the game next week," said Salem coach Matt Freeman. "[Coach] Cheryl [Ficco] does a great job with the West Branch program. We are looking forward to the challenge. It will always be a battle with our rival and with the EBC title a stake that just gives us more incentive. We just have to find a way to come out on top this time, it hasn't been in our favor."

Salem took a 1-0 lead Wednesday night on Hutton's goal in the 12th minute of the match.

The Quakers kept the pressure on the entire first half by sending the ball forward and giving Hutton an opportunity to out run the Marlington (4-5-3, 2-2-0 EBC) defense, but time and time again the Dukes were able to clear the ball and stop the threat.

"Hutton is a very dynamic player, they have a lot of speed on their team and they are always looking for her," said Marlington coach Jacob Sutton. "We have improved drastically on defense so we felt comfortable with our center back picking her up."

Salem held a 1-0 halftime lead.

"We didn't feel that we were able to generate much offense in the first half so we addressed that at halftime," added Sutton. "We were able to come out in the second half and move the ball and create some opportunities. Gracie Henry made a nice pass on Shaylie Miller's goal [to] get us on the board. After that it was a more competitive game. The result is disappointing and it always hurts to lose a league game."

The Quakers retook the lead on Hutton's second goal and her final tally created the final margin.

"Rylee is our top playmaker, no doubt about it," said Freeman. "She has been crucial to us all season and we are sure glad to have her on our side.

"I thought that we played very well defensively," he added. "They only had one quality shot, which was their goal. We were able to control the game and generate some chances on the other end."

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Salem girls soccer defeats Marlington, setting up EBC showdown