Patriots dominant, cruise past Lorain

Open Door cruised past Lorain in a 7-0 win on Sept. 20.

Open Door (4-5-0) scored five first half goals. The Patriots got a hat trick from sophomore Mitch Abram.

“It was mostly my teammates passing me the ball,” said Abram, who has five total goals this season. “It was a lot of mental toughness and I was focused on playing aggressive in this game.”

Patriots goalkeeper Tommy Kemp stopped six shots.

“What worked from me is my teammates being in the right spot,” Kemp said. “And my positioning, talking and coaches helped me through.”

Open Door struck in the seventh minute with a goal from freshman Danny Sandoval. Abram scored the following two in the next 10 minutes, including a corner kick goal from the left sideline that went right past the Lorain goalkeeper.

Seniors Todd Giesbrecht and Christian Burgos ended the half with back-to-back goals.

“Our players had a difficult time communicating,” Lorain coach Rick Dimmachia said. “They are much better than what they showed. We just can’t find getting all the horses going at the same time. Open Door is a good team.”

The Titans are in the midst of a tough year in Dimmachia’s second season, and he’s hoping the group stays positive.

“We go to practice and work hard,” he added. “We have to try to get them to learn the habits. They’re young and there is a lot of kids that are learning how to play and we’re waiting on them to catch up with the others. They have the heart and keep playing every game.”

Open Door outshot Lorain 19-5.

“I took the team to watch Cleveland State’s game on Tuesday and I think that helped,” Open Door coach Joel Baker said. “They wanted to play like them a little. They needed to get one and needed some positive energy, it was good to see.”