By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Garfield earned its first victory over Crestwood in five years Aug. 23 by a score of 5-0 on the road.

“We’ve started playing team ball,” head coach Aaron Gilbert said. “We’re finally executing in games what we’ve been practicing literally for the last two years. It was very rewarding to see that practice pay off.”

Senior forward Kaelyn Tasker scored two goals. With a goal apiece were seniors Riley Grace, a stopper, and Kellyn Bartlett-Habeger, a center-midfielder mainly, and junior sweeper Hannah Timmons.

“This is only Kaelyn’s second year playing soccer, so things are finally starting to click and make sense. She’s understanding being in the right place at the right time,” Gilbert said.

“Kellyn has had a great start to the season. She has a great work ethic. Soccer is her main sport, so it’s rewarding for her to excel in the sport that she pours the most time into.”

With an assist apiece were Bartlett-Habeger and her classmate Taylor Wade.

Junior goalkeeper Olivia Zicari had five saves.

“Olivia never played soccer before this year, so she kind of got thrown into the fire,” said the coach. “My starting goalkeeper got hurt and my backup goalkeeper has mono, so we had to find a third goalkeeper. Olivia was reluctant at first, but is growing into, and starting to learn, the position.”

Two days later, on Aug. 25, the G-Men posted their third consecutive shutout (after a season-opening tie) by a score of 11-0 at home over Painesville Harvey.

Tasker scored three goals.

“Kaelyn’s speed really helped her get behind the defense,” Gilbert said, “and she was able to finish in the back of the net for the hat trick.”

With two goals apiece were Bartlett-Habeger and senior midfielder Emily Seni. Grace had a goal and two assists. Zicari had four saves.

It has all been part of a strong start to the season for the G-Men. The program had three wins the last two years combined and the team already has three this season. Also, Garfield scored 12 goals all last season and have already netted 22 this season.

ROOTSTOWN

Communication was key for Rootstown Aug. 23 in a 10-0 triumph at home over Newton Falls. The Rovers are now 2-1 on the season.

“I think we’ve come a long way from our first two games against Field and LaBrae,” said head coach Jasmine Kemp, who was elevated to head coach to replace Jason Opritza, who is currently on a leave of absence from the team. “The girls have had a lot more communication with each other. You can really tell that they’re actually coming together as a team, learning from each other and learning from the seniors as well.”

With two goals apiece were senior midfielder Haley Dick and freshmen Cheyenne Cutright, a defensive midfielder, and Paisley Day, a center midfielder. Cutright added an assist.

“Cheyenne is very strong in the middle,” said Kemp. “Paisley did very well. She was passing more and making runs off the ball more.”

Freshman striker Abby Frick scored once.

“I like to keep Abby up top,” the coach said. “She can shoot the ball, she can run off the ball and she’s also fast. With her and Paisley up top, they’re really good at communicating with each other, passing back and forth. They don’t really have to talk, they really just know where each other is going. And then if you have Haley coming in from the back, she can also cross it in to the other side for Paisley to shoot off of.”

KENT ROOSEVELT

It was a total team effort for Kent Roosevelt in a 5-4 victory Aug. 23 at home over backyard rival Streetsboro. The Rough Riders, who were up 3-2 at halftime, improved to 2-2 on the season.

“We came off a really long week with limited rest. We were kind of running on low,” head coach Sammy Spicer said. “Streetsboro definitely gave us everything they had, and we really had to fight through mentally, physically and emotionally to be able to pull this one off. We suffered a few injuries, so we had to call upon some younger players who don’t always get the opportunity to play to be able keep our team going and get the win against a great opponent.

It was a really hard-fought battle, back and forth the entire game. It definitely kept everybody on the edge of their seat for sure. It could’ve gone either way.”

Leading the way for Kent Roosevelt was senior midfielder and captain Gianna Yanelli, who had a hat trick — all three goals coming from the 18-yard box.

“Gianna was the motor that kept us going,” said Spicer. “She was the one who kept those players who were filling in for some rather big shoes in the game by encouraging them, directing them. She was pretty much everything the entire game. She was able to get really good looks at goal. Gianna is a captain for a reason. Her teammates really respect her and know, when she has something to say, it’s of value and of importance and that she knows what she’s speaking about, and she can execute exactly what she says. She’s a really great leader, a four-year starter. She’s just continued to grow so much as a player and leader.”

Scoring a goal apiece were juniors Audrey Haines, a forward, and Molly Murphy, a midfielder.

STREETSBORO

Eleven different players scored for Streetsboro Aug. 26 in the Rockets’ 11-1 rout at home over Akron Springfield. Streetsboro upped its record to 3-2.

“Everybody who was available played two halves, and that includes my junior varsity girls,” head coach Ryan Willard said. “Springfield only had 11 or 12 girls, so it was just a lopsided game, but I understand that because I’ve been on the other side of that, too.”

Three days earlier, on Aug. 23, Streetsboro lost 5-4 at Kent Roosevelt in a game of runs.

“Roosevelt scored first, we tied it up pretty quickly, then they scored two, we got one right before halftime,” said Willard. “They scored two probably in the first 10 minutes of the second half. I’d say the last 30 minutes we probably had the edge in the play and scored twice to make it 5-4, but couldn’t get that equalizing goal.”

Freshman forward McKenzie Montgomery scored two goals, both on penalty kicks.

“To have the trust in a freshman to step up and take penalty kicks in a big situation like that says about what you need to say about McKenzie,” said the coach. “She’s very calm, collected, on the ball and when she has the opportunity to finish, she does it most of the time. I really love what she’s bringing to our team.”

With a goal apiece were senior midfielder Addison Mrakovich and junior midfielder/forward Olivia Willard. Dishing out an assist was junior forward Sara Koyan.

FIELD

Field fell to 2-2 on the young season with a 4-0 defeat Aug. 21 at home to Copley and a 2-1 setback Aug. 26 at Norton.

There was a purpose in Schindler scheduling the matchup with Copley.

“Copley is one of the games we schedule throughout the year that’s a stretch game for us,” he said. “We know it’s going to be tough competition, but it allows us to try and come up with a gameplan and execute on the gameplan. We came up with a gameplan that I felt we executed really, really well. Copley is a very good, aggressive team. We wanted to play solid defense and keep them from scoring and then try and counter when we could counter. We did that. Overall, I felt very positive about the way we played.”

In the loss to the Panthers, the Falcons gave up a header goal off of a corner kick about 9 minutes into the game.

“In the first half we played as individuals, not as a team,” Schindler said. “We’re a passing team, and we didn’t pass much.”

Field played much better in the second half but to no avail.

“We passed the ball well and put a lot more pressure on Norton,” said the coach. “We probably had more possession time in the second half than them, played a little bit more like ourselves. But unfortunately it wasn’t enough to come up with a draw or even a victory.”

Scoring the visitors’ lone goal was sophomore forward Brooklyn Wilson; it was assisted by junior forward Kelsey Tucker.

WATERLOO

Waterloo controlled time of possession an impressive 85 percent of the game and took more shots, but the Vikings still fell 5-1 at Champion Aug. 25 to slip to 1-1-1 on the season. All five goals by the Golden Flashes came in the first half.

“I thought we did a nice job in the second half of adjusting to what Champion was doing,” head coach Bill Jackson said. “The first half, there were some untimely mistakes, and Champion is very good at exploiting your mistakes.”

Junior defender Skylar Baldwin scored the visitors’ only goal when she headed a corner kick from sophomore striker Koralee Jenior to the back of the net.

CRESTWOOD

Youth and inexperience have been the culprits so far this season for Crestwood’s inability to put one in the back of the net. In three games, the Red Devils have been outscored 22-0, including an 8-0 loss on Aug. 25 at Southeast and a 5-0 defeat on Aug. 23 at home to Garfield.

“We have not put 11 players on the field yet,” head coach Scot Etling said. “I have two kids who are hurt and another kid who just got hurt, and she’s out for a couple of weeks. It’s tough. It is what it is. We knew we were going to have low numbers this year, so it was either play down or not have a team. This year is all about developing, getting better. We have, hopefully, eight freshmen coming in next year, so next year will be a different year. We just have to get through this year. If we were to lose the program or if it had been rolled into the boys team

this year, we would never get it back. It was more important to play, develop, take our beating

and then hopefully next year we come out the other end.”