North Olmsted drops regular season finale

The Eagles lost, 4-1, to Mayfield but the squad, which is much improved from last season, has put the loss in the rearview mirror and is looking forward to the postseason.

North Olmsted struggled to get out of its defensive third in the opening 40 and never recovered in a 4-1 loss at nonconference foe Mayfield on Oct. 14.

Senior goalkeeper Jordan Dangerfield (10 saves) and her back four had to exert a lot of energy to keep the Eagles (6-9-1) in the match as the Wildcats (11-3-2) were dominant in possession for large stretches.

North Olmsted has generally had good fortune against Mayfield, going

4-1-1 head-to-head since 2009 coming into this match, but that form wasn’t there on this occasion.

“Today wasn’t one of our better days, obviously,” Eagles coach Bob Armentrout said. “It has a lot to do with our opponent. Mayfield just played good soccer. They have some kids that are very quick that are able to get behind us and created some problems for us.

“So we just played a team today that was better than we were. We move on. It’s in the rearview. Monday, we get into the tournament.”

After falling, 2-0, at halftime on goals by the Wildcats’ Cassie Lewis in the 22nd minute and a 37th minute penalty kick by Natalie Ardai, North Olmsted grabbed a brief lifeline in the 45th. Eagles junior midfielder Gillian Lewis put a free kick from distance on target far post that Mayfield goalkeeper E.B. Fluharty wasn’t quite able to corral to make it a 2-1 match.

It remained that way for less than a minute, though, as the Wildcats got a rebound strike from Catherine Rock to take a 3-1 lead.

In his postmatch talk with his side, Armentrout pointed out the positives of the regular season, including winning six matches after going 2-13-3 a year ago and conceding 21 goals fewer than 2016.

“Yeah, we have (four) more regular season wins,” Armentrout said.

“We went from giving up 53 goals last year in the regular season to now giving up 32. So it’s huge progress for the kids.

“I’m proud of the kids. We’ve got to look at it in terms of the whole season, not just one game.”