The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
River advances
Avon Lake plays tough for two periods, then roof caves in
Blue Division teams aren’t supposed to hang with Red Division teams, right?
Apparently, someone forgot to tell Avon Lake.
The Shoremen went hit-for-hit with Rocky River for two periods before the gas finally ran out, with Rocky River emerging victorious, 6-0, in a Brooklyn District sectional final on Feb. 20 at Brooklyn’s John M. Coyne Recreation Center.
Rocky River advances to face
St. Ignatius in a district semifinal on Feb. 24 at 2 p.m.
Avon Lake ends its season at 27-7-0.
However, even with a loss, the Shoremen should by no means hang their heads.
They took the Baron Cup I champion Pirates to the limit.
And the Pirates know that they were close to being the first major upset of the Brooklyn District.
“I give a lot of credit to that team,” Rocky River coach Chris Cogan said. “They’ve played well all season, but especially the last couple of weeks.
“I give them a lot of credit. They came to play today, and they played a heck of a game.”
But, as one of the top teams in not only the Brooklyn District, but the state, Rocky River remained calm, bottled its frustration and
survived.
“I give credit to my guys,” Cogan said. “They stuck with the plan and finally got one and then kept it going.”
Rocky River finally beat Avon Lake goalie Cam Stepka, who had 41 saves on the night, with 5:50 to play in the second period when Eddie Zuercher put in a rebound for a 1-0 lead.
The goal would be it for the Pirates in the period, but Zuercher believed it was the goal that started opening the f loodgates.
“I’d say it was definitely big,” Zuercher said. “It kind of changed the momentum of the game. We didn’t necessarily have the start that we wanted, but, yeah it was definitely big getting the first one.”
Scoring in third period for Rocky River was Ted Stueber with two and one each from Nolan Weaver, Hayden Weaver and Aiden Dempsey.
“We felt it was something we could probably do to them,” Cogan said of wearing down the Shoremen.
“But, you know, their legs lasted a lot longer than I expected.”
Credit also is due to Rocky River goalie Ryan Dunning, who preserved a shutout with a 21 save night.
“Ryan had to fight a couple off,” Cogan said. “But that’s what Ryan does. He’s been tremendous for us for the last three years and we need him to have games like that.”
Assistant coach Andy Ventura, who was filling in as head coach Fran Sullivan could not make the game due to work, said he could not have been more proud of the Avon Lake effort, particularly the effort of Stepka.
“We battled with them for about two-and-a-half periods,” Ventura said. “Our legs caught up with us late ... but they just wore us down.
“Cam stepped up huge in this game. She plays really well when she has lots of shots against her. She didn’t have too many games like that this year playing in the Blue Division. She’s dangerous back there.”