By Yaneek Smith

Special to The Sentinel-Tribune

GENOA — At this point in the tournament last year, Eastwood lost in a Division III district semifinal to Woodmore, a team it had beaten both times in the regular season, leaving a bad taste in its mouth.

But coach Julie Cross’ Eagles, who had to get over some jitters in the first half, defeated Edison, 7-3, in a Division III district semifinal at Genoa High School Tuesday.

Eastwood, the top seed in the Genoa district, will play Woodmore in the district final on Saturday. The victory puts the Eagles at 14-3-1. Edison bows out at 8-9-2

“Tournament time is a new season. Everyone is 0-0,” said Cross. “We started off a little nervous. Sometimes it’s tougher being the higher seed. Our eight seniors knew it could be their last game. But having those seniors is so important to our success.”

Those eight seniors are Reese Stewart, Delanie Zura, Amelia Ward, Abby Rothenbuhler, Reilly Might, Kayla Buehler, Saylor King and Kayla Gedert.

“On any given day, any team can beat another team. It doesn’t have to be the better team. You’ve got to be the better team on that day,” said Cross. “Edison played a great game, but our seniors didn’t want their careers to be over.”

Eastwood got a goal from Grace Abbey at the 15:35 mark of the first half to open the scoring, and the Chargers responded with just under four minutes to play when Amelia Chartrant scored on a penalty kick.

The first half was a defensive struggle that saw both teams fail to capitalize on a number of opportunities.

The Eagles outscored Edison, 6-2, in the second half.

“At halftime, we just said, ‘Play our game. Have fun. Treat this like any other game,’” said Cross. “It’s something we’ve got to figure out for the next game.

“Our energy level, the bench, the second half was a fun time. We believed and settled down in the second half.”

King’s goal with 34:05 remaining in the second half broke a 1-1 tie and gave Eastwood the lead for good.

Eastwood scored the next two goals when Ava Kachmarik scored to push the lead to 3-1 with 29:16 to play, and Piper Sutton added a goal just over one minute later. But Chartrant scored her second goal to cut the deficit to two.

Holding a 4-2 lead midway through the second half, Zura scored three straight goals for the hat trick, the final one coming with 2:42 to play.

“Delanie was great in the second half. She set up the first two goals in the second half. She’s a playmaker that sets up opportunities for her teammates,” said Cross. “She shows up in the big games.”

Edison made a valiant effort to get back into the match. Trailing, 5-2, Emma Lesniak scored a goal to cut the deficit to two goals with 10:42 to play, and the Chargers just missed out on scoring another goal with 9:10 remaining, which would’ve cut the deficit to one. But Zura, who now has 20 goals on the season, put an end to Edison’s run by scoring two more late goals.

“We lost here (in the district semifinals) last year,” said Zura. “Once we settled in and played our game, we knew we had it.”

When asked what stands out about this year’s squad, Zura said, “We play for each other. I’m playing for the person next to me. We’re always thinking, ‘How can we win this game?’”

Goalkeeper Jordan Jensen got her job done, making key saves throughout the match when it mattered.

Eastwood girls soccer has accomplished great things over the last decade or so. They’ve won six consecutive Northern Buckeye Conference titles and won district championships, too, most recently in 2021 when they advanced to the regional finals.

“The expectations are high,” said Zura. “We don’t want to let ourselves down. We know we can play at a high level, and we want to do that.”