The first half put the Avon Lake girls soccer team in a tough spot after trailing 2-0 at halftime to visiting Brunswick in a Division I district semifinal Oct. 24.
Sarah VanEuwen cut the deficit in half with a long goal in the 50th minute, but the Shoregals couldn’t get any closer in a 2-1 defeat on their home field.
Brunswick advanced to the Oct. 27 district final to take on No. 1 seed Strongsville.
“They came out the stronger team in the first half, and I think that we were overwhelmed,” said Avon Lake coach Brian Salco. “I don’t think we quite expected that. I didn’t expect that. They only had three shots on goal and scored two, but they definitely wanted the game more (in the) first half.”
Avon Lake outshot Brunswick by four in the first half and had two more shots on goal. The difference was that Blue Devil goalie Claire Landfried saved all four of the Shoregals’ shots on goal, while Brunswick got the two best opportunities of the half and scored on both.
In the 20th minute after a scrum in the box, Charlee Mougrabi knocked in a goal off of an assist by Brooke Allen. Mougrabi doesn’t get much playing time, Brunswick coach Scott Ward said. However, the junior defender made the most of her opportunity with that goal.
Eight minutes later, the Blue Devils scored again on a shot by Camryn Petty from the right corner into the back of the net. Kiley Deighton assisted, and it was quickly 2-0.
“I’m a freshman, so it was an awesome experience, going in the goal in a playoff game to help your team advance,” said Petty. “It just was a lot of excitement.”
The Shoregals certainly had their chances to score in the first half too, but they just couldn’t cash in. Landfried had a solid half to prevent some goals, but the Brunswick defense stepped up around the net to help out their sophomore goalie. However, the Blue Devils were able to get their opportunities off of Avon Lake turnovers.
“Turnovers were really what led to their goals with quick counters,” said Salco. “They had a game plan for us, they kind of let us come into them. In the first half, they wanted the game more than we did, I felt. In the second half, I felt we turned it around but you’re trailing two goals and sometimes you make it up, and sometimes you don’t.”
They couldn’t complete the comeback from down 2-0, but Avon Lake wasn’t short on effort in doing so in the second half. Brunswick appeared to have stopped a rush from the Shoregals before Ella Grode made a nice play to get the ball back into the middle of the field to VanEuwen. The senior fired in a shot from deep for the only Avon Lake goal of the night in the 50th minute. VanEuwen was happy to have capitalized on that chance with a goal, but it ended up being the final one of her career.
“I think we had a really good opportunity, but we just fell short today,” said VanEuwen. “I don’t think that we put our best out there, so I’m a little disappointed in that. But I think that the group of girls next year will come back even stronger.”
Maria Copfer stepped up to stop a shot in the 55th minute to keep the game alive, and it appeared late in the game that Brunswick had scored another goal after a rebound on another Copfer save, but the goal was taken away.
In the end, the Shoregals couldn’t generate any more good looks with the Brunswick defense swarming to protect the lead. The Blue Devils will now have a tough opponent up next in Strongsville, and they lost 5-0 to the Mustangs earlier in the season.
“Avon Lake is well-coached, they have good talent throughout and good skill, they’re hard to slow down,” said Ward. “To take a team that we had that was giving up five to six goals per game early in the season and work towards this, I’m unbelievably proud of the entire team for that.”
