Berkshire opened the 2023 season with a 4-1 win over visiting Kirtland at Great Lakes Cheese Stadium on Monday.
The Badgers have now won two straight over the Hornets dating back to last season after losing their first 12 contests against Kirtland.
“This win is great for team confidence above everything else,” said Berkshire coach Ian Patterson. “After getting rained out Friday night at Chardon, it’s great to finish and get our first win of the year against a quality program and quality coaching staff. This is now the second year in a row we have beat Kirtland but it’s also only the second time in program history we have come out with a win, so we still have a long way to go. Now on to Streetsboro.”
Evania McCandless scored twice against the Hornets while Mary Lee and Madison Durosko each found the back of the net once.
Kelly McCandless led the Badgers with three assists and Alyssa Lawson had one.
The Badgers led 1-0 at halftime.
“It was a very close contest most of the game and the final score doesn’t necessarily reflect how tough the Hornets held up against our high-powered offense,” Patterson said. “We took a 1-0 lead heading into halftime that was eliminated in the second half on a Kirtland PK. Despite the PK from Kirtland to even the score, we played a very dominant second half after making a small adjustment at halftime and eventually found the net three more times from three different players in the second half to win the game 4-1.”
Megan Urbanick converted Kirtland’s penalty kick.


