Christian Streibel, Elek McDonald and Adam Liebal each scored two goals to lead Independence to a 7-1 win over visiting Oberlin in a Division III district semifinal on Tuesday.
The Blue Devils, who improved to 16-1-1, scored two early goals and added five more in the second half to advance to their fifth straight district championship game.
“We started off with two quick goals in the first half then the game settled down,” Independence coach Ryan MacRaild said. “We came back in the second half with three more in the first 10 minutes and that was about it.”
Brandon Patton also scored for Independence and Liebal and McDonald both also contributed with a pair of assists. Patton and Streibel each finished with one assist.
Ethan Manelski finished the game with 10 saves.
Independence advanced to play Fairview in the district championship game at Strongsville High School on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
The Blue Devils are riding a nine-game winning streak but even with that momentum, Saturday’s matchup with Fairview is going to be a challenge.
“We know we have a tough one coming up with Fairview,” MacRaild said. “They play at a high level in a tough league and dropped down into Division III by one boy in their school, so it’s going to be a challenge for sure. We are a little dinged up, so preparing and resting are just as important right now for us as is refocusing on how we can maximize our potential. We know we have to play our best Saturday; Fairview isn’t going to just hand us the game because we have three in our pocket.”
