North Royalton Tops St. Edward in OHSAA Soccer Tournament
St. Edward lost 1-0 to North Royalton Saturday night in a hard-fought Sectional Championship game. The Bears (11-3-3) advance to face Valley Forge, which eliminated Lakewood earlier in the week. The loss ends the Eagles season at 4-10-2. Six of those losses, including this game, were to top ten teams by only one goal.
North Royalton entered the game with 14 seniors, a stark contrast to the youthful Eagles. That experience paid off when senior David Haffner scored with 27:49 left in the first half. St. Edward maintained possession for most of the first half, and had some opportunities. One free kick in the second minute of the game bounced off the crossbar. North Royalton goalkeeper Ryan Newman made key saves throughout the rest of the game, fending off numerous shots. Eagle keeper Alex Dudley, a senior, also played well in the final game of his St. Edward career. During one sequence in the 28th minute, he stopped two shots within a matter a seconds against the attacking Bears forwards.
The Eagles battled hard in the second half. They made some quality shots on goal, and had a corner kick in the 58th minute as well. “In the last five minutes there were some good opportunities” said head coach Jim Duffy after the game, “Those are opportunities you have to finish, and that’s where the inexperience and youth come in.” Overall, Duffy was proud of his team’s effort. “We outworked our opponent” he said.
Duffy is disappointed with his team’s record, but pleased with the team’s development. “Collectively it’s one of the better teams I’ve coached”, he said. He is confident that this season’s struggles will pay off. This year’s underclassmen gained a lot of experience, and he has some high quality junior varsity players ready to move up. The Eagles two JV teams have a combined record of 39-6-10 over the past two seasons. “I feel that we’re well balanced as a team going into the next two, three seasons”
Mike Deneen
Mike Deneen has extensive experience covering sports and community stories for the Lakewood Observer. Mike has been a Senior Industry Analyst for the Freedonia Group in Cleveland, Ohio, since 1998. He has appeared on CNBC’s Closing Bell, NPR’s MarketPlace and has been quoted multiple times in The Wall Street Journal. He has made multiple guest appearances on ESPN Cleveland radio. Mike also writes for Inside Northwestern, a website that covers Northwestern Wildcat Athletics. You can reach him on Twitter at @MikeDeneen1