North Olmsted junior forward Joshua Sandoval fights for control of the ball against Westlake senior defender Tim Andrews during last Saturday afternoon’s Division I district championship match at Rocky River. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Three teams in soccer regionals
By Jim Horvath
Sports
Published Nov. 4, 2009

The 2009 high school soccer season got a bit sweeter for three Westshore area soccer teams last week.

The Westlake girls, along with the Bay and North Olmsted boys squads, came away with district championships last week. Those three teams advanced to the state’s sweet 16, just two wins away from advancing to their respective state tournaments.

It all began last Thursday night in Westlake where the Demons blanked Magnificat, 2-0, in the girls Division I district championship matchup. With the win, Westlake moved to 15-1-3, defended its district crown and advanced to tonight’s regional semifinal against Medina.

Tonight’s match will be played at Bay’s Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m. Tickets are $6 and will be available at the gate only.

Magnificat sophomore forward Natalie Guido fights Bay sophomore defender Erika Hansen for possession during last week’s Division I district semifinal match. The Blue Streaks went on to eliminate the Rockets, 1-0. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Last Saturday afternoon, North Olmsted got things going on the boys side of things with a 2-0 win over Southwestern Conference rival Westlake at Rocky River’s stadium. The win gave the Eagles a record of 16-1-2, their first Division I district championship since 2000 and a regional semifinal matchup with Strongsville last night at Bay.

Later in the afternoon in Division II, Bay had to rally in the match’s final nine minutes to come away with a 2-1 district championship win over West Shore Conference rival Rocky River. The state-ranked Rockets, moving to 16-1-2 on the season, advanced to last night’s regional semifinal at Rocky River against Revere. Revere, also state-ranked, last to the Rockets 2-1 during the regular season.

At Rocky River, North Olmsted survived a number of threats from Westlake in the first half to keep the match scoreless.

The Demons’ Paul Appel just missed giving his team an early lead when his header skipped wide right of the goal in the match’s fourth minute. Appel again was denied with just over 17 minutes left in the half when he got the ball past Eagle goalie Nolan Escher and scored uncontested.

Appel, however, was called for a handball, and the goal was denied.

The match remained scoreless until North Olmsted received a free kick with 45 seconds left in the half. Kurt Russell scored the match’s first goal, drilling the ball just inside the right post and past Westlake’s backup goalie Joe Murthy.

The Demons, who had handed the Eagles their only loss of the season during the regular season, were without injured goalies Stefan Sathasivam and Alex Ferrel.

In the second half, North Olmsted added a second goal in the sixth minute when junior Nicholas Stone-Weiss scored on a header off a throw in from senior defender Bryan Miller. The rest of the way, the Eagle defense held firm to seal the deal.

“We were fortunate to get out of the first half with the lead,” said North Olmsted coach Chris Marsh, whose team avenged a 3-1 loss to Westlake in an SWC match.

“We were fortunate that their player was called for a handball – very fortunate,” Marsh said. “All season long, nobody has come that close on us after a restart. It was a good thing they missed on that header earlier, too.

“The wind was such a factor, I thought at one point we might be able to give up a goal and still be in it. Westlake gave us everything we could handle in the first half, and we didn’t break. Having the wind in the second half, it was a matter of us maintaining possession and protecting the lead,” Marsh said.

Both teams had nine shots on goal, but North Olmsted’s defense proved stout as Escher recorded just one save for the match.

“We should have had a goal in the first half because there was no handball,” said Westlake head coach Mike Besu, whose team ended its season with a record of 10-5-4 and an SWC co-championship with the Eagles.

“The ball hit our player in the chest,” Besu said. “No way was it a handball. I’m not one to bash the officials, but that one never should have been called back. Still, we had our chances in the first half. We just didn’t finish.”

North Olmsted had advanced to the district title match after a solid 3-1 win over top-seeded Lakewood last Wednesday. Adam Kohler scored a pair of goals, the first of which came in the first half to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Westlake had moved on after a convincing 3-0 win over SWC rival Berea. The Demon goals came from Alex Chernosky, Evan Weisenberger and Appel as Westlake registered 11 shots on goal to just one for the Braves.

Here’s a look at the other two district championship matches last week:

Westlake girls defend title
The Demons avenged their only loss of the season, a 1-0 decision at Magnificat, in winning another district championship.

Senior Natalie Bechtel scored the only goal Westlake needed in the fourth minute. Bechtel, the team’s leading scorer, beat Blue Streak goalie Amanda Copfer with an unassisted goal kick from over 20 yards out.

In the 34th minute of the first half, the Demons scored again as Bechtel found Kristie Prendergast with a crossing pass in front of the Magnificat goal. For the match, Westlake outshot the visitors, 17-7, with goalie Stephanie Poeppelman recording seven saves.

Copfer had nine saves for the Blue Streaks, who bowed out of the tournament with a strong record of 12-4-4. Magnificat had advanced to the district finale with a 1-0 win over Bay earlier in the week.

Westlake had advanced with a hard-fought 2-0 win over Avon. Bechtel scored an unassisted goal right before the half for a 1-0 Demon lead. The home team put it away in the second half on a goal by Lauren Wickman off an assist from Prendergast.

Rockets roar back in second half
Rocky River almost pulled off the upset at Memorial Stadium, holding a 1-0 lead well into the second half of this district championship match.

The Pirates, which closed out the season at 7-11-1, got the lead as senior Andrew Triplett beat Bay goalie Nate McDonald late in the first half. The River lead held up until the nine minute mark of the second half.

Junior Eric Linhart, who had numerous scoring opportunities throughout the match, finally found the back of the net to tie the score 1-1. Two minutes later, senior Sam Dickinson scored the winning goal to allow the Rockets to avert the upset.

River made the district title match by defeating Avon, 2-0, earlier last week. The Pirates, playing on the road, took a 1-0 lead in the first half on a goal from Kegan Still in the 33rd minute. Triplett scored the insurance goal in the second half, and goalie Ian Taylor recorded 13 saves to help send the Pirates into the district championship match.

Bay, now 15-1-3, blanked WSC foe Fairview, 6-0, earlier in the week for its third-straight shutout in the tournament. Linhart and Alec Petro each scored a pair of goals for the Rockets, while Dickinson dished out three assists.