LCL leader Firelands gets past Brookside

The league’s name may have changed, but many of the rivalries still remain, such as Brookside and Firelands in boys soccer.

It’s no longer the Patriot Athletic Conference title that they are seeking. Instead, they are battling for the Lorain County League crown. As their match Sept. 28 proved, things are just as intense no matter what they are playing for.

With Kyle Griebe coming off the bench to score the eventual game-winning goal late in the first half, the host Falcons edged Brookside, 2-1, to take over first place in LCL play. Firelands is now 6-3-2 overall and 5-1-1 in the league, while the Cardinals fall to 7-4-1 and 5-2-0.

“We’ve been working hard all year for this win,” said Firelands senior Austin Schuler, who scored the game’s opening goal. “We’ve put in a lot of work in practice. We just want to be the best.”

The LCL uses the following system for its soccer standings: Three points are awarded for a victory and one point for a tie. Thus, the Falcons are in first with 16 points, followed by Brookside with 15. Oberlin and Keystone are next with 13 points each. The teams each have three conference games left, so nothing has been decided. But, for now, the Falcons are on top.

“The guys are excited,” Firelands coach David Zurcher said. “It’s the homecoming game. It’s just a good day for everyone involved. I think the guys just finally came together and we just played our game. It’s as simple as that. I just attribute the win to heart, really. They just played great. The way they’re supposed to play, they finally did, and here we are.”

It’s the second time that Firelands has defeated Brookside by a 2-1 score, which Brookside coach Miguel Villegas said may have been something that distracted the Cardinals.

“No offense to Firelands, but I believe that we are the better team,” Villegas said. “It’s just that the kids wanted revenge so much because they defeated us in our first game, and I guess that was in their mind. But I don’t worry about it. We’ll get it back together. I’m not worried about it at all. We’ll be fine.”

Most of the action took place in the first half, as neither team could score in the final 40 minutes. It was an unusual game in that Firelands possessed the ball more than its opponent, but Brookside was able to piece together the better scoring opportunities.

Twice Firelands goalkeeper Lorenza Reyna had to lay out and dive to deflect shots away from the goal. FIRELANDS 2, BROOKSIDE 1

Another time, Brookside’s Jonathon Wright flicked the ball over the head of Reyna, who could only watch helplessly as the ball slowly rolled toward the goal. However, sophomore defender Alex Krebs came sliding in out of nowhere and kicked the ball away just before it reached the goal line.

Schuler opened the scoring at the 31-minute, 47-second mark, volleying in a cross from Alec Urbansky. Schuler kicked the ball out of the air and lofted it over freshman goalie Patrick Sheehan, who had no chance to make the save.

The Cardinals found the equalizer with 22:14 remaining in the half, as Wright headed the ball over Reyna, who had left the goal line to play the ball. The play started on a free kick from Jake Kolleda. The was ball flicked to Wright by Dylan Smith and Wright headed it past Reyna.

The game-winning goal was something of a shock, as it came with just 1:14 to go in the half and the teams appeared to be running out the clock in order to gather themselves for the second half. However, the Falcons earned a corner kick, and Schuler sent the ball toward the near post. Griebe was able to get his foot on the ball, which deflected past Sheehan, who, again, had no chance to make the save.

“That goal was scored by Kyle Griebe, senior defender who has never scored a high school goal before,” Zurcher said. “To come out here and score your first goal as a game-winner in the homecoming game, I couldn’t be happier for him.”

While the goal appeared to be something of a fluke, Zurcher said it actually was the result of hard work.

“I would say the second goal was kind of flukey, but a big thing that I emphasize in practice is corner kicks, free kicks, and crosses,” he said. “We spend 20-30 minutes on it every day. It was flukey that it went in, but we’ve been doing goals like that all season in practice. We were prepared for that situation.”

Villegas said the goal was the result of inexperience on the part of his defense. A player was supposed to be guarding the near post, but he was late getting there.

“Most of these kids have played maybe since they were 10 or 11 years old, and they don’t know some basic stuff,” he said. “We constantly teach certain situations, but it doesn’t always work out. It was a corner kick and I told him to be in front of the goal, but he walked to it instead of running, and the ball passed right where he was supposed to be. It’s just basic stuff that they don’t actually know. But they will understand later.”