The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Kirtland advances to state semifinal
STREETSBORO » Ed Bradac couldn’t help but to get a little emotional on Nov. 3.
The Kirtland girls soccer coach has just watched his team rally from yet another early match deficit to beat Doylestown Chippewa, 3-2, in the Division III regional final. Memories of the past came flooding back to Bradac.
“This is about demons, too,” Bradac said, harkening back to a 2015 loss to the Chipps in the regional tournament. “I go back to 2015 and how hard these girls worked. I’m getting emotional. I really wanted this for 2015 as much as I wanted it for 2018, because as a program, that’s where this started - 2015.”
For the seventh time this season, Kirtland (191) trailed early. But when Jenna Sayle knocked in a ricochet off the hands of Chippewa’s goal-keeper at
the 13:15 mark of the second half, the Hornets had the advantage they needed.
Kirtland shut out Chippewa over the final 13 minutes. And when the final seconds were counted off the clock, the Hornets swarmed the field in celebration.
Kirtland will face Archbold on Nov. 6.
“We were back (to being down) 1-0 and we don’t panic,” Bradac said. “We haven’t panicked once all season.”
A big halftime adjustment was putting freshman Erika Zshuppe and sophomore Mia Rini in the midfield area. That slowed the Chippewa offensive attack and seemed to jumpstart Kirtland’s offense.
Rini was shadowing Chippewa senior Bailee Ferrell when a collision left Rini by herself with the ball. The 10th-grader sized up the Chippewa goal-keeper on an approach and shot the ball into the right corner for a 2-1 Kirtland lead.
Until then, Kirtland’s only goal was a 25-foot, high-arcing shot by Maya Zovko late in the first half.
“I was working No. 20, when they made a mistake,” Rini said. “I got it and set it in. I went 1-on-1 with the goalie and made it to the right corner.”
Chippewa (19-2) got an equalizer at the 24:49 mark on a communication error by the Hornets deep in their own end. Bailey Clark hammered in a goal where a trio of Kirtland players stopped, thinking one of the others was going to clear the ball.
Bradac said the play made him feel “sick to his stomach” because he didn’t want the season to come down to a communication error. But with 13:15 left, Sayle took care of business.
After Zshuppe tried to score from deep, Sayle gathered in the ricochet and put it to the back of the net.
“I knew their goalie mishandles balls,” Bradac said. “I said, ‘girls, you’ve got to capitalize on any missplayed or mishandled balls. She was in the right spot.”
Said Sayle, It’s my goal to get there and get the easy ones.”
After collecting the regional championship hardware, the Hornets took pictures with their throng of supporters who came to watch them play, as well as the Kirtland boys who played in a regional championship match afterward.
Now the goal is to get a state championship.
“We knew we were the better team,” Sayle said. “We had faith the whole time. We knew we had to pull together.”