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By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Not only is Aurora unbeaten with an 8-0-2 record, the Greenmen have done it with a head coach, Rob Harrison, who is in his first year at Aurora.

“I did not expect,” he said, “to be undefeated through nine games, especially trying to introduce a new formation to a pretty senior-laden starting lineup. But these girls have come together as a team, and they’re playing well. We’ll ride this as far along as it will go and keep pushing along.”

Aurora’s latest conquest was a 6-1 triumph in rainy conditions Sept. 21 at Berkshire.

Senior midfielder Bella Sferry led the way with a hat trick.

“I kind of gave Bella the green light to shoot from distance with it being wet, and she took it and rode with it,” Harrison said. “She had some nice shots from outside that went in the back of the net. It was probably the best shooting performance she’s put on this season.”

With a goal apiece were senior midfielder Adrianna Feisthamel and sophomore forwards Isabelle Hanus and Bella Hanus. Junior defender Isabella Savukas dished out two assists.

The coach wants to concentrate on winning the Suburban League American Conference after a hiccup tie last week against Kenston, which has won just two games all season.

“We’ve got a lot of big games coming up,” he said. “As a unit, we’re just clicking.”

WATERLOO

After a 1-2 start to the season, Waterloo has reeled off five straight wins and stands at 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Division following a 6-0 victory Sept. 16 at division foe Garfield.

“The girls are starting to jell better,” head coach Bill Jackson said. “The schedule is a big factor in that, too, with the quality of teams. The beginning of the schedule was very difficult, but they’re starting to find their way, and we’re starting to get everybody plugged in where they fit the best on the field. We’re starting to make passes and hit shots. We’re doing a little bit better job of being more clinical up front with our finishes.”

The Vikings had a commanding 5-0 lead at the half, prompting Jackson to empty the bench.

“We’re a little more experienced than Garfield,” he said. “We started quick, got out on the front foot pretty quick. We got a couple goals pretty early, and once we got going, you could see their level of play dropped maybe a little bit and ours picked up. We played well.”

Pacing the visitors was junior forward Koralee Jenior, who turned in a hat trick with two assists for good measure.

“Koralee is seeing the field well,” said the coach. “She was able to get the ball into positions where she could shoot. Her assists were mainly on set pieces, which is what we’ve

come to expect. She’s very good on set pieces, putting the ball where it needs to be played so her teammates can have an opportunity to score. Right now, she’s just in a groove and she’s finally starting to get healthy. She’s been injured since mid-summer with a little bit of a nagging lower-body injury. It’s starting to heal.”

Tallying a goal apiece were senior forward Julia Boyle, junior forward Alexis Henry and sophomore midfielder Emma Murphy off a Jenior corner kick.

“Koralee, Alexis and Julia are playing so well together and really linking up well,” said Jackson.

Junior goalkeeper Abigail Roberts totaled four saves.

Waterloo is right smack in the middle of a four-team race to win the Grey Division. He believes his squad is more than capable of doing so.

“There’s no doubt in my mind,” he said. “I always think we can go out and win.”

FIELD

Field was dominated 9-0 by Aurora last season and, before that, 6-0 in a 2024 scrimmage.

When the Falcons went up against the Greenmen on Sept. 19 at home, they lost again, but

this time by only one goal, 3-2.

Field is now 8-2-1 on the season with its other defeat to Metro Athletic Conference (MAC) rival Kent Roosevelt.

“We knew that Kent Roosevelt and Aurora would be two of our toughest opponents of the season,” head coach Tom Nader said. “We have a lot of respect for both programs, and we enjoy the competition and opportunity to play against high-caliber teams.”

The Rough Riders are currently ranked fourth in the state, and the Greenmen are ranked fifth.

“In both of those losses,” said Nader, “we did some things that we really liked, things we

can build on. We also made some mistakes that we can learn from, and that is OK, too.”

Against Aurora, the visitors took a 1-0 at the 30:27 mark of the first half.

At 11:18, Field’s Odessa Hottensmith scored to tie the score. The Greenmen scored on a direct kick at 4:15 to forge back ahead 2-1 at halftime.

Hottensmith scored again at 14:20 of the second half to knot things up again 2-2. Less than 2 minutes later, Aurora scored what turned out to be the winning goal for a 3-2 win.

The game-winning goal came after an injury stoppage.

Aurora had the ball at the time that the injury stoppage occurred, so the Greenmen were awarded a drop-ball to restart play.

Aurora’s Brooke Warnke sent the ball into the box from about 35 yards out that ricocheted

around a bit and eventually was chested into the goal by one of her teammates.

“Both of our goals were tremendous efforts by Odessa,” said the coach of his freshman phenom, who upped her season goals total to nine, second on the team behind senior Molly Murphy’s 20 goals.

On the first goal, Murphy reacted quick to the ball going out of bounds in Field’s favor and quickly ripped a throw-in that played Hottensmith into some space, but then the latter out-raced the Aurora defense to get a chance on goal that she placed perfectly.

On the second goal, junior defender Lauren West stepped in to intercept an Aurora pass, then advanced it up the field before finding Hottensmith on a through-ball that helped get the latter in on goal. She was being chased, and she again used her speed and composure to score the game-tying goal.

“Odessa is having a tremendous freshman season,” Nader said. “We are really proud of her. She puts in a lot of work before and after practices. She plays with a high motor and never gives up on a play.”

Three nights later, on Sept. 22, the team celebrated Senior Night with a 15-0 romp over

MAC foe Springfield. The 10 seniors honored were (in jersey number numerical order): Paisley Nader, Kenzie Constable, Annaliese Nichols, Kayla Phillips, Natalie Miller, Kelsey Tucker, Murphy, Dre Maione, Hailey Reed and Winter Matijakovic.

“They have been amazing for us this year,” said Nader, “and we appreciate everything they have done for the team and also everything they have meant to the team over the last four years.”

CRESTWOOD

Crestwood defeated Coventry 11-1 at home on Sept. 21 four nights after it lost 11-1 at Rocky River Lutheran West.

How’s that for symmetry?

The win upped the Devils’ record to 3-8-1 record.

“The win over Coventry was a good team win,” head coach Scot Etling said. “The kids played well together. A lot of good passing, a lot of unselfish play.”

Pacing Crestwood with two goals and two assists apiece were junior midfielder Hailey Pesarchick and sophomore forward Ava Macik.

“Ever since I’ve been at Crestwood, Hailey has been consistent,” said Etling. “She’s coming back off of a severe knee injury last year and just trying to pick up where she left off as a

freshman. She’s a leader and helps our team get better. Luckily, she’s been in the right place at the right time a couple of times.

“Ava just doesn’t quit. When she sees the ball, she goes after it. It sounds simplistic, but she really pushes herself to get there and to try to get a shot off. That’s led a lot to her success this year.”

Freshman forward Jaley Wilson had pair of goals herself.

“Jaley is the future of the team,” said the coach. “She has a lot of upside, a lot of ability. It’s just growing into that position. I think over the years she’ll start to be more of a pronounced figure in Crestwood soccer.”

Not to be outdone was senior goalkeeper Alanna O’Bryant, who had seven saves.

O’Bryant was runner-up for Goalkeeper of the Year in the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division a year ago.

“I’m really hoping Alanna gets it this year because she certainly deserves it. She’s definitely a strong goalie,” said Etling. “We actually had a shutout going in the Coventry game, but we kind of had a defensive lapse and they scored. The games that we’ve lost, even by a lot, Alanna is always back there doing her best. A lot of the goals we give up aren’t her fault. She can only do so much. Right now, I think she has a ridiculous amount of saves. And the fact that we have three wins and a tie is paramount to her.”

The Red Devils have some tough opponents the rest of the season.

“It’s going to be a test,” Etling said. “We can win anything we set our mind to. It’s just learning how to play together as a team and continuing to develop.”

STREETSBORO

Head coach Ryan Willard knew full well his Streetsboro squad was opposing a very good team Sept. 21 at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy.

“CVCA is state-ranked in Division II. We’re Division III,” he said of his team that lost 4-2 and is now 6-3-1 on the season. “They move the ball incredibly well, and I anticipated that they’d probably out-possess us throughout the game. So when we had our opportunities, we were going to need to score them.”

The Rockets actually took an early lead when senior goalkeeper Morgan Novak punted the ball and bounced and bounced it over the defenders. Sophomore forward McKenzie Montgomery ran on to the ball, fought through some contact and made a nice finish.

“We lost a little bit of focus afterwards, which is one of the things that happens a lot,” said Willard. “Once a team scores, you kind of drop your guard just a little bit because you feel a little bit more comfortable.”

CVCA scored less than 20 seconds later to knot the score 1-1.

“That was really difficult,” said the coach. “I think that trying to regain focus took a little bit of time.”

The Royals turned that one goal into a blitzkrieg in the form of two more quick goals and another for good measure in upping their lead to 4-1. Montgomery scored again to pull the visitors within two goals leading into halftime. The second half was scoreless.

Senior midfielder Audrina Russo notched an assist.

Willard loved how his players responded to the three-score deficit.

“The weather was terrible, they were going up against a really, really good team,” he said. “We made some adjustments at halftime, which they executed really, really well, and we gave ourselves a couple of good opportunities in the second half that we just couldn’t put away. You score one of those, and you just never know what’s going to happen. This was the kind of game that you hope that you continue to grow from. We knew it was going to be a big challenge, but it feels like we’ve started to close the gap, and we’re continuing to grow. That’s what’s most important at this time of year, especially in out-of-conference games.”

Willard feels his team is exactly where it should be at this point in the season.

“I think we’ve won the games we’re supposed to win, we’ve probably lost the games that we were the underdog,” he said. “Probably the only 50-50 game we’ve played was Cloverleaf, and we came out on top 3-2. Those are the games you want to win because you have those challenges along the way. You’d love to have an upset here and there. But those games that you know could go either way … when you can find a way to come out on top in those, those are the big wins.”

One of those games the coach described will be on Thursday at home against Field, a contest that has serious Metro Athletic Conference implications.

“That will be a big one,” Willard said.

ROOTSTOWN

Rootstown has a 4-4-1 overall record and a 1-2 Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division mark.

Not great, not bad.

However, head coach Tara Langston realizes her team has serious limitations when the Rovers are up against a giant given the fact that there are only 14 players on the roster.

A perfect example was when Rootstown hosted division rival Kirtland Sept. 17, a 7-1 loss.

“Kirtland is just a great team. They have a great work ethic, great vision of the field in passing,” Langston said. “Our girls could hold pretty strong, but being a small squad is just really hard to keep when other teams have a lot more fresh legs. It’s just a struggle in terms of us being able to battle back. Three-nothing at the half (in the Kirtland game) doesn’t faze me as a coach, but when we don’t have enough gas going into the second half, it just kind of defeats it.”

The home team avoided a shutout when freshman forward/midfielder Layla Haynes scored off of an assist by senior center midfielder Elliott Smallfield with just a few minutes to go in the game.

“It was a beautiful assist by Elliott,” said Langston. “She just threaded the ball through the defense, and Layla was in the right place at the right time, working hard on the back side and got the ball in.”

The coach is thrilled with her squad’s resiliency.

“I’m proud of the girls for not giving up. It shows that they’re putting their effort in the whole way through,” she said. “I’m teaching them to focus on what we have and finding ways to make that enough and battling through those things. I’m very impressed with their grit and not giving up on the hard games. It’s kind of a rebuilding year. I think we still have the opportunityto battle for quite a few games throughout the rest of our season.”

GARFIELD

When studying his team’s schedule before the season began, Garfield head coach Aaron Gilbert liked what he saw early on.

“It would’ve been nice to come out of our first six games 5-1,” he said, “but we went 2-2-2, which kind of put us behind.”

Four straight shutout losses in which they have been outscored 24-0 have dipped the G-Men’s overall record to 2-6-2 overall and 2-4-1 in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Division. They lost 8-0 on Sept. 21 at division foe New Middletown Springfield.

A tougher schedule seems to be the culprit.

“The teams we’ve been playing are way better than us. Way more experience, way more skill,” said Gilbert. “You hope this could help us when it comes to the postseason, but now with us being up to Division IV (from Division V last year), I don’t know how much that’s going to help us come the postseason. You hope maybe it will give you something, but it’s going to be a tough.”

The recent lack of production has left the team in a daze.

“Mentally, it’s tough for the girls,” the coach said. “They compete, but they just know that they’re overmatched going into some of these games, and it just becomes difficult. We knew our first six games were our chance to get some wins. Now we know that this is the meat of our schedule with LaBrae, Rootstown and Mooney … it doesn’t get any easier.”