By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Head coach Aaron Gilbert knew his Garfield team was going up against a powerhouse Oct. 6 at home against Youngstown Cardinal Mooney.

The G-Men put up a gallant fight, but lost 3-0. They slipped to 7-7-1 but still have improved markedly from last year when they finished 3-13-1.

“It was some of the best soccer we’ve played all season. Our effort was outstanding. I’m really happy with how the girls played,” Gilbert said. “Mooney is a really, really good team. That’s why they’re a really high seed in the tournament, that’s why Steel Valley Soccer has them ranked No. 1 in the area. They just have a lot of firepower. We were doing what we could to stay in front of some players, but you can only hold on against a team like that for so long. We just kind of ran out of gas.”

Down just 1-0 at halftime had Garfield thinking upset.

“That was pretty big,” said Gilbert. “You could really sense how frustrated Mooney was with things we were doing defensively.”

A couple mental errors in the second half resulted in the Cardinals’ last two goals that put the game away.

Junior goalkeeper Olivia Zicari was another bright spot. She had 13 saves.

“Mooney’s coach made a comment afterwards that Olivia is one of the better goalies they’ve seen all season,” Gilbert said. “This is the first year Olivia has even played soccer. Seeing a team like Mooney … she made some really big saves, which kept the score down. She’s still learning the position, and the more experience she gets, the better she’s going to be.

“The result wasn’t what the girls wanted, but I’m really happy with how they played.”

STREETSBORO

Streetsboro always gets Field’s best effort.

“They always get up for us,” head coach Ryan Willard said of his team’s Metro Athletic Conference rival.

It was no different Oct. 4 in the Rockets’ 1-0 win at home over the Falcons that upped their conference record to 9-0. The MAC champions are 11-4 overall.

“Field played really well,” said Willard. “They didn’t really have a lot of chances on their own, but they really limited what we were able to do. It kept it close.”

Freshman forward McKenzie Montgomery scored the game’s only goal in the first half from a spectacular assist from junior defender Carman Marcini.

Said Willard, “Carman made a phenomenal pass, just split the defenders and put it right on McKenzie’s foot and put her in position to get a shot off. The pass really made that play.”

Two nights earlier, on Oct. 2 — Senior Night — Streetsboro cruised to a 7-0 victory over visiting Coventry.

“That was a pretty great experience for our team,” the coach said. “Four of our seniors scored, which is always great when you’re trying to celebrate them. It was fun to be able to play everybody a lot.”

Those seniors notched a goal apiece — center backs Zoie Dunn and Tea Nagle, midfielder/forward Addison Mrakovich and right defender Meredith Mattmuller. Mattmuller also had an assist as did classmate Kendall Epple, a defender. With a goal and an assist apiece were

Montgomery and junior forward/midfielder Olivia Willard. Junior forward Sara Koyan scored a goal, and sophomore forward/defender Cara Thomson dished out an assist.

KENT ROOSEVELT

It has been several years since Kent Roosevelt finished in the top three of the Suburban League American Conference.

It’s a distinct possibility this season.

The Rough Riders are currently in third place with a 3-1-2 record, behind first-place Highland and second-place Revere, both of which are undefeated in conference play. Not only do the Rough Riders have a shot at third place, they also have a chance of being runner-up.

“A lot of things would have to happen, but it’s still possible,” head coach Sammy Spicer said.

Overall, Kent Roosevelt sports an 8-5-3 record following its 2-0 victory Oct. 4 at Nordonia.

“I’d say we controlled the pace of the game, but Nordonia definitely challenged us to have to work hard and be on our toes the whole 80 minutes for sure,” said Spicer. “We made a few adjustments at halftime that we had to work through a little bit. Nordonia put some pressure on our back line with some speed, and they were able to get a couple more looks at goal, so we had to play a little bit more defensively in the second half. We were also missing a few players due to some nagging injuries, so we had a couple underclassmen step up into some pretty significant roles.”

Both of the Rough Riders’ goals came in the first half. The first one was by senior midfielder Gianna Yanelli on a free kick from about 30 yards out, her team-leading 15th goal of the season. The second one was a true rarity in which sophomore midfielder Maggie Pazderak knocked a corner kick into the back of the net.

“Gianna had a nice shot that the keeper got a little of her hand on, but it just had a little bit too much extra power on it,” said the coach. “She just continues to find ways to put the ball in the back of the net. She’s actually gotten several of her goals off of set pieces, so she’s really found a way to take advantage of some of those situations and catch keepers off-guard.

“On Maggie’s goal, the ball just found a way into the net. She’s left-footed and kicked from the right corner. We’re pretty positive the ball hit off someone slightly, but we’re not sure. Maggie is kind of like the motor that keeps on going. She’s relentless and is willing to get up and down the field and do whatever we need. She’s pretty dangerous in the attack with her ability to

take people on when you want to get to the end line and put the ball in the box for our other forwards.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Grace Schoenberger had several saves.

“Grace played really well,” Spicer said. “She’s actually freshly new to the goalkeeper position. She just started playing the position last season. She stepped up into a situation last year where we really didn’t have a goalie and said, ‘I’ll give it a try.’ She won the spot three or four games into the season and hasn’t really looked back. She’s still learning, though. Something that we’ve talked a lot about with her is just commanding her area. The Nordonia game was the game that I felt like it all clicked for her. She was communicative, she was taking chances and being aggressive. It just looked like she was able to put all the pieces together in order to keep her clean sheet for us.”

SOUTHEAST

Dean Dunlavy didn’t put his fist through any chalkboards or knock over any tables, but the Southeast head coach gave a humdinger of a halftime speech Oct. 6 to his band of Pirates, who trailed visiting Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference rival Columbiana Crestview 2-1. Both of the Rebels’ goals had come off corner kicks.

“Let’s just say it was a motivational speech,” Dunlavy said. “And the players responded.”

Senior forward Sarah Craver tied the score with a goal some 5 minutes into the second half. With about 10 minutes left in the game, sophomore Paige Hart scored the winning goal that was assisted by Craver.

“The ball bounced right to Paige,” said Dunlavy. “She kept her head down and put it in the back of the net.”

Junior forward Destiny Longgood scored Southeast’s first goal that tied the score 1-1.

With the win, the Pirates improved to 9-7 overall and 5-2 in the MVAC.

FIELD

A strong first half Oct. 2 gave host Field a large enough cushion — a 2-0 lead — to withstand Woodridge’s solid second half that tied the score 2-2.

“When we play Woodridge, it’s always a dogfight. They always play us tough,” head coach Jason Schindler said. “They came out in the second half and wanted it more than we did. They got two quality shots off that they scored on. It wasn’t that we played bad. They just clogged up the middle and prevented us from scoring late. We had opportunities late in the game, but unfortunately we couldn’t capitalize.”

The game went into overtime.

The Falcons applied heavy pressure early on in the extra period and were dominating the Bulldogs. A well-placed corner kick by senior midfielder Haley Hershberger caused chaos near the net and resulted in the winning goal by junior forward Kelsey Tucker, who also had an assist, in a 3-2 final.

Scoring Field’s first two goals were senior midfielder Reese Tucker (17 goals on the season) and sophomore midfielder Peyton Schock (7).

Two days later, on Oct. 4, Field fell 1-0 at Streetsboro in a humdinger of a game, which dropped the Falcons’ record to 7-8-1.

“Even though we lost, it was a game I was really, really proud of the way we played. We executed the game plan,” said Schindler.

AURORA

Aurora’s game on Oct. 6 at Solon was simply two evenly matched teams fighting tooth-and-nail. The Greenmen lost 2-1 to slip to 9-5-2 on the season. All of the game’s goals came in the first half.

“It was a very, very competitive game against a very talented group of girls with Solon,” head coach Domenica McClintock said. “Our girls possessed the ball well, moved the ball well and had plenty of opportunities. We just weren’t able to capitalize on them. It’s a good way to play a team like Solon, though, going into tournaments.”

Sophomore left back Izzy Savukus scored Aurora’s only goal off a corner kick by senior right midfielder Olivia Leon that evened the score 1-1.

“Izzy is very dynamic and brilliant moving up the field into the attack,” said McClintock. “She’s been some of the main reasons why we’re a threat on the attack on the wing play, so being able to get her in corner action allows her with her foot skills and her accuracy to give us opportunities like she had in this game.”

ROOTSTOWN

Rootstown played host Hanoverton United to a scoreless tie for the first 25 minutes of the game Oct. 6.

“We were playing a really good game,” head coach Jasmine Kemp said. “We had a couple good shots on goal.”

After that, it was downhill for the Rovers, who wound up on the short end of a 4-0 final score that dipped their record to 6-9. The Golden Eagles’ first goal came on a penalty kick, and their last three goals were off of free kicks.

Senior center back Cloe Bengston, who was First Team All-Ohio for defense in Division V last year, played a good game despite the defeat.

“Cloe,” said Kemp, “has very good skills and is very vocal with helping her teammates understand their positions.”

CRESTWOOD

It may not show in the win-loss record, but Crestwood is improving.

The 0-12 Red Devils have scored at least one goal in four of their last six games after getting shut out in their first six games. They even tallied three goals in one of the defeats; they held their only lead of the season Oct. 2 in a 6-1 home loss to Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph on a goal by junior forward Gianna Mory.

“Gianna got the ball, just plowed through the defenders herself and scored the goal. It was pure effort. We were up for about 20 minutes,” head coach Scot Etling said. “Then we got tired and kind of collapsed. We had a kid who got hurt, so we were playing down again. I think we played with eight or nine players again, so losing one player really hurts.”