The third-seeded Panthers have been plagued with injuries and limped through a 2-1 win over fourth-seeded Olentangy Liberty at Grandview.

"We've really turned it around and started to score some goals, which is what we're supposed to be doing this time of year," said coach Greg Van Kannel, whose team only failed to reach the regional level in 2003 and 2008 during the program's seven seasons. "Midfielders Abby Fannin and Shelby Olszewski have been injured and haven't been practicing and only playing in games. And (forward) Ali Prestifillippo was injured and didn't play part of the (district) final. It was just a gutsy game and performance by our players."

Zena Kolliesuah scored twice -- her 17th and 18th goals of the season -- to lead the Panthers. Both goals were assisted by Ashlynn Jones, a freshman who missed 11 games after injuring her hip in a 7-2 win Sept. 8 over Central.

Goalkeepers Allyson Baldwin and Heather Laeufer both had three saves last Saturday.

In a district semifinal Oct. 27, the Panthers beat Dublin Scioto 6-1. Olszewski had a pair of goals. Fannin, Jones, Kimmy Bentley and Morgan Hendrickson also scored.

The Panthers won the regional in 2008, the last time they reached that level. They beat Dresden Tri-Valley 1-0 in a semifinal and Hilliard Davidson 2-1 in the final before losing to Cincinnati St. Ursula Academy 1-0 in a state semifinal.

St. Ursula Academy beat Strongsville 2-1 in the final and repeated as champion by beating Strongsville 1-0 in the title game last season.

North was 15-2-2 before playing Dublin Coffman in a regional semifinal last Wednesday. The Shamrocks won an earlier meeting 2-1 on Oct. 1.

"There is a little more urgency and every play counts (at the regional level)," Van Kannel said. "Every game is going to get bigger from here on out and the mistakes get bigger."

The winner plays in a regional final at noon Saturday at Scioto against Marietta or Upper Arlington. North tied Upper Arlington at 1 on Oct. 8 and the Panthers have never played Marietta.

"I think it's tough to play teams over and over again (like Coffman and Upper Arlington)," Van Kannel said.

"It makes it easier for scouting because you can just watch the tape of the earlier game, but there aren't a lot of surprises. Everyone knows what you do and we know what they do."

UA was 16-1-2 after beating DeSales 1-0 last Saturday in a district final. The Golden Bears won their fourth district title in five seasons and finished fifth in the final state poll.

Marietta improved to 16-1-3 last Saturday with a 2-1 win over Tri-Valley in the East-Southeast district final.

The state semifinal is at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Hilliard Bradley against the winner of a regional at Cincinnati Princeton. Possible opponents include Huber Heights Wayne, Cincinnati Turpin, Centerville and top-ranked St. Ursula Academy.

Wayne was 19-1 after defeating Milford 5-4 on Oct. 29. The Warriors were ranked 10th in the state. Turpin was 12-4-4 after defeating Cincinnati Anderson 1-0. Also on Oct. 29, ninth-ranked Centerville improved to 18-1-1 after defeating Beavercreek 2-1 and St. Ursula Academy improved to 18-1 after beating Lebanon 6-0.

The state championship is 1:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at Columbus Crew Stadium.

•The North boys team finished 10-6-2 overall after losing to Scioto 2-0 in a district semifinal Oct. 28.

"Everything just kind of came to a screeching halt at one time. We played well against Scioto, but we couldn't get the ball into the back of the net," eighth-year coach Darrin Monhollen said. "We had a goals-against average that was right about one per game which is a testament to the defense we played."

The Panthers finished second in the OCC-Ohio Division at 4-1-1, behind Gahanna at 6-0 and ahead of Central at 3-1-2, Reynoldsburg at 2-2-2, Lancaster at 2-3-1, Groveport at 1-5 and Newark at 0-6.

North played much of the season without standout seniors Jared Haggit and Keegan Ross. Ross, a midfielder/forward who broke a bone in his foot during summer club soccer, was the team's leading scorer last season with 13 goals and two assists and was first-team all-district. He returned for the two tournament games, but did not score.

A forward, Haggit suffered a hip injury during summer soccer and did not play this season.

Senior midfielder Sean O'Neill, who was first-team all-league, led the balanced attack with seven goals and two assists, followed by sophomore forward Zach Monhollen (6 goals, 6 assists), junior midfielder Tony Boerio (6 goals, 2 assist) and junior forward Moses Stephen (6 goals), junior midfielder Evan Sparks (5 goals, 2 assists) and senior midfielder Pat Lynch (4 goals, 3 assists). Boerio and Lynch were second-team all-league.

Other seniors included midfielder Scott Hartley (honorable mention all-league), midfielder Nick Justus (second-team all-league), forward Zack Justus, midfielder Isaac Koech, sweeper Tony Macioce (first-team all-league), defender Blake Monge and defender Drew Whitcomb.

"We played a lot of young kids because of injuries and one of the most important things they received this year was a chance to be teammates with the kids who were seniors this year," Monhollen said. "These seniors were a good quality group, a good character group. They were positive around each other and I'm as proud of this group as any I've had in my 20 years of coaching. We've had good kids before but this group had exceptional chemistry both on and off the field."

Other juniors expected back are midfielder Shaun Berry, goalkeeper Colin Beemiller (54 saves), midfielder Colin Combs (7 assists), defender Austin Orr and defender Tyler Swanson. Also expected back is sophomore keeper Scott Conway.

•The Central boys team finished 8-7-3 overall after losing to Dublin Jerome 6-0 in a district semifinal Oct. 28 as senior goalkeeper Mason Roese had two saves and junior Zach Miller added one.

The Tigers reached the semifinal by defeating Marysville 2-1 on Oct. 26 as senior defender Nick Eley and sophomore midfielder Tony Grozdanovski both scored. senior goalkeeper Mason Roese had eight saves.

Grozdanovski led the team in scoring with 11 goals. Junior forward Khai Celestin had eight and Eley added seven.

"Nick Eley was one of the top defenders in the area," said Brad Monhollen, Darrin's brother who completed his seventh season leading the Tigers. "He had seven goals this year and five or six of them were as an attacking defender."

Eley and Celestin were first-team all-league with Roese and senior defender Jack Thomas on the second team. Junior defender/midfielder Jake Searing was honorable mention.

Other seniors for the Tigers were midfielder Jaysen Arzadon, defender Stephen Blake, midfielder Ryan Christy and forward Nate Ramsey.

"We'll lose a lot of good character players," said Monhollen, whose team finished third in the OCC-Ohio at 3-1-2 behind Gahanna at 6-0 and North at 4-1-1. "The younger kids will have to step up both in their level of play and their intensity to make up for what this group of seniors brought to the program."

Other juniors expected back are keeper Zach Miller, midfielder Travis Peraza, forward Christian Salyers, midfielder Dylan Stevens, defender Tyler Wood and defender Kyle Zehnder. Also expected back are sophomore midfielders Brandon Koch and Avery Patton as well as freshmen midfielders Nate Bucilla, Connor McAndrew and Dillon Ricketts.