West G ousted in regionals

Thursday, November 05, 2009

By Jamie Ward

Wolverines coach Bill Bryan, his team and many of West Geauga’s fans said the same thing after the team’s 1-0 loss to Canfield in a Div. I regional semifinal game at Twinsburg: The turf caused problems for the Wolverines.

Turf quickens the ball’s movement. Add low 30-degree temperatures that coated the field with moisture and it was enough to disconnect the Wolverines’ chemistry.

“It’s different playing on a turf field because the ground’s slick, it’s dewy out,” said junior Kori Chapic. “We’re so used to playing on regular grass. We have quick outside mids, but the ball just rolled their way today.”

“I guess the turf was a big difference,” senior captain Michelle Anselmo said, showing the ice that clung to her shoelaces after the game. “It’s just as slippery as a muddy field but the ball was a lot faster. We should have won. Our transition wasn’t working very well, we weren’t connecting our passes.”

Bryan said the same: “I think for whatever reason, we didn’t quite have a rhythm tonight the way we had. We haven’t played on turf in a while, our set plays and corner kicks were not the same; it was slick; it was wet; the ball was running quicker.”

Canfield outshot West Geauga 14-3, limiting the Wolverines to no shots in the first half. The Cardinals had 5 shots on target to West Geauga’s 2.

The chill Wednesday night had fans huddled under blankets in the bleachers as players’ exhaled fog.

After a scoreless first half, Canfield came out with aggressive play to start the second half. A minute in, West Geauga junior Lauren Kelly made a punch-save to deny the Cardinals.

West Geauga’s Aly Platek shot a ball that almost went over the Cardinals’ goalkeeper, who just got a hand to send it over the top post.

The Cardinals played physical, often knocking down Anselmo and Chapic without a foul called. One Cardinal did receive a yellow card for knocking Chapic to the ground midway through the second half.

With just over 11 minutes to play, Canfield’s Audrey Smith sent a low kick at Kelly from 35 yards away. The ball hit the turf with topspin and skipped past West G’s keeper, who likely would have made the save in normal conditions.

“As a goalkeeper, that’s often times the toughest shot to handle —” coach Bryan said, “the one that comes at that angle and skips off the wet turf.”

Still, West Geauga was satisfied with a season that saw the team reach regionals for the first time since 2001.

“We had a hard start, but once we had a new season come right in the middle, we played lights out,” senior Margo Davis said. “This is the best West G has ever seen from a group of girls.”

Davis said it will be hard to not return next season. West Geauga had nine seniors and started seven of them. The seniors were Davis, Platek, Anselmo, Jenny Wajahn, Allison Tyree, Sara Ryan, Kristina Iacona, Katerina Medancic and Hillary Anderson.

“I’m going to remember my friends and having such a great time playing with them,” Davis said. “Working really hard toward a goal with them.”