GENOA — Eastwood girls soccer knew they had to defeat a good Genoa team on the road Thursday to have a chance for a sixth straight Northern Buckeye Conference crown.
Mission accomplished. The Eagles out shot the Comets 26-12, including 15-6 in shots on goal, and held on to shutout Genoa, 2-0, in a steady rain.
That sets up a showdown between the Eagles, 10-3-1 overall and 4-1 in the NBC, and Oak Harbor, 10-3 and 5-0, at 5 p.m. next Thursday on the Eagles’ pitch. Oak Harbor absolutely pummeled Otsego, 14-1, on Wednesday.
Eastwood’s only league loss was to Maumee (10-6, 4-1), 4-3, even though the Eagles out shot the Panthers, 27-12. Eastwood coach Julie Cross had to get her girls refocused before traveling to Genoa and getting the win.
“We had a long week,” Cross said. “Last week, we had five games in 10 days, and the Maumee game was towards the end of that stretch.
“Credit to the girls — their mentality was next one up and Genoa was next, and now our mentality is still next one up and that is Oak Harbor.
“We are still in the race. We can get a share of the title if we can take out Oak Harbor. That is our next focus.”
When NBC newcomer Oak Harbor visits Eastwood field next Thursday, it will take an Eastwood win to share the title with the Rockets and possibly Maumee, too. An Oak Harbor win, and Eastwood’s run at five successive titles comes to an end.
Under longtime coach Renee Goldstein, Oak Harbor had dominated Sandusky Bay Conference girls soccer before entering the NBC, winning more titles than any other school. Now, Ryan Lacer is at the helm and the Rockets are still dangerous.
“I think their program is similar to ours,” Cross said. “It’s a small school, similar size-wise, and whatever week, that is our next game next Thursday, so we’ll go back to work tomorrow.
“We need more of what we saw today and I want to finish off more opportunities. We could have had more than two, but I think if we connect as well as we did today, especially if we have better weather, that would help, too.”
Eastwood third-year starting junior goalkeeper Jordan Jensen adds that the Eagles have “got to bring it at practice and give it all we’ve got and focus all we can” to beat the Rockets.
In Eastwood’s win over Genoa, both goals were scored from inside the 18-yard box, and both assists were from senior midfielder and captain Delaine Zura, considered the quarterback of the team.
In the first half, Eastwood senior forward Saylor King was the benefactor of a Zura assist, scoring with 23:51 remaining until intermission.
In the second half, Eastwood’s offense had a barrage of three straight shots on net, but sophomore forward Karly Wasserman scored, giving the Eagles a two-goal cushion with 17:01 remaining.
However, Zura had a chance to score her own goal when the Comets committed a foul inside the box, but Genoa sophomore goalkeeper Addi Moritz made a diving stop, moving to her left, on Zura’s shot with 26:35 remaining in the game.
Moritz finished with 13 saves and Jensen had six saves to preserve the shutout, Eastwood’s fifth of the season.
“It feels good because last week they had a couple goals and that really frustrates me,” Jensen said. “That pushes me a little harder to come back and work for the shutouts even more.”
Jensen was the benefactor of a defensive backfield that stepped in front of the goal to make key non-goalie stops, too.
“My defense is always ready, they are always looking, they can always read where I want to go and where I want them to go,” Jensen said.
“They know where to pass and where to pass back and when to take it out wide, and we communicate a lot with our defense.”
Eastwood also had an 8-1 advantage in corner kicks, the Eagles were whistled for nine fouls to the Comets’ four, and the Eagles kept Moritz busy with 17 goal kicks and punts, while Jensen did not have to take a goal kick until early in the second half.
The Comets did have scoring opportunities, however.
“Today, good field conditions,” Cross said sarcastically, talking about the steady rain. “I mean, the field was fine, but the weather evens the playing field, but Genoa has a phenomenal goalie and they’re very organized this year.
“They are connecting — they had a couple shots on us, they had some chances, but we turned it down. We played really well, we connected on passes, we created lots of opportunities. I’m proud of them,” Cross continued.
Genoa (8-5-1 overall, 3-3 NBC) typically starts four freshmen, but because they started both of their seniors on Senior Night, only three freshmen started. The Comets only league losses are to Maumee and Genoa, both by 1-0 scores, and to Eastwood.
“We’re super young and we are right on the brink of things,” Genoa coach Josiah Hanson said. “Opportunities were there and these guys are working really hard and I couldn’t be more proud of them.
“They were really close, but we’re coming up on the short end of the stick right now. We’re getting there. These guys are awesome.”
