The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Chagrin headed to state semifinal
Otto Bergman has all the faith in the world in the defenders in front of him on the Chagrin Falls boys lacrosse team.
Even though he wouldn’t admit it, the All-Ohioan who is headed to Canisius on a lacrosse scholarship probably has a high level of confidence in his abilities as Chagrin Falls’ goalkeeper.
But even Bergman would have trouble imagining how well he and his teammates played in an 8-6 win over University in a Division II regional final May 23 at Cleveland Heights.
Bergman chalked up 11 saves against the high-scoring Preppers, but more impressively, he and his teammates held the top-seeded team in the tournament 24-minutes, 31-seconds without a goal.
The smothering defensive effort sends Chagrin Falls to the state final four to play Toledo Ottawa Hills at 7 p.m. on May 30 at Oberlin College.
“I would have said you were crazy,” said Bergman when asked if he imagined his team shutting out University for nearly 25 minutes. “I respect US a lot. I thought they’d score a high number. I knew they were going to get a lot of shots off. I was ready to go for the long haul.”
To be sure, University got off its share of shots — not as many as the Preppers would have liked — but enough.
They were just turned away most of the time.
If not for two goals 13 seconds apart with less than 90 seconds remaining, University would have been held scoreless in the second half.
When US’ Thomas Weisbein scored at the two-minute mark of the second quarter, Chagrin Falls’ lead was trimmed to 5-3.
The Preppers didn’t score again until the 1:29 mark of the fourth on a George Brinn goal, followed quickly by another goal from T.J. Kelly.
Bergman made four dynamic saves in the fourth period alone, shots that if they had gone in, would have made for a different match.
“He’s a great goalie,” said US coach Hans Rydquist of Bergman. “We knew we had to shoot well to beat him. I’m not sure we got enough shots off tonight, which is a testament to their defense.
“Their defense played well, goalie played great.”
Holding a 5-4 lead at halftime, Chagrin scored three times in the latter half of the third period to extend their lead to 8-4.
Ben Kniskern took a feed from Connor Brosnon on the first, then Alex Morris scored twice — one unassisted and the other on a feed from Cameron Owen in transition.
Scoring in transition was a goal of the offense coming in, Coach Paul Corto said.
“We simplified the game plan, and it boiled down to ground balls,” he said. “We wanted to own ground balls and own possessions. With opportunities on ground balls, it would lead to more possessions and more goals. If (the ball) is at our end of the field, it keeps it away from their potent offense.
“When we have opportunities in transition, we need to take advantage of it.”
When the final second had ticked off the clock, the Chagrin bench emptied onto the field and ran toward Bergman.
“I owe it all to my guys,” said Bergman, shrugging off his heroics in the goal. “They were giving me shots I could gobble up. I truly think it was them. I owe it to them.”
As Chagrin celebrated, a dejected University team trudged to the bus reluctantly lugging with it a silver regional runner-up trophy.
“We had different expectations this season,” Rydquist said. “It’s hard to see Chagrin each season. There is a lot of familiarity there. Not a lot of tricks up our sleeves.”
Corto said his team is excited about heading back to the state final four.
“We wanted to peak at the end of the year,” he said. “That was our plan from the beginning of the year. We feel like we’re playing our best lacrosse right now.”