The North Olmsted, Cleveland, and Ohio soccer communities lost a pioneer. Coach Tom Hatfield passed away at the age of 87. We want to offer our condolences to the Hatfield family and celebrate his lasting legacy. Coach Hatfield was hired by the North Olmsted City School district in 1961. From 1961-1990, he worked at NOHS as a History and Health Teacher. In 1972, Coach Hatfield, was named the first Varsity soccer coach in school history. During his 18 year career as head coach, North Olmsted amassed a record of 288 Wins, 59 Losses, and 29 Ties totaling an 84% winning percentage. He captured 10 conference championships, 10 Final Fours, 5 State Final appearances, and two State Championships in 1977 and 1985. Coach Hatfield helped found the North Olmsted Soccer Organization. NOSO became one of the premier youth sports programs in the state, which not only led to success at the high school level but alsocreated a long tradition of soccer in the North Olmsted community. After stepping down as head coach in 1989, Coach Hatfield continued as an assistant to the program until 2020. His dedication and contributions to the school district, soccer program, and the North Olmsted community are unparalleled and will forever be celebrated and treasured.

Accolades:

State Championships: 1977, 1985

State finals: 1977, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989

Final Four: 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989

Conference championships: 1977, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989

Congratulations to our Cleveland West Conference, All Greater Cleveland, and Team Award Winners!

 

 

   

 

 

Congratulations to our 2024 Marsh-Hatfield Scholarship award winners! Thank you to Coach Marsh (1993'-2022'), Coach Hatfield (1972'-1989'), and the alumni that support our current North Olmsted Boy's soccer players as they look to further their education!

(Alphabetical Order):

Blake Burkhardt

Mohamed Elkhatib

Bryce Tabor

   

Congratualtions to our 2023 Marsh-Hatfield scholarship award winners: Patrick Carleton, Grant Becker, and Emrah Rupright.

   

   

The 2023 campaign will see one of North Olmsted's favorite sons as the new coach of the Eagles.  Max Becker takes over from 30 year coach Chris Marsh after Marsh retired from his coaching duties at the end of the 2022 season. 

Becker starred at North Olmsted and was one of very few players who started all four years and every game during his career.  Becker finished his career as a All-Central U.S, selection, an All-Ohio selection, an All-SWC First Team selection, and an Academic All-Ohio selection.  Max finished his North Olmsted playing career high in the record books.  Max ended second All-time on the Career Assist list with 45, he finished tied for 22nd on the Career Goals scored list with 35 goals, and Max was 15th on the Career points list with 35G/45A/115pts.  

Becker continued his playing career at the Division 1 University of Detroit Mercy Titans as a fully scholarshiped player.  Max played all 4 years for the Titans and earned a degree in Elementary Education.  Max's team made it to the Conference Tournament twice and Max scored the game winner in one of those games with a dramatic PK shoot out.

Becker served as an assistant with Marsh for the previous three seasons.  His responsibilities increased each year under Marsh.  His first season Max's primary responsibility was to come in and help teach the entire program the 3-5-2 formation.  We had never played that formation and it was obvious that that was going to be THE formation we needed to switch to with a very talented group returning.  Max quickly proved you could teach an old dog new tricks as the team excelled in the new formation.  Max's second year he was moved up to the head assistant.  Here he had direct axcess to the varsity workouts, tactics, scouting.  This past year Max was incharge of all training, and set all starting lineups.  With a very young team, Becker was able to get them way beyond all expectations.  

Becker follows Tom Hatfield 75-89, Herb Haller 90-92, and Chris Marsh 93-22.

 

Blake Burkhardt, Mohammed Elkatib, and Bryce Tabor are the 2023 Tri-Captains.  These three future seniors were runaway winners in the team vote for captain.

Blake Burkhardt battled all season for a starting job (13 Starts) usually at wingback.  Blake was the teams most consistent wingback which usually put him in the starting unit.

Mo Elkatib a starter and two year letter winner spent time in the central midfield and centerback during the 2022 campaign.  Mo started 16 games and scored 2 goals on the season. 

Bryce Tabor was a huge success story this past season as he broke into the starting lineup (15 starts) and he scored 3 goals on the season.  Bryce predominatly played one of the three centerbacks where his athleticism really stood out.  

The team is excited with this new leadership team as they have exhibited all of the qualities to excel as Captains.  Congratulations men!

 

The ALL-GREATER CLEVELAND Awards were just announced.  Even with a difficult schedule and tough season the Eagles landed 6 players among the best in all of Cleveland.

Grant Becker was the highest vote getter on the 2nd Team All-Gr Cleveland

Gael Briones and Mohamed Elkhatib were Honorable Mention All-Gr. Cleveland

 

4 Young men were named Academic All-Ohio

Grant Becker

Patrick Carleton

James Katrakkozas

Mahamed Mohamed

 

The GLC Awards were announced and the Eagles supplied several young men to the All Conference teams.

 

Grant Becker was named to the FIRST TEAM

Gael Briones was named to the SECOND TEAM

and the following young men were named HONORABLE MENTION - Mohamed Elkhatib, Zach Haug, Patrick Carleton, and Nick Spanu.

 

The Eagles season came to a screaching hault in Overtime as North Royalton scored on a rebound with a little over a minute remaining.

 

The Boys had fought back after falling behind 1-0 when SR Co Captain Gael Briones blasted a free kick that Royalton's keeper couldn't hold and Sr Nick Spanu followed up and finished to equalize the score at 1-1.  The score remain tied tillthe end of regulation.  When overtime began it was the eeagles who had the run of play and put three shots together to put pressure on the bears. 

With three minutes remaining in the first overtime the eagles took a shot that was going into the back of the net.  It appeared that a Bear player reached out and swatted the ball away from the goal.  The bearscleared the ball down the field and it was a matter of seconds later that a Royalton player picked up a ball that was headed by an eagle.  The Royalton player trapped the ball with his hand and pushed it along the top of the 18 and passed it to a player on the right side.  The player chipped our Keeper SR Patrick Carleton and were instant winners 2-1.

The Eagles outshot the bears 10-7 

 

In what was the third time this season the boys came out flat and gave up numerous early goals.  After getting shocked the boys settled into the game and slowly took the run of play to the Rangers.  We need to sort this out quickly or our state tournament run will be very short.

 

The score may have been close but the Eagles clearly had the run of play and outshot Elyria Catholic 23-4.  After falling behind in the second minute on a questionable goal that clearly showed The EC player was 3-4 yards offsides, Gael Briones openned the Eagles scoring with an early goal of his own.  Late in the first half, Kamol Kamolov went on a mazy run through 3-4 defenders and then finished past the EC Keeper for a 2-1 lead.

 

Gael Briones scored his second goal off an assist from Matt Shahata to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead.   EC made the score close on their only 4th shot of the match, when the Referee awarded a penalty kick on a foul that appeared to have been committed just outside the penalty area.  The boys closed out the remaining 15 minutes for the victory.

 

 

 

Bay Village came out hitting on all cilinders and put two balls in the back of the net in the first 15 minutes.  Once the boys weathered the storm and figured out how Bay was attacking we were able to play our way into the match for the next 45 minutes.  The boys created a couple opportunities off corners but we were unable to capitalize.  We were outshot 15-5 and out cornered 4-3.  

Bay scored a third goal in the final minute of the match on a blast to the upper left corner.  

 

After weathering a tremendous attack for the first 25 minutes from the #1 ranked team in West Virginia, the boys slowly played their way into the game.  It was the defense that kept us in the game and even more important that our senior Goalkeeper Patrick Carleton came up big on a few difficult shots.  After conceeding the first 11 shots it was the Eagles who almost scored first when the eagles corner kick from Senior Grant Becker was cleared out to the top of the box and Senior Gael Briones served a ball back into the box where Junior Mohamed E;lkatib headed a ball into the far corner.  The Patriots keeper was in full extension to corral the shot and keep the score at 0-0.

The start of the second half the boys clearly were holding their own as shots for the first 12-15 minutes were even and it was Briones who smashed a 35 yard bending shot that was headed for the upper left corner however  the George Washington keeper was up to the challenge and deflected it up and over the crossbar.

Final shots were 6 - 23 for the WV side.  

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes allowing your opponent to pssess the ball is a good thing as the boys laid traps against the Pirates and picked up numerous loose balls in the middle third of the field and immediately transitioned into offensive counter attacks.  It was Briones who picked up Beckers corner and smashed in a 20 yarder just inside the far post for what would be the "game winner" and a 1-0 lead.  12 minutes later SO Landon Matthews flicked  a ball with his head past the last defender which SR Nick Spanu ran on to and shaped his shot just inside the back post for a 2-0 half time lead.

 

The third goal was a thing right off the practice field as Beckers long free kick was flicked off of Briones' head allowing Spanuto walk in on a one on one with the River netminder.  The boys out shot Rocky River 13-4 and raised their record to 5-4-3.

 

It was the Eagles who came out on the front foot and pressed the attack from the very beginning.  It was the Eagles who forced the Rangers to switch their formation.  And it was the Eagles who proved to effecient on their corner kicks to earn a 2-1 victory.  10 minutes in it was SR Captain Grant Becker's corner that deflected off a Ranger defender into the net for an Eagle 1-0 lead.  The Eagles pressed the attack and almost doubled the lead on two occasions.

 

Finally in the 2nd half #10 of Eastlake stole the ball and dribbled through 4 of our defenders and put the ball inside the far post to equalize the score.  But it was less than a minute later the the Eagles struck back.  It was a North Olmsted corner again by Grant Becker played to the far post where Jr Bryce Tabor was waiting.  Tabor rose in the air and he volleyed home the shot with his let foot just inside the back post for a 2-1 lead with 17 minutes remaining.

 

The Eagles out shot the Rangers 18-12 and the raised their record to 4-4-3.

   

During the first half it was the Eagles who were on the front foot pressing attack after attack.  10 minutes in Sr Grant Becker smashed a 45 yard free kick into the penalty box where JR Mo Elkatib headed the ball straight down and then into the net.  Twice the Eagles just missed on chances to go up by two goals.  The game stayed pretty much the same unill 12 minutes remaining when the Warriors turned up the heat and created more offensive pressure.  In the remaining 4 minutes the warriors created 4 straight corner kicks that the eagles had to repel.  Sr Goalie Pat Carleton had to stop one point blank shot by tipping it over the bar to preserve the shutout for his second clean sheet.

 

Carleton finished with 9 saves and the Eagles held a 18-12 advantage in shots.  The Eagles improved to 3-4-3

The Eagles were in a dogfight with the much larger Amherst Comets.  We were continually on our heals as the comets outshot us 12-5.  The Boys made it as difficult as the majority of the shots were from the outside or bad angles.  GK Patrick Carlton seemed to handle what our defense was giving up.  The comets scored with 7 minutes elapsed in the first half and it stayed that way throughout most of the remaining portion.  It was Sr Nick Spanu who scored when a North Olmsted corner kick was cleared out to him at the top of the box.  Nick grabbed took a touch and finished at the far post.

it was not a good night for the young Eagles as they gave up 3 goals in the first 13 minutes and seven total in the first half.  The Eagles were totally dismantled by the Bees as they threw numerous players forward. The second half was significantly better as we won the second half 1-0.  The halftime speech must have rattled a few as we rotated defensively quicker and with conviction  SR Cocaptain Gael Briones scored the lone goal as he caught the keeper off his line and chipped him from 30 yards. 

 

Srs Grant Becker and Emrah Rupright along with JR Mo Elkatib shored up the second half back line and allowed us to compete in the second half. 

WEEK 3 Gr. Clev Top 15

RANK	SCHOOL	POINTS
1	ST IGNATIUS	210
2	STRONGSVILLE	193
3	UNIVERSITY SCHOOL	176
4	WESTLAKE	158
5	MENTOR	120
6	AVON	116
7	OLMSTED FALLS	94
8	ST EDWARD	88
9	TWINSBURG	79
10	AVON LAKE	72
11	MIDVIEW	46
12	NORTH RIDGEVILLE	38
13	RIVERSIDE	21
14	SOUTH (Willoughby)	14
15	NORTH OLMSTED	8

 

 

In a game that was way closer than the score the Demons were able to outlast the young Eagles and slowly pull away in the second half.  While the Eagles were down 1-0 at the end of the first half in was the Eagles game plan that was the main talking point at halftime!  We really weathered the storm the first 7-8 minutes and then gradually took over the game and dictated playing style and tempo.  It was the Eagles who had 3 of the 4 best scoring chances in the first half.                                                                                             

 

It was the #7 ranked Riverside team that scored in the opening minutes on a headball off of a corner to open the scoring 1-0, but it was the Eagles Junior Bryce Tabor who nearly 70 minutes later copied the recipe and scored on a header off of a corner from Senior CoCaptain Grant Becker to pull out a tie for the gritty Eagles.

Senior Centerback Mo Elkatib played a stellar match constantly clogging passing lanes and clearing dangerous balls played in by the Beavers.  Sr Captain Goalkeeper Patrick Carleton had a consistant and gutty performance with 7 saves.  The Eagles did not pressure the ball and allowed the Beavers to possess it for a clear 65-70% advantage in possession but would then try to catch them in transition had quite a few good counter attacks.  The very best happened with under 2 minutes remaining we were able to get an outlet to Sr Nick Spanu who was in on a one on one with Riversides best defender.  Sr Gael Briones who was 15-20 yards behind the play threw himself forward to get in on the play and streaked down the middle.  When Spanu saw him, he cut it back and played it towards the wide open Briones.  Unfortunately the defender partially deflected the ball 10-15 degrees and Briones had to go back for it and Riverside was able to get more players behind the ball.

 

It was the eagles who had to weather the early storm as Valley Forge came at us with tremendous pressure for the first 7 minutes.  At the ten minute mark it was SR CoCaptain Grant Becker who crossed it to Freshman Zach Haug who brought the ball down and then smashed a shot into the lower left corner from 30 yards out.  7 minutes later it was JR Bryce Tabor who knocked in a loose ball inside the 6 yard line when Freshman Kamol Kamolov flicked Grant Beckers corner kick on to the back post.  

10 minutes later Forge cut it to 2-1 when they picked up a loose ball and immediately fired a shot over our keepers head from 40 yards out.  The score stayed that way until Forge was awarded a rather dubious penalty kick and they equalized on the shot from the spot to make it 2-2.

The game was marred with no less than 4 potential Red card situations plus two PK scenarios.  Despite the physicallity the boys out shot the Patriots 17-12 and out cornered them 7-3.  The team now stands at 2-2-1 and play Riverside on Saturday.

  SR Forward Nick Spanu nets 2 goals for the Eagles     SR Co-Captain Pat Carleton gets 1st SO

 

Matt Shehata (2) James Katrakkazos, Kamol Kamolov, Jacob McElroy scored their first varsity career goals and Sr Co-Captain Goalie Patrick Carleton recorded his first career shutout.  Also scoring for the Eagles were as followed - Nick Spanu (2), Gael Briones (2), and Grant Becker (2).

The win evens the eagles record at 2 wins and 2 losses.

Avon possessed the ball for the majority of the first 20 minutes and they scored on their first three shots. It wasn't as if the boys didn't have chances because they had several counter attacks that were promising but fizzled out on the final pass. 

The boys fall to 1-2-0 and host Parma Wednesday night. 

  SR Co-Captain Gael Briones scores for the Eagles

Shaker Heights scored twice in both halves to take a 4-1 victory from our boys. In a much closer match than the score would show the Raiders opened the scoring by playing a ball over the top and their opposite striker side billed it home when he got behind our back side. Ten minutes later SR Co-Captain Gael Briones equalized at one when a ball played over the top was misjudge by Shakers keeper. The game stayed 1-1 for nearly 20 minutes when Shaker scored on a restart. 

The boys battled evenly for the next 20 minutes back and forth between the 18 yard lines. It wasn't until a deflection put a Shaker player in on a breakaway and a 3-1 lead. The boys fought hard with a couple great chances to make it a one goal game but just missed by a few feet. Shaker finished the scoring on a deflected shot with less than 4 minutes remaining.  SR Goalkeeper Patrick Carleton had 6 saves in the contest. 

      SR Co-Captian Grant Becker

In a game that clearly showed early season jitters the Boys struggled throughout the first half to connect passes and pick up second balls in the midfield.  Clearly some of this was due to a vastly improved Green Wave team.  Holy Name led at half despite being outshot 6-1.  The second half was a different story as the boys picked up numerous second balls and the possession difference grew even more.  Freshman midfielder Zach Haug scored his first varsity goal as he got on the end of Senior Grant Becker's corner kick with 22 minutes remaining.  With 17 minutes remaining Becker was fouled in the center of the park approximately 40 yards from the Green Wave goal.  Becker promptly stroked a rocket into the upper right corner to give the Eagles the lead.

The boys out shot Holy Name 14-1 and out cornered them 8-2.

The boys travelled out to Eastlake only to play 7 minutes before the game was discontinued because of continuous lightning and thunder.  Presently the game is possibly being rescheduled for September 24th at Eastlake.  Time TBA

 

In a pretty even game it was the Eagles who finished their chances to take the win.  Sr Nick Spanu Got a quick outlet from SR CoCaptain Grant Becker and on one touch beat the entire defense and found the back corner for a 1-0 lead.  ten minutes later Sr Mid Gael Briones brought down a Becker free kick and hit a screamer half volley just inside the backpost for a 2 goal lead.  Just 1 minute latter Spanu made it 3-0 from nearly the same spot after the eagles picked up a turnover off the kick off.  Sr GK Pat Carleton kept the shutout when he stopped a breakaway and then its impending rebound.

 

In a wide open match it was the Eagles SR Forward Gael Briones who Slammed in a shot from 20 yards out after picking up a rebound from a Nick Spanu attempt.  SR GK Patrick Carleton made 4 saves and did a nice job commanding his box.  Highland was able to equalize on a quick counterattack.  Shots ended NO 6 to Highland 5.

Eagles defeat host Madison 2-0. 

SR defender Emrah Rupright scored the opening goal on a ball served into the box from SR Co-captain Grant Becker.  SR forward Gael Briones finished the scoring off a nice pass from SR forward Nick Spanu. The defense registered a shutout with SR Goalkeeper Patrick Carleton registering 3 saves. 

Eagles defeat Brush H.S. 4-0

 

Sr Co-Captain Grant Becker blasted a 30 yard bomb into the upper corner to give the Eagles the lead.  After that it was the Nick Spanu show as the SR forward scored the next three goals to give him his first hat trick of the year and the eagles a 4-0 victory. 

 

Chris Marsh begins his 30th season at the helm at North Olmsted.  Last season he won his 300 game at NOHS.  This season he needs only 3 wins to reach 500 wins in his career, something only 3 other Ohio coaches have reached.  After last season completed a 16-3 record, it proved to be one of the most successful in 20 years by scoring 106 goals and allowing just 7 while registering 14 shutouts!  6 of those players are continuing their playing careers at the next level and 20 have graduated.

Assistant Coaches Max Becker, Brad Rienhard and Brett Croston are going to be given more coaching responsibilities as Coach Marsh will "Try" to become more of a "mentor" to them.

 

   Grant Becker                      Gael Briones                Patrick Carleton

 

The 2022 Eagles are led by Senior Tri-Captains Grant Becker, Gael Briones, and Patrick Carleton.  Becker, a four year letterwinner is clearly one of the top passers that have ever come through the NOHS program.  He has also really turned into a VERY good leader.  Briones, a flashy, cheeky forward/midfielder burst on to the scene last season registering 19 goals.  Gael's confince really has grown as shown during his time at Erie Camp.  Carleton served as last seasons backup, but is ready to take the reins as netminder after starting the last two season on the JV.  Pat has all the tools to be successful at this level.  It will be amazing how much he will grow in about 3-4 scrimmages.  The confidence will then exhude from his very being!

Two other upperclassmen whom much is going to fall on their shoulders are Senior For/Mid Nick Spanu whom has really made a major step up playing with a lot of confidence, and JR Midfielder Mohammed Elkatib who has really developed a solid relationship with Becker and helped lock down the central midfield!

Scrimmages and the rest of the preseason will allow the boys to compete for roster and starting spots.  As always, coach Marsh reminds us, "If you are good enough  . . . Then you are old enough!"  "The best 11 will play!  Prove it on the field.  

Brotherhood, Persistence and Class - Be the Best!

 

You can download the 2022 schedule and 2022 calendar by clicking on the pulldown screen.  The schedule will download right to your smart phones calendar.  You can print off the practice schedule right from the pull down menue.  Make sure you are on the 2022 option!!!

After a very successful season several of the Eagles have decided to further their playing career.  As they make decisions to further their playing and education we will announce the particulars.

 

Ryan Sanborn has committed to play at Bowling Green.

Kyle Matko has committed to play for Mount Union.

Gannon Graf has committed to play at Ohio Dominican.

Owen Reyes has committed to play at Baldwin Wallace.

Bashar Alaarj has committed to play at Tri-C.

Mohamed Mohamed has committed to play at Tri-C.

 

Several of our record setting boys were selected to the All=Greater Cleveland Teams.

First Team

Ryan Sanborn Sr Midfielder

Owen Reyes Sr Midfielder

Second Team

Kyle Matko Sr Defender

Gannon Graf Sr Goalkeeper

 

North Olmsted walked away from the GLC Coaches Meeting with the majority of the major awards.

Sr Midfielder Ryan Sanborn - Conference MVP

Sr Goalkeeper Gannon Graf - Conference Goalkeeper of the Year

GLC First Team

Sr Midfielder - Ryan Sanborn

Sr Goal Keeper  - Gannon Graf

Sr Midfielder - Owen Reyes

Sr Defender - Kyle Matko

Jr Midfielder - Gael Briones

GLC Second Team

Sr Defender - Kyle Smith

Jr Midfielder - Grant Becker

 

GLC Honorable Mention

Sr Forward - Patrick Clere

Sr Defender - Matthais Fabian

Sr Wingback - Will Byers

 

After the first 20 minutes that the Avon team and our Eagles were in a heated battle it was the North Olmsted Boys who began to impose their will on the Eagles of Avon who had defeated our boys eirlier in the season.  Ryan Sanborn made numerous runs at the Avon back line and once with about 12 minutes to go in regulation broke in the right side but his shot went into the near post.  Gael Briones created several 1/2 chances but his best was with less than 5 minutes remaining and he made a mazy diagonal run through the defense.  Gael pushed the ball by the last defender and as he was running through was taken down.  There was no call on the play.  Regulation finished scoreless.

 

After  North Olmsted pushed an attack Avon countered with a long ball down the left flank.  Their flank player collected the ball, cut it back and looked up, then served a ball into the goal mouth.  An on rushing Avon player went up and headed the ball which bounced once and then deflected off the post and settle into the net.

The Eagles finished the season with a record of 16-3-0.  They set team records in fewest goals allowed in a season (7) and most shut outs in a season  (14).  The goal differential on the season was 106 goals scored to 7 goals allowed.

 

Avon Claimed the District Championship 1-0.

 

 

 

Jr midfielder Gael Briones scored 2 goals and added an assist while Senior striker Patrick Clere scored a goal and added an assist as the Eagles coasted to a 4-0 one sided victory. Senior Midfielder Ryan Sanborn added the fourth assist while Sr wingback Zack Limpert added the game winning assist. 

Sr Midfielder Owen Reyes took exactly 10 seconds to score the opening goal against Lakewood.  The goal was the fastest goal ever scored in a game and is a school record.  Nolan Blume 10 minutes later scored the second goal as he sloted his left footed shot just inside the near post.  Sr Midfielder Ryan Sanborn scored the third goal when he recieved a ball just near midfield and then ran past the entire Ranger defense for the third goal and the Eagles went into halftime up 3-0.

 

The second half was more of the same as Reyes scored a near identical goal as his first and then added a third.  Gael Briones score a cheaky goal when he flicked a goal up and over the lakewood goalkeeper for the 6th and final goal.

the Lakewood Rangers defeated the Normandy Invaders in a Shootout to advance in the Division 1 state Tournament. The teams tied at the end of regulation at 1-1. Then played 2 scoreless 15 minute overtimes before the Rangers bested the Invaders in penalties by a score of 5-3. 

1	ST IGNATIUS	165
2	AVON	137
3	UNIVERSITY SCHOOL	135
4	SHAKER HEIGHTS	121
5	TWINSBURG	110
6	NORTH OLMSTED	105
7	WESTLAKE	96
8	STRONGSVILLE	85
9	AVON LAKE	51
10	ST EDWARD	51
11	BEREA-MIDPARK	42
12	OLMSTED FALLS	36
13	RIVERSIDE	15
14	MAYFIELD	6

 

 

In a game that the Eagles defense had to come up big it was SR Centerbacks Kyle Smith, Kyle Matko, and Matthais Fabian who did just that.  They held the potent Rocket attack at bay so that the boys could regroup in the locker room.

 

At half time the boys regrouped and clairified where there were opportunities.  It was a different Eagle team that came out for the second half.  It was the Eagles who were on the front foot and they were putting together numerous attacks.  Bay only mustered two shots the remainder of the game while the Eagles put together 7 shots.  Corners ended up 8-3 in the favor of the Eagles.

 

Jr Gael Briones Scored the lone goal of the game when JR Grant Becker's corner kick was punched out to the top of the box.  Briones touched the ball to his left away from pressure and shot back to the lower right for the 1-0 lead with 18 minutes remaining.

 

 

 

In a key divisional Great Lakes Conference match the Eagles found a way to eventually take control of the match and then put a couple chances home.  It was Sr forward Patrick Clere who open the scoring when he hit a full volley when Sr Owen Reyes flicked on a Grant Becker corner kick right to the eager Clere who was at the back post.  Sr Owen Reyes finished a second half chance as a Becker free kick was centered rinto the middle of the box.  The eagles outshot the Pirates 20-6 and out cornered them 3-0.

Graf recorded 6 saves and registered his 8th shutout.  The boys are now 9-2-0 and are 2-1-0 in the GLC.

 

It was the Gael Briones show as the JR midfielder blasted in 4 goals to lead the eagles over the warriors for a 9-0 win.  Sr Nolan Blume added 2 goals while SRs Owen Reyes, Ryan Sanborn and Jr Nick Spanu added single tallies.  This was a big win for the Eagles as this is a divisional game in the Great Lakes Conference.  As of now there are no tie breakers settled on so the boys just continued to play.  Sr Will Byers and Reyes added two assists each.  Briones, Sanborn and Jr Mohamed Elkhatib added one assist each.

 

SR goalkeeper Gannon Graf recorded 3 saves and registered his 7th shutout.  The Eagles raised their record to 8-2-0 and 1-1-0 in conference.

Midfielders  JR Gael Briones, SR Ryan Sanborn and SR Owen Reyes each chipped in with 2 goals a peace as the Eagles overwhelmed the comets.  Amherst avioded the shutout when they were awarded a controversial Penalty as it was their only real threat in the entire match.  Two SRs Nolan Blume and Musab Mohamed additionally added a goal each to get the total to eight.   JR Grant Becker and Sanborn tallied two assists and SO Mo Elkatib and SR Kyle Matko grabbed an assist each.   GK Gannon Graf recorded 2 saves on the evening.  

The Eagles played a very solid game but with two small breakdowns in concentration and skill the boys snached defeat from victory.  Playing the Undefeated and unscored upon Demons was going to be an uphill battle and just like the scouting report said the Demons opened aggressively and played very direct.  The first 10 minutes showed Westlake with 2 good looks at the Eagle goal.  Thanks to a solid save by SR keeper Gannon Graf and an off target shot the score remained 0-0.  It was then that the Eagles started to control the game as Sr Ryan Sanborn began several runs at the Demon back line.  One of those almost materialized into an Eagle lead as Sanborn dribbled  through the 4 defenders and from the right side shot diagonally accross the face of goal and it slide just wide of the far post.  The Eagles SR midfielder Owen Reyes scored the first goal of the year against the Demons when he collected a long throw in from Kyle Matko that was flicked on by Pat Clere.  Reyes had his back to goal but turned and, all in one motion, hit a ball into the lower left corner for the 1-0 lead.  

 

The Eagles started the second half still playing on the front foot as they took three shots and had three corners in the first 20 minutes.  Westlake had to settle on transition and counter attacks.  With 19 minutes remaining the Demons broke thru with a diagonal ball floated into the box and their center forward skipped the ball off his head from 7 yds out past Graf for the equalizer.  With 12 minutes remaining a harmless ball played forward was completely wiffed on by our defender giving their forward a breakaway.  When Graf came out the ball was centered for an easy tap in.

This was just the begining of the excitement as with a little more than 8 minutes remaining there was a power outage and the entire stadium went black.  The boys had to wait nearly 20 minutes for the lights to cool down and then be turned back on.  This time proved valuable as the boys strengthened their resolve and chose a strategy that would prove to be very dangerous.  While Westlake resorted to fouling numerous times Graf came forward to take the free kicks and precisely put the ball right in the goal mouth.  The strategy almost paid off as time was running down, Graf's last kick came down near the six yard line with Pat Clear and Ryan Sanborn fighting for it the ball deflected and dropped right to Gael Briones' feet whot shot the ball to the right corner.  It was going in . . . unfortunately it deflected off a defender who threw his leg out and it trickled wide as time ran out.  It was the Eagles first loss in conference.

 

Well the Boys played well enough to win but ended up losing a hard felt match by the score of 2-0.  While the Boys outshot Avon 10-8 and out cornered the purple Eagles 4-1, it was Avon who went up 1-0 on a free kick from 28 yards.  Gk Gannon Graf appeared to think the free kick was indirect so he did not attempt to save the shot.  If an indirect shot goes directly in the goal without touching a second person it is a goal kick coming out.  Unfortunately it was direct and the goal stood for the first goals and for the first time in the season the boys were behind.

 

Avon struck again for a second goal almost immediately after we switched our formation because time was running out and we needed to try and get the equalizer.  Avon caught us in transition when we turned the ball over in the midfield and once the Avon player beat our midfield he blasted a shot from the top of the box for the final 2-0 score.

 

North Olmsted keeper Gannon Graf finished the day with 10 saves.  The Eagles fall to 6-1-0.

 

SR co captain Ryan Sanborn had a great day at the office as he collected 2 goals and 2 assists. Co captains Kyle Matko and Owen Reyes scored 2 goals and Jr Grant Becker scored a goal and collected an assist each during the contest.  Sr Matt Brunst finished off the scoring with a great header off a Becker corner.  The Eagles out shot the Patriots 21-3 as Gannon Graf recorded his 6th shutout of the year.

 

 

 

	School	Points
1	ST IGNATIUS	239
2	NORTH OLMSTED	185
3	UNIVERSITY SCHOOL	184
4	TWINSBURG	171
5	STRONGSVILLE	162
6	OLMSTED FALLS	133
7	WESTLAKE	105
8	AVON	104
9	ST EDWARD	96
10	AVON LAKE	86
11	SOLON	50
12	SHAKER HEIGHTS	39
13	CHARDON	21
14	MENTOR	15
15	NORTH RIDGEVILLE	15

 

 

click below to see OSSCA State Poll

https://twitter.com/noeagles/status/1435030012999176199?s=10

 

 

 

 

In a game that everyone knew was going to have a state tournament atmosphere it was the Eagles who outlasted the battling Bees.  The game had a wide open end to end atmosphere and our three centerbacks SRs Kyle Smith, Kyle Matko, and Matthais Fabian were up to each and every task.  Wingbacks Will Byers, Zack Limpert and Matt Brunst showed up just in time to help out our back three and thwarted several dangerous situations.  Sr GK Gannon Graf comanded his box and intercepted numerous crosses into the box.  

 

It was Ryan Sanborn who scored with less than a minute remaining in the first half when Patrick Clere flicked Sanborn in behind the bees defense.  Ryan cut back accross the grain and blasted a rightfooted shot to the far post past the diving keeper.  The score stayed 1-0 as the defense weathered the storm for the first 20 minutes of the second half as Medina came out with a clear plan how to attack the Eagle defense.  With 18 minutes remaining Jr Grant Becker took a free kick from about 40 yards out and lofted it behind the defense.  Sr Owen Reyes found a seem and headed it home from about 8 yards out for a 2-0 lead.

 

The Eagles are 5-0-0 and have 46 goals for and have registered 5 shutouts.  Their next game is Wednesday at home vs Valley Forge.

 

 Byers field proved to be friendly especially to it namesake as SR Will Byers scored his first and second career goals.  Six other Eagles got their names added to the scoring column as every eagle played at least 40 minutes of the match.  Sr co captains Ryan Sanborn and Owen Reyes had hatttricks in their halve of play.  Jrs Gael Briones and Nick Spanu chipped in with two tallies each and Srs Patrick Clere and Zach Limpert added one each to finish out the score line.

 

In a game where the starters played only one half it was the offense that stole the show as Oberlin had a hard time crossing midfield as the offense was relentless in attack.  Sr Goalkeeper Gannon Graf recorded his 299th career save and Jr Backup Patrick Carleton recorded one save to combine for the Shutout victory.

 

Sr Owen Reyes continued his torrid scoring streak as he scored 4 goals and had 1 assist in the first 25 minutes.  Sr Nolan Blume had a productive night as he netted 2 goals.  Srs Matt Brunst, Patrick Clere, kyle Matko, Ryan Sanborn and Jr Nick Spanu each chipped in single goals. 

 

Sanborn was extreamly effective as he picked up a hattrick of assists and Jr Gael Briones added two.  Matthais Fabian, Kyle Matko and Owen Reyes all picked up single assists on the night.

 

 

It took the Eagles 12 minutes to score their first goal and then in the next 26 minutest the Lads were able to tally 10 more and open up an 11-0 halftime lead.  Sr captain Owen Reyes recieved a pass from Jr Gael Briones and then blasted a shot into the left side of the net from 25 yards out.  Reyes scored two more including a spectacular diving header of a wonderful cross from Sr wingback Zach Limpert.  Sr co-captain Ryan Sanborn tallied the second hat trick of the night  includind a nice combination off of Reyes for his first goal of the night and his third was a one touch finish from the top of the box which he bent in to the back side of the goal.   Sr Nolan Blume tallie two goal both from hard work.  The second deflected off a defender and the ball went into the opposite direction that the keeper was leaning.  Jr Grand Becker, Briones, Sr Patrick Clere and Sr Matthais Fabian all tallied one goal appeace giving the Eagles 12 on the night.

 

The Defense was lead by Sr Keeper Gannon Graf and Jr Patrick Carleton whom tallied one save appeace and Sr defenders Kyle Smith, Kyle Matko  and Fabian.  This was the defense' second shut out of the season.

On individual notes - Owen Reyes moved into a tie with Josh Sandoval for 31st on the career scoring list with 23 career goals.  And Ryan Sanborn moved into 8th place on the career goals list with 49.

 

The boys out shot the Green Wave 23-2 and out cornered them 8-0.  The Lads move to 2-0-0 on the season.                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

Sr Co-captain and man of the match - Owen Reyes led the Eagles with a hat trick over Eastlake North.  Sr co-cptain Ryan Sanborn added two goals and Sr Patrick Clere and Jr Gael Briones chipped in with one goal apeace.  Assists were registered by Sr Co-captain Kyle Matko, Briones, Sr wingback Zach Limpert, Sanborn and Sr Nolan Blume. 

Sr Gk Gannon Graf (2 saves) and Jr Patrick Carleton combined for the clean sheet.  The real job for the day was done by the eagles centerbacks as Srs Matko, Kyle Smith and Matthais Fabian completely shut down last years 33 goal scorer as each of them got locked up into several one on one battles with him.

 

 

 

In a game that featured the eagles pumping attack after attack, the boys continually played on the front foot and built a 3-0 lead after 10 minutes and cruised to a 9-0 win.  Nolan Blume and Nick Spanu scored along with all the usual scoring suspects for the eagles.

 

The boys came out smoking as they pounded on Hoban's goal for the first 10 minutes.  It was our relentles attack that ALlowed Reyes to break through with about 8 minutes gone.  Sandborn picked his corner just three minutes later as we went up 2-0.  

Playing on an 80 yard wide field really opened the game for the eagles as we continually strung 8-12 passes in a row on each possession.

 

The score ended at 5-1 and we were able to get alot of experience for our reserves.

 

After the Eagles thoroughly had the run of play over the first 20 minutes but were thwarted by several fouls and even yellow cards for Norwin we found ourselves down 0-1 when Norwin caught us on a counter attack and got down the right flank and beat our GK to the near post.  Being behind really frustrated the boys as small mistakes began to add up and it appeared the eagles were stopping themselves.  Norwin took a 0-2 lead when their free kick went under the wall and beat Graff to the near post.

 

The eagles got on the board when Norwin committed their 5th yellow card and took Sandborn down in the box for a PK.  SR Owen Reyes blasted the penalty home to draw within 1 goal.  JR Gael Briones equalized with 10 minutes remaning when he blasted a volley through the keepers hands from the top of the box.

 

It was a real testamony to our guys character , grit and fight.

Erie camp opened with about as solid a performance as you could get as the boys “thumped” traditionalLG front Belle Vernon by a score of 4-1. SR Owen Reyes opened the scoring about 20 minutes in by running a nice give and go off of SR Ryan Sanborn for the 1-0 lead. Sandy made it 2-0 just before the intermission off of a wonderful feed from Reyes.   Reyes and JR Gael Briones finished off the scoring.  SR GK Gannon Graf only had to make a couple saves to secure the shutout.

 

 

 

2021 Looks to be one of the most exciting seasons in Eagles Soccer history!  Not only are the boys now playing in a new powerful soccer conference but the schedule has leaped into one of the toughest regular season schedules ever played.

 

First the Eagles four scrimmages are against all State powerhouses who have been no strangers to district and even Regional Championship matches beginning with Strongsville, University School, Avon Lake and finishing with defending State Champions St. Ignatius.  We want these scrimmages to expose us and show us what we need to work on.

 

The regular season is just as packed as we lead off with Eastlake who has Cleveland's highest scorer from last year returning back for his senior year.  We also face Lakewood who gave us two epic matches last season and then face off against Medina who is a preseason top10 team and of course Bay Village and Rocky River both State ranked Division 2 sides.  Of course we still get to see SWC powerhouse Avon along with always difficult Amherst and Westlake.

 

You can download your 2021 season schedule right onto your IPhone calender.

 

Go Eagles!

 

2020 Boys Soccer Awards

 

MVP -                Ryan Sanborn 

Best O  -            Ryan Sanborn

Best D -             Kyle Matko

Hustler Award - Owen Reyes

Coaches -          Fernando Martinez 

Hatfield Award - Chris Carleton

 

All-SWC

 

First Team - Ryan Sanborn and Kyle Matko

Second Team - Owen Reyes and Gannon Graf

Hon Ment. - Mitch Hamman and Fernando Martínez 

 

All-Greater Cleveland

 

First Team - Ryan Sanborn 

Second Team - Kyle Matko and Owen Reyes

Hon Ment. - Gannon Graf, Mitch Hamman & Fernando Martínez

 

All-Ohio

 

Second Team - Ryan Sanborn 

 

 

David played Goliath as The 8th ranked Eagles not only took on Saint Ignatius the #1 Ranked team in Cleveland but the #1 ranked team in Ohio and the #1 ranked team in the country!  We knew we were going to find somethings out about ourselves including could our defense hold up during the run of play?  Could we defend set pieces vrs a quality team?  Could we muster any attack during the run of play?  The answers were encouraging and also clearly pointed to areas we need to improve if we have any desire to advance further.  While the Wildcats out shot the boys 23-8 they only scored once during the run of play.  We did a very good job in the center of the park limiting chances from distance and for the most part gave Jr goalkeeper Gannon Graf an angle to work with which is right in his wheelhouse!  Graf finished with 10 saves on the day and for the most part kept the Eagles in the match.

 

The Wildcats did score on two restarts the first 20:00 in the first half, a free kick out wide near the corner of the box which was played like a corner kick and the ball was crossed to the back side and a wildcat's header attempt glanced off of his shoulder and trickled just inside the back post for a 1-0 lead.  With a little over 10:00 minutes remaining the Wildcats were awarded a free kick from 24 yards.  Their player blasted a shot over our wall and dipping under the bar for a 2-0 lead.  Graf never stood a chance at it!  The boys went in down 2-0 at half time.

 

In the second half the boys tried to make a game of it as Jr Ryan Sanborn flicked a ball by the defense and then tried to chip the keeper and hit the bar.  The rebound came back to Sanborn who attempted to head the ball over the keeper to the back post but the ball settled on top of the net for a goal kick.  10 minutes later Sr Chris Carlton who had just returned from a season long injury was robbed by the Ignatius Keeper from point blank and then saved Carlton's rebound attempt.

 

Ignatius finished off the game with an outstanding effort by #11 Pechota making a mazy individual run through the defense and cracking a ball low and just inside the far post for their only run of the game goal.  The boys had done a remarkable job of containing Pechota, The Ohio player of the Year up until that point.

 

The Eagles should be proud as they faced a team who had won 17 of their 21 games by a margin of 5 goals or more.  The boys finished the Covid-19 shortened season with a 9-4-3 record.

 

Earlier in the season, The Eagles and Lakewood Rangers entertained fans to a thrilling end to end contest with the Rangers scoring the lone goal in the closing minute.

 

The 10th ranked Eagles vrs the eighth Rangers promised to be potentially the best District Semi in the state!  As the teams battled through regulation both teams created chances as the Eagles out cornered Lakewood 6-3 but the Rangers outshot the Eagles 18 - 14.  Jr Goalkeeper Gannon Graf handled each of the 8 shots that were on target but were generally limited from outside the 18 yard box.

The game like the previous contest was wide open with tons of action but this time regulation ended in a 0-0 draw.  As the boys met at the end of regulation I reminded them that the Rangers were exhausted too as they only subbed three times all match and it was the team that stopped throwing haymakers that would be the team going home,

 The Boys came out flying as they dominated the first few minutes of overtime.  When Jr Forward Patrick Clere was fouled about 40 yards out Jr Defender Kyle Matko found Sr Fernando Martinez in the middle of the park, who then turned and on his second touch threaded a ball to an on rushing Jr midfielder Owen Reyes for an open shot at the top of the box.  Reyes' shot beat the keeper to the bottom left corner and the celebration erupted as the Eagles earned a date in the District Championship.

 

The Eagle raised their record to 9-3-3.

 

Junior Ryan Sanborn had a career day as he scored all 4 goals against a highly regarded Brecksville Bees team who advanced into the Sectional Championship with a 3-2 Overtime victory over Amherst Steele earlier this week.

It was Sanborn who opened the scoring on a fantastic through run out of the midfield where Jr Defender Zack Limpert put him in on a one on one with the keeper.  Sanborn finished clinically by finding the left corner from 25 yards.  !0 minutes later the Bees equalized as they picked up a loose ball at the top of the box and finished when the shot deflected into the upper right corner to even the score at 1-1.

With 10 minutes remaining Sanborn found the net again with his second tally by receiving a ball in the midfield and carrying it a couple touches and then blasting a shot from 30 yards out into the lower right corner.  Just seven minutes later Jr Owen Reyes quick restart was intentionally handled for a red card and "Penalty Kick" which Sanborn Smashed past the Bee keeper for a 3-1 halftime lead.

The Second half was more of the same as Sr MoMo Mohamed slipped a beautiful through ball to Sanborn who again broke through for a break a way and his forth goal of the match.

The Eagles advance to the District Semi Final against 7th ranked Lakewood who earlier this season defeated the Eagles in the last minute by a score of 0-1.

The boys improve to 8-3-3

 

Well the Eagles started the same way they ended their last game (Berea) by giving up the first goal and playing from behind.  Valley Forge had a perfect counter attack with a 3 vrs 2 break and finding the extra player running right through the middle and then blasting a shot into the net from 25 yards for an early 1-0 lead.  10 minutes later the Eagles JR striker Ryan Sanborn began his assault on his Career high for goals in a season (14)  when he received a perfect through ball from Jr Owen Reyes and then finishing it off with his left for the equalizer.  Sanborn added his second with 2 minutes remaining when Sophomore Nick Spanu Served a ball centrally that bounced in the box.  It was Ryan who cut in front of his own teammate and Blasted a volley home from 12 yards.  Lightning struck twice when the Eagles scored their third just 10 seconds later when Sanborn intercepted a ball and then raced down the left flank and centered a perfect ball to Reyes who first timed the ball into the far post for a breathable 3-1 lead.

 The second half was more of the Eagles as Sr Fernando Martinez scored his first goal of the season when he got on the end of a Reyes Corner!  Sanborn completed his hat trick when Zack Limpert's chip into the box allowed Sanborn to just beat the keeper to it and poke it in and around the keeper from 14 yards.  Sanborn's third gave him a new career high for a season (16) and in only 13 games.  Grant Becker got in on the scoring parade when he bent a free kick around the wall from 22 yards out.  The Eagles final tally came when JR Nikita Hauff was taken down by the Keeper for a penalty.  SR Mohamed Mohamed "MoMo" calmly stepped up and finished of the PK and the Patriots.  The win pushed the boys record to 7-3-3. 

Several Eagles, Kocan, Elkatib, Shehata, Alaaraj, and Patrick Carlton got their first varsity minutes while Both Nick Spanu and Zack Limpert earned their first varsity point each with an assist.

 

 

Despite the boys playing an exceptional possession game and out shooting the Titans 24-8 it was the Braves who scored the lone goal on a counter attack and then virtually parking the bus in front of the goal and weathering the storm as the boys applied tremendous pressure on the Berea goal.  The Titans survived a penalty, two breakaways, two balls cleared off the line, one hit crossbar, one hit post and being out cornered 6-0.  

 

The game was a solid experience in that it was the first time a team came into a match with the strategy of bunkering their defense and trying to counterattack.   While the final result is always going to be judged by the score, the growth in understanding and technical requirements was significant and could payoff down the road.

 

The boys finished the SWC season 3-2-3 tied for third with Olmsted Falls whom they beat head to head.  They fall to 6-3-3 overall.

WEEK 5 Greater Cleveland Coaches Poll

1  ST IGNATIUS       300

2 AVON.                    287

3.AVON LAKE          273

4 SOLON                  230

5 SHAKER HTS.      209

6 TWINSBURG.       192

7 LAKEWOOD.        177

8 N OLMSTED.        154

9 KENSTON.            128

10 UNIVERSITY       101

11 STRONGSVILLE   60

12 ST EDWARD.        38

13 O FALLS.               28

14 WESTLAKE.            8

15 MENTOR.                7

 

The Eagles struggled this evening and clearly didn’t put their best foot forward as they were defeated by Anon Lake by a score of 3-0.  Avon Lake scored on a long throw in that bounced in the box and a runner easily beat the eagle defenders and finished on one touch. The AL keeper robbed us twice on one attack when Jr Ryan Sanborn beat the defense down the left side and centered the ball to an onrushing junior Owen Reyes who blasted the shot which was deflected to the back post  Sr Mohamed Mohamedran on to the deflection and shot it first time inside the back post where the keeper was already mid air and deflected the ball wide. 

 

Firelands came into the match feeling pretty confident with a record of 8-2-1 and two goalscorers who had single handly outscored the entire Eagle team by themselves.  But it was the Eagles night to impress as Jr Ryan Sanborn scored his 11th, 12th and 13th goals of the season and thereby passed assistant coach Max Becker (20th) on the All-time goal scoring list and moved into a tie for 17th  place with 37 career goals.  Junior Owen Reyes chipped in with a couple goals and two seniors Aden Fox and Captain Mitch Hamman chipped in one a piece.  For Hamman it was his first career goal and it was the game winner.

 

Goalkeeper Gannon Graf collected three saves to register his 5th shutout of the campaign.  The Eagles raised their record on the season to 6-1-3.

 

Well the eagles did it the hard way coming from behind to beat the 7th ranked Olmsted Falls Bulldogs by a score of 2=1.

 

The eagles had a difficult time putting the game plan into effect which gave the bulldogs numerous opportunities to serve balls in behind the defense in the first 10 minutes and it was one of those balls that was a missed clearance that fell to a wide open bulldog at the back post for an easy finish and a 1-0 lead.  Enter Sr Mohamed Mohamed and the game changed instantly.  MoMo pressed the outside back further up the field giving them no chance to serve that close to the Eagles back line.

The change also impacted the offense as we began finding the free midfielder over and over.  now instead of playing direct we were staging out of the midfield and causing Falls  to play a higher line.  It was when Jr Will Byers came out of the back during one of those build ups and he fed a ball in behind the bulldog defense putting Jr Ryan Sanborn in on a 1 on 1 with the keeper who Sandy then calmly beat the keeper with the equalizer with 15 minutes left in the first half.

The second half began all Eagles as we pressed the attack.  With 18 minutes remaining a long direct ball by Jr Kyle Matko Found Byers head whom directed it towards the bulldog goal and Jr Patrick Clere finished it with on touch for the 2-1 lead and the eventual game winner.  Falls nearly equalized minutes later as Jr keeper Gannon Graf made a huge 1 on 1 save. 

The boys had chances to add on as a long throw in found Jr Owen Reyes on the back post who hit it off  the near post from 3 yards out.  Sanborn almost added a second when he caught the bulldogs in a counter attack and blew by the last defender from 35 yards out for a breakaway.  Sandy beat the keeper but his shot trickled inches wide.

Falls almost equalized when a cross found a wide open player on the back post and his volley from 10 yards out went over the bar.

 

Graf finished the game with 6 saves.  The Eagles raised their conference record to 3-0-3 and their overall record to 4-1-3.

 

 

The #5 Red Raiders came to town and everyone knew this was going to be a tough contest.  Shaker did not disappoint!  They battled every ball in the air.  They asked questions of our defense over and over.  and had the run of the game through the first 10 minutes.  It was when Sr Fernando Martinez entered the game that the game change instantly!  Martinez immediately set the intensity level and closed down players in the center of the park.  Shaker suddenly seemed human and began turning the ball over and over.  The Eagles were able to counter attack and twice hit the Raiders for great chances and just missed.  The third time was a charm as Jr Owen Reyes picked up a loose ball and quickly played a ball to the streaking Ryan Sanborn who was in on a one on one.  Sandborn put it by the keeper by shooting low and catching the big Shaker Keeper who was too slow to get down on the shot giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead half way through the first half.

 

The game stayed pretty much the same with the Raiders having the ball and moving side to side 35-40 yards from goal and limiting their numerous shots to 30-35 yards which Jr keeper Gannon Graf  handled with ease and showed off his ability to read angles by making 15 saves.  The Eagles had two other fantastic chances as Reyes and Sanborn combined to put Reyes in on a breakaway.  Owen's shot trickled just wide of the back post.  Reyes also had a free kick that had the keeper beat but just went over the bar.  The defense held firm as Shaker continually tried to put free kicks in behind the defense as the Eagle pretty much just defended the last 10 minutes.

 

The Eagles Raised their record to 5-1-3 and have now defeated or tied 7 teams that have been in the Greater Cleveland Top 15.

 

The North Olmsted Eagles took on the #2  Ranked Eagles of Avon in the biggest match in Cleveland this evening. Avon came in with one of the stingiest defenses in Cleveland giving up half a goal a game and a potent offense beating 5 of their opponents by a margin of 4 or more goals.  

The boys set up a counter attack by allowing Avon's defenders to go forward into the attacking zone and catching them with only two remaining back when we won possession.  While it is a fairly complicated mixture of zonal marking and switching man to man our boys did a remarkable job of staying organized and communicating throughout the match.  Avon was so good that they created several chances but most were from distance and Jr keeper Gannon Graf was more than competent to handle their 28 chances.

Avon broke through in the first half when their corner bounced at the near post and they tucked it in for the 1-0 lead at halftime.  Jr Patrick Clere won a ball in the midfield and slipped Jr Ryan Sanborn in on a breakaway from near midfield.  Sandborn raced in on the keeper and chipped it over him when he went down early.

Avon went up by a score of 2-1 when a left sided player cut into the middle and blasted a dipper over Graf fron 20 yards.  With a little over 10 minutes remaining it was Jr Owen Reyes' turn to contribute as he beat two players on the right side, then got into the box and as he beat another player was taken down for a penalty.  Sanborn calmly stepped up and smashed his penalty home for the equalizer.

Graf finished the day with 13 saves.

Defensively we were very tight in the final 10 minutes and Avon almost created 2 chances for us in the closing minutes.

This was the 4th top 15 ranked team the boys have got a result against in their last 5 games.

our SWC record is 2-0-3.  Our overall record improves to 3-1-3.

 

In a game that has huge playoff repercussions it was the eagles who figured out the demons after Junior goalkeeper Gannon Graf made a huge breakaway save in the first 10 minutes. From that point on the eagle defense buckled down and allowed only shots from distance.  20 minutes in, Junior Ryan Sanborn Scored a spectacular goal when he beat 3 defenders around the right side and finished smartly when his shot smacked off the far post and went in.

 

The score stayed 1-0 until with 20 minutes left the eagles hit paydirt again when Reyes' corner bounced inside the 6 yard box and senior Mohamed Mohamed "MoMo" Rammed home the free ball for his first goal of the season and a 2-0 lead.  Westlake threw everything at us in the last 15 minutes.  N.O. keeper Graf finished the game with 10 saves and recorded his 3rd shutout.

 

The eagles improve to 2-0-2 in the SWC and 3-1-2 overall.

 

The boys travelled to Midview to play an important SWC match and came out with a hard fought 1-0 win. Statistically the game was very close as the eagles outshot the Middies 15-13, the corners were even at 6 a piece and fouls 11 on the eagles and 10 whistled  against Midview.  It was when Junior Ryan Sanborn was taken down in the box and his subsequent scoring of the penalty that proved to be the difference.  The eagles defense was solid as nearly every Midview shot was from long distance and Junior keeper Gannon Graf was able to keep a clean sheet as he recorded 11 saves.

The much improved Middies were up to the challenge but the eagles had several chances to add on to their lead as the middies were whistled for a penalty kick when a defender handled a ball that was going in the goal and Sanborn's shot from the spot hit the crossbar. A few minutes latter Senior Andrew Hancovsky just missed getting on the end of Sanborn's pass after Sandy had dribbled around the Goal keeper.

 

The Eagles get their first SWC win with the victory and improve their record to 1-0-2 SWC and 2-1-2 overall.

 

The victory allowed Coach Chris Marsh to pass legendary Eagle coach Tom Hatfield for the most all time wins at North Olmsted with 288.

 

 

Tonight the Eagles played in one of the best high school soccer matches in years with the Lakewood Rangers.  The teams clearly were evenly matched as the action went back and forth throughout the entire match.  At halftime the score was deadlocked 0-0 with the eagles holding a slight shot advantage 5-4 and clearly a bit more possession than the Rangers.

The second half swung possession wise towards Lakewood however our defense held strong and repelled the ranger offense.  The Eagles looked as though they were going to break through on a couple occasions when junior Kyle Matko was tackled in the box going after a corner and then when senior Mohamed Mohamed "MoMo" was knocked to the ground going in on a mazy run.  In both cases no infraction was called and on the second one Lakewood immediately went down the field on a counterattack and scored with 1:45 left in the game. 

Final shots for the match were Lakewood 11 and Eagles 8.

The Eagles fall to 1-1-2 on the young season.

 

Today the eagles defeated the Greater Cleveland 13th ranked Kenston Bombers by a score of 3-2. 

Junior Ryan Sanborn scored all three Eagle goals registering his first hat trick of the year. 

Senior Fernando Martinez set up the first goal when he found Sanborn on the right side who beat a man and then blasted a ball through the keepers feet.  

Sanborn tallied his second goal when he beat the entire defense down the right flank and finished smartly to the back post. 

After Kenston equalized with 10 minutes to go. It was junior goalkeeper Gannon Graf’s humongous punt that bounced over the defense and when Sanborn went to challenge the keeper a defender shoved him across the penalty area for a PK.   Sandy promptly smashed the penalty home for the lead. 

The Eagles were able to kill off the final 10 minutes for the win. 

The win tied Coach Marsh for the most wins at NOHS with legendary coach Tom Hatfield with 287 wins. 

The Eagles raised their record to 1-0-2.

 

The Eagles despite controlling much of the tempo and the ball had to settle for a 0-0 tie. the Defense of Keeper Gannon Graf and defenders Mitch Hamman, Kyle Matko and Matthais Fabian were barely put to task as they played with great confidence as they cleaned up any attack Amherst tried to muster and began the eagles attack from the back.

The eagles had a two big chances in the first half as Ryan Sanborn was taken down in the box as he pushed the ball past a defender and he was dragged down inside the box.  Sandborn's penalty shot hit the post and went wide.  Later in the half Sanborn got in again and headed the ball past their on rushing keeper towards the goal and a defender came out of nowhere to head the ball wide.

In the end the eagles out shot the Comets 8-6 and had 4 corners to 3 for Steele.  The Eagles are 0-0-2 on the season.

 

Even though the Eagles played a good first half they went in at halftime down by a score of 2-0.  Ridgeville's keeper averted a potential Red Card when he Took out Senior Mohamed Mohamed on a break a way. From that point on he repeatedly saved the Rangers as he thwarted several Eagle break a ways.  After going down 2-0 the Eagles finally turned the game with 20 minutes remaining in the first half.  The turning point was we started playing into our forwards feet and they then brought midfielders into the game.  This made the intermission much more positive and encouraging.

 

The second half saw us come out hard and Junior Ryan Sanborn got in down the left side, beat a man and was taken down in the box.  Sandy took the corner and shot it down the middle as the keeper dove to the left.  The next ten minutes had the Eagles putting tremendous pressure on the Rangers by creating numerous turnovers.in their own defensive third.  Senior Andrew Hancovsky was the catalyst as he single handedly created many of the turnovers or 50/50 balls.  Sanborn got in down the left side again and dribbled the endline and pulled a ball back and across that Junior Owen Reyes tucked inside the back post for the equalizer.

 

The Eagles await the result of a protest filed when the Rangers apparently played an ineligible player.

 

The Eagles out shot the Rangers 18-12 and out cornered them 4-3.

With the outbreak of COVID-19, the pandemic has hit the world and forced many changes to our daily lives and without question it has affected the boys and the game we love!  We have set up numerous protocols to protect one an other.  We have bounced from between three practice sites and three practice times just to be able to play this game.  In my 40 years of coaching varsity soccer never has it been more evident that these boys need this game.  I have become encouraged by our young men as they have adapted and willingly accepted things that have been thrust upon them in order to possibly have a soccer season.

 

Last Wednesday evening our Board of Education voted to allow the 2020 season to begin.  There is a lot of faith and trust going forward towards our young men.  I have little doubt that our young men will continue to do what they must in order to give themselves a chance to compete.  I have come to realize that this season above all others has less concern about winning than that of being able to be with their mates and working towards a common goal.

 

Here are the changes that we know about.

The first three games have been postponed and will try to be rescheduled..  Valley Forge, Painesville Riverside, and Westlake.

The Berea-Midpark match has been moved to George FInnie Stadium (BW Campus) JV @ 6:00, Varsity @ 8:00

The 2020 Schedule has just been announced.

With a very large returning group who ended their season with an 11 win 5 loss and 2 ties season the Coaching staff put together a tougher schedule.  One that might push and challenge our young men to new heights.  Gone are Parma, Elyria and Galion who were the only one sided matches last season.  Replacing them are three teams whom are significant upgrades with Valley Forge, Eastlake and Shaker Heights filling out our 16 match schedule.

 

In order to see the 2020 schedule click on schedule.  2020 is now set as the default.

 

You can easily copy the schedule to your smart phone calendar by following the directions.

 

 

Two weeks ago the Eagles were systematically taken apart by the 13-3 Shoremen 4-0.  If it wasn't for some fine goaltending from sophomore Gannon Graf and Senior Evan Clere the score could have been much worse.

It's interesting how much two weeks can make a difference as the boys came to make a difference this time around.  The Eagles most significant improvements were in possession and in defensive organization.  It became quickly apparent that this time around it wasn't going to be as simple for the senior laden shoremen.

 

Midfielders Reyes, Matko and Martinez did a significantly better job of keeping possession and switching the point without being overly greedy. Outside backs Carleton and Ayyad came out taking space when it was on but knocking it back when things were not "on."  This alone took a handfull of possessions away from Avon Lake.  While the Shoremen clearly had a significant possession advantage the eagles were able to string some attacks together to alleviate some pressure unlike the last matchup.

 

Despite the Eagles significant improvement it was the Shoremen who broke through in the 33 minute when a cross from the left side found an AL attacker who barely outleaped an eagle defender and headed it home from 8 yards out.

 

Sophomore Ryan Sanborn and Senior Pele Carney provided an occasional offensive counter attack and Mohamed Mohamed made a significant improvement in collecting balls with his back to goal.  With 26 minutes remaining in the second half the Shoremen scored an amazing goal to go up 2 - 0.  We had no choice but to switch to a more offensive formation to get back into the game.  The move paid immediate dividends as Junior Jon Musial smoked a Shoreman defender down the right flank.  Musial got to the end line and served a perfect cut back to the penalty spot where fellow junior Fernando Martinez was checking into.  Martinez correctly hit the service first time but put it over the bar from about 10 yards out.   While it was a great chance it was not the Eagles last.  With 8 minutes remaining in the contest Sanborn received a ball at midfield out on the flank and made a long diagonal run across the field and then ran towards goal.  When the Shoreman's keeper came out to the left Sanborn centered the ball to a streaking MoMo who then slide to tuck it in the backside but just couldn't get on the end of it.

Goalkeepers Gannon Graf (10 saves) and Evan Clere (9 saves) were busy but played as solid as you could ask.  The two goals we gave up were just that good by Avon Lake.

 

The Eagles finish the season with an 11-5-2 record.

 

On a cold, wet, and blustery day it was the Eagles who played one of their better matches of the year as the offense was clicking on all cyliners in a 7-0 win.  In the 7th minute Sophomore Owen Reyes gave the Eagles a lead they would never relinquish when he got a wonderful pass from fellow sophomore Ryan Sanborn and smashed it home.  In less than two minutes Sophomore Kyle Matko Hit the back of the net doubling the eagles score at 2-0. Twelve minutes later it was Aiden Fox who was Johnny on the spot as he ran on to a rebound that dropped right at his feet for a tap in and a 3-0 half time lead!

 

As the second half began it was Ryan Sanborn who put the game to bed as he upped the lead to 4-0 in less than 2 minutes in.  Reyes added on twice more with the second being a banger from about 30 yards!  The final tally was a thing of beauty as Sophomore Patrick Clear beat his man on the flank and served a perfect left footed cross to the back post where Johnny Musial headed it home.

 

Sophomore Gannon Graf had 1 save and Senior Evan Clere had two to combine for the teams 11 shutout of the year!  The win raised the Eagles record to 11-4-2.

 

Wednesday night the Eagles second season begins with a sectional match verses a much improved 12-3 John Marshall squad.  It takes eight (8) consecutive wins to win the Division 1 State Title.  If the boys get past Marshall they will be matched up with the third seeded Avon Lake crew who defeated the eagles 4-0 just two weeks ago.

 

 

The 2016 Eagles came out with a purpose and intensity and controlled the match from the opening whistle and grabbed all the goals they would need to raise their record to 10-4-2. 

It was Fernando Martínez who opened the scoring 17 minutes in when the Eagle midfield collected a loose ball. The ball was played to Junior Striker Mohamed Mohamed who held it for a few touches.  MoMo then back heeled a pass to Martinez who had run passed him. The back heel split the Titans back two central defenders and Fernando smashed a shot into the corner from the top of the box For the 1-0 lead. 

It was MoMo again gaining his second assist on the evening when he combined with Sophomore Owen Reyes on a picture perfect give and go. Reyes goal gave the Eagles all the breathing room they would need and gave him a career high 9 goals on the season. 

 

Keepers Gannon Graf and Evan Clere combined for the team's 10th shutout as the teams record climbed to 10-4-2.

In a game that the Eagles struggled to get their offense untracked, it was the shoremen that outshot the Eagles 22-2.

The shoremen used a pressing attack where they invited the Eagles to play short out of the back and then press us deep in our own defensive third.  It was there where the boys turned the ball over time and time again.  We did not possess the composure that we normally do.  We can keep the ball with the best of them but for some reason lately we have struggled mightly in keeping possession!  It has to be THE major point of emphasis in training the next several weeks.

The Eagles went into half down 1-0 but Avon Lake added three very solid goals including a shot from the corner of the box that found the upper 90 just inside the far post!  The Eagles were limited in attack to very direct balls looking for some kind of a counter attack.

 

For the second straight week our keepers have played very well and minimized the score the best they could.  Even Clere recorded 6 saves and Gannon Graf registered 4 saves.

 

The boys fell to 9-4-2 on the year.

 

On a blustery day that had a bit of everything including rain and a steady wind of 10-15 MPH the two teams battle in a rather turnover infested match to a 0-0 draw.  The first half had the eagles with the wind advantage but the Bombers were the team that held the run of play.  Throughout the majority of the first half Kenston was linking through the midfield and staging attack after attack that mostly shot wide.  Sophomore goaltender Gannon Graff did make 9 stops but there was one that was in the "special" category.  Kenston had probed down the left side and our defense held strong and deflected a ball back to the top of the box where a bomber ran onto it and blasted it first time about 2 feet off the ground.  Gannon not only threw his feet out from under himself to get down that fast, but he held the ball for no rebound.

 

With 10 minutes remaining we switched to 3 forwards and it immediately paid off as the eagle non existent offense came to life.  This gave the eagle defense a chance to gather themselves and we seemed to finally settle in for the long haul.  The second half had the Eagles pushing against the wind however we were now the pressing team.  The Eagles best chance came when Sophomore Owen Reyes picked up a loose ball and made a run down the right flank.  As Reyes got to the endline he drove a head high cross to the near post out at the 6 yardline where Junior Mohamed Mohamed was sprinting towards.  Mohamed threw his body into the fray and the ball came out of the crowd trickling towards the goal line.  At the last second a defender cleared the ball just before it crossed the goal line.

 

The Eagles out cornered the bombers 5-3 and their record now stands at 9-3-2

 

In a match that would have solidified a top 3 finish, it was the bulldogs that showed up meaning business. 

If not for our two netminders the score would have been considerably more!  Senior keeper Evan Clere was outstanding in the first half registering a season high 7 saves including a penalty kick attempt!  Sophomore goaltender Gannon Graff continued the good work chipping 5 more additional saves. 

 

Sophomore midfielder Ryan Sanborn gave the eagles a short lived 1-0 lead with 25 minutes gone. The lead was short lived as the bulldogs answered in just 8 seconds to equalize!  Within 10 minutes the bulldogs tallied twice more and upped their halftime lead to 3-1.

 

The eagles fall to 9-3-1.

 

The Eagles waisted little time as Sophomore Ryan Sanborn went racing down the right flank and found Senior Pele Carney on the back side who first timed the centering pass just inside the far post for a 1-0 lead just inside of the 6 minute mark. 

 

Just 8 minutes later it was Carney who went racing down the left flank and found a wide open Owen Reyes just outside the 6 yard box who then calmly picked his corner for the 2-0 lead. It stayed 2-0 for a while until Junior Jacob Ulewitz poked a 50-50 ball free right to Sanborn who blasted a shot home from 8 yards out. 

 

The Eagles went into intermission with a 3-0 advantage.  

 

In the very first minute of the second half it was Ulewitz again who won a ball in midfield and found Sanborn out on the flank who then, in two touches, was by their outside back and racing towards the General McLane goal.  The GM keeper came out to cut the angle and Ryan promptly tucked it inside the back post For the final 4-0 margin.

 

Goal keepers Gannon Graff and Evan Clere combined for the teams 8th shutout.  The boys récord improved to 9-2-1 and they face SWC rival Olmsted Falls this coming Wednesday.

 

 

In a battle of Two Cleveland Top Ten teams, It was The North Olmsted Eagles who spent most of the time defending the 2nd rank Avon Eagles.  The boys were diligent and patient as they continually cut out penetrating passes from the Avon Eagles.  As ten minute segments fell by the wayside we saw ourselves at halftime and locked into a 0-0 deadlock.  Senior goalkeeper Evan Clere was able to handle each of the seven attempts on goal that he faced.

As the game became more and more stretched Avon began to open up our midfield.  It was imperative that our strikers help defend if the ball was on their side so that our outside backs were not continually put in 2 v 1 situations.  Both wide players for us were then able to step up and pick up their flank players 20+ yards earlier!  This really slowed Avon's Attack and forced them to bring an extra player forward.  For the time being this provided us with our best chances.  

With 17 minutes remaining Avon collected a rebound off a corner and then reserved the ball to the back post where a back side runner got inside a defender and finished from in tight.  Just 3 minutes later Mohamed Mohamed took a straight red card as his hand clearly struck the head of an Avon defender.  With less than 10 minutes and down a man NOHS pulled a defender and added a forward.  The move nearly paid off as Sophomore Owen Reyes got to the endline and put a ball across and Sophomore Ryan Sanborn headed a ball just over the bar.  With two minutes remaining and the very next trip down the field Avon put the game away when their forward got behind our defense and finished a break a way for a 2-0 lead.  Sophomore keeper Gannon Graff had an exceptional half as he made 8 nice saves and one that was spectacular.

The boys are now 8-2-1 and face Pennsylvania power General McLane this Saturday.

 

In most likely the sloppiest match of the season it was the Eagles clinging to a 1-0 halftime lead.  The middies capitalized on several unforced errors and turn them into chances at goal.  The Eagles scored when Sophomore Ryan Sanborn beat his man down the flank and put a ball across on the ground to Mohamed Mohamed who let the ball run through his legs and then flicked it with his heel into the back post.  

Throughout the last 20 minutes of the first half you could see lightning out over the lake.  The second half began and the Eagles players turned up the pressure trying to limit the middies with their time on the ball.  The strategy paid off big time as we came storming out and didn't let them breath.  We created turnover after turnover and didn't let them out of their half.  In the first 4 minutes the eagles struck pay dirt as Sr Capt. Dan Gebura headed in an Owen Reyes corner.  Reyes then combined with Gebura 4 minutes later on another corner but it was Sanborn who was Johnny on the spot as Gebura's headball fell right to Sanborn's feet.  It seconds later when the referees intervened with a stoppage due to the lightning.

 

The Eagles are now 8-1-1

The Eagles won their 7th game as they wore down a very game Cleveland Heights team 2-0.  After a very back and forth scoreless first half it was the eagles who came out attacking wave after wave and it was Sophomore Owen Reyes who opened the scoring on a tremendous back heal from fellow Sophomore Ryan Sanborn who blasted a shot home from near the penalty spot.  Very soon after it was Sanborn again who found Sophomore Kyle Matko who then overlapped, took one touch and blasted  a shot off the back post and in from near 30 yards out!

 

It was Gannon Graff - 2 saves and Evan Clere - 3 saves who combined for the Eagles 5th shutout this season.

 

The boys are now 7-1-1 and face Midview on Wednesday.

In a huge nonconference match against District foe Elyria, it was the eagles who exploded in the second half over the pioneers.  Sophomore Ryan Sanborn blew by the right back and was taken down in the box halfway through the first half and then converted the the PK for the only score of the first half.

 

During halftime the team honored the 1999 State Championship team who was celebrating their twentieth Anniversary of the feat.  The boys seemed invigorated as they come out and exploded four four runs.  Just three minutes into the second half it was a heads up play by Sophomore Kyle Matko, when he took a quick restart and shot it while the Pioneer goaltender was lining up his wall and it snuck inside the back post for a 2-0 lead.  Twenty minutes later it was Sanborn who blew the game open when he flicked in a free from Senior Dan Gebura.  With the 3-0 lead the Eagles went for the jugular as Sophomore Patrick Clere toed in a loose ball under the keeper for the fourth tally.  Junior Mohamed "Mo Mo" Mohamed just four minutes later dribbled around the keeper and capped the score at 5-0.

 

Sophomore Gannon Graf and Senior Even Clere combined for 3 saves for the shutout.

The eagles out shot the Pioneers 18-6 and out cornered them 4-2.

 

The boys are now 6-1-1 and play non conference Cleveland Hts.

 

 

The Eagles traveled to Columbus to play Galion High School from the Mansfield area.  On the trip down the boys stopped at Fazoli's Italian restaurant for a spaghetti lunch.  The service and food were fantastic as they got us in and out in less than 45 minutes.  Nick our bus driver had everything timed out perfectly!  

 

When we got to the stadium we watched about 15 minutes of the previous game and then went over to the warm up field.  We knew we were only going to get 15 minutes on the field to warm up so we had to break a sweat on the warm up field before we got on the pitch.

 

The day was spectacular as it was sunny and 78 degrees at kickoff.  It became immediately apparent that Galion was in over their heads as on the Eagles first possession they strung 9 passes together and then Pele Carney found Owen Reyes in the center and the sophomore didn't miss from 14 yards out for the 1-0 lead.  It was 12 minutes later when Sophomore Ryan Sanborn intercepted a short goal kick and beat a defender and blasted it inside the near post.  Reyes scored twice more to complete the hat trick.  Sanborn scored again to make it two for the game.  

 

Six more players converted chances to get on the scorers list.  Mohamed Mohamed, Fernando Martinez, Grant Becker, Faris Ayyad, Aiden Fox and Patrick Clere were the goal scorers to make the final 11-0.

 

Goal keepers Gannon Graf and Even Clere combined for the shutout

For 79 minutes the teams battled back and forth in a real seesaw type match.  For the first 20 minutes the Comets came out on the front foot and pressured the Eagles back line.  The boys weathered the attack and then countered on aquick outlet to Sophomore Ryan Sanborn out on the left flank.  Ryan blew past his man and the left back pulled him down inside the box for a penalty,  Sr Capt. Dan Gebura converted the kick from the spot to give the Eagles the 1-0 lead.  About 10 minutes later it was Junior sub Jacob Ulewitz who came as close as a cats whisker as he tried valiantly to get on the end of a cross.  The ball was cleared off the line as it trickled ever so close to the goal line.  The Comets equalized with just under 10 minutes remaining on a shot from the right corner of the box that found the far corner.

 

The second half was a wide open affair with Amherst definitely being the more dangerous side.  The defense bent but did not break until junior Owen Reyes got a ball on the left flank and ran at the back line.  It was just outside the box where he shot to the far post and graze the post it did as it settled into the net for a 2-1 lead with 16 minutes remaining.

 

The Comets came storming back with a goal in under 5 minutes on a little through ball that put one of their forwards in on a one on one.  With eight minutes remaining the comets took their first lead of the game when they got on the end of a cross from a restart and headed the ball home just in front of the goal.

 

All appeared over and done except Amherst didn't kill the last minute off and as luck had it the ball went to Sophomore Keeper Gannon Graff who played a thunderous punt 10 yards past the other side of the circle and it was Sanborn who out raced the entire defense and got around the corner to shoot from about 18 yards out from the right side.  The wormburner shot went directly through the keeper's legs and trickled into the back of the net with little over 30 seconds remaining.

 

Amherst outshot the Eagle 16-12, 10-7 on goal.  The Comets had 5 corners to the Eagles 4.

The Eagles capitalized on free kick situations and stunned the possession centered North Ridgeville team with three first half goals.  Sophomore Patrick Cleary opened the scoring when he scored his second goal of the season when Junior Chris Carleton played a ball over the top and he headed the ball past the onrushing keeper.  Sophomore Owen Reyes scored the eagles second goal when Sr Pele Carney's corner found him at the top of the box and he fired just inside the left post.  The Eagles third goal was a thing of beauty and was performed exactly as it was drawn up on the training ground when Sr Capt. Daniel Gebura slammed home the fee kick to open a 2-0 lead.  

 

The Eagles keepers played very well preserving the shut out as Sophomore Gannon Graf made a spectacular tip on a ball that was going to sneak under the crossbar.  His tip deflected the ball up and off the crossbar with just seconds remaining in the first half.  Sr Evan Clere made two one on one saves when players got behind the defense.  Both keepers made 4 saves each.

 

The Eagles were outshot 14-12 but the boys had the advantage in corners 4-2.

In a game that statistically sounds like it was a toss up (shots NO 10, WL 9, corners NO 7, WL 1)it was Westlake who capitalized on their opportunities to snag a 3-1 win from the young eagles.   It was the demons who opened the scoring at the 30 minute mark when their only corner of the game was cleared to the top of the box and the demons walk up player who smashed a shot into the top right hand corner.  

Late in the first half sophomore Ryan Sanborn was taken down in the box for a penalty.  His attempt to equalize the match was thwarted by the Westlake keeper.  In the second half it was the eagles who turned up the pressure and began to play themselves into the match.  With 20 minutes remaining a westlake player ran on to a loss ball and lofted a ball just over the reach of Sophomore keeper Gannon Graf and just under the crossbar for a 2-0 lead.  Westlake finished their scoring when a player split our two centerbacks and when in on a breakaway for a comanding 3-0 lead.

Sr. Pele Carney helped avert the shut out when he scored off of Sophomore Pat Clere's free kick with 3 minutes remaining.

 

The 2019 version of the boys eagle soccer team raised their record to 2-0-0 with a 4-0 victory over Valley Forge. While the score was one sided the game was decided in the midfield as the much larger Valley Forge team posed a significant opponent in physicality.  Junior Fernando Martinez opened the scoring as he followed up Sophomore Ryan Sanborn‘s penetrating run for the 1-0 lead.  Soon after it was Junior Mohamed “MoMo” Mohamed combining twice with Sanborn for the team’s second and third goals. The second half was a battle between the two penalty boxes until Sophomore Owen Reyes played a perfectly weighted thru ball putting Sanborn in on a breakaway which he promptly tucked it inside the far post for the final 4-0 margin. 

 

The Eagles outshot Valley forge 18-8 and also out cornered the patriots 9-3.  The Eagle’s goalkeepers Gannon Graf and Evan Clere combined for the teams 1st shutout of the season. 

After the eagle missed three point blank chances they found themselves staring at the short end of a 1-0 score with 20 minutes gone in the first half. The boys kept their cool and ramped it up and clawed their way back into the match. Sophomore Owen Reyes played a magnificent through ball to a streaking Ryan Sanborn who finished it off smartly by tucking it neatly past the on rushing keeper. That was good enough to go into the intermission knotted at 1-1.

 

the second half scoring was all Eagles asChris Carleton played a diagonal ball that Reyes split the two centerbacks and side footed it into the corner for what would be the game winner. Sophomore Patrick Clere put the icing on the cake and finished the scoring when Ryan Sanborn found him in the slot and with a touch of class finished it smartly. 

 

The Eagles outshot the Beavers 14-13 and outcornered them 9-1’. The Eagles next match is Monday when we host Vally Forge. 

Tonight the 2019 version of the Eagles gets under way as they oppose the three time District champs from Riverside.  The eagles have had to shift their lineup due to some injuries with Faris Ayyad still fighting a bad hamstring injury and Joey Kuhl a hip avulsion.  Chris Carleton will slide over to right back and Pele Carney will drop to left back. Goalkeeper Evan Cleary will start and play the first half and split the game with Gannon Graf as the two will probably split the first two matches and see who rises to the top. 

The Eagles missed two fantastic chances in the first 5 minutes but finally opened the scoring 8 minutes in.  The flood gates opened quickly as the boys scored often to lead at half by a score of 5-0.  The second half was much the same as the final score was 9-0.  The truth is the redmen were a much better team than last years version whom we defeated 10-0.  The truth is we’ve improved just as much. 

Tonight at 5:00 and 7:00 the boy's JV and Varsity teams will play in their final friendly of the year.  The Eagles preseason has been very productive as the young team has made significant strides going against some heavy hitters.

For tonight's game, the eagles lose the services of Fernando Martinez (ankle), Faris Ayyad (Hamstring), and Joey Kuhl (hip).  Jr John Musial will get the start at right back filling in for Ayyad and Kuhl.  Sophomore Patrick Clere will fill in for Martinez up top.

The Strongsville Mustangs came racing out of the gates at the beginning of the match and scored the first two times the entered their offensive third to grab a 2-0 lead only 2 minutes and thirty seconds into the match.  five minutes later the Mustangs rang the bell again to go up 3-0.  Literally one minute later the experienced Strongsville expanded their commanding lead even more to make it 4-0.  Sophomore Goalkeeper Gannon Graf could do very little about any of the 4 goals as the Mustangs found large gaps between the eagle defense.

The second half proved to  be a new beginning for the young eagles as they played with more intensity and heart and battled to a scoreless draw in the second half.  The boys created the best chance of the half when Sophomore Ryan Sanborn got around the edge and put a cross in which Senior Pele Carney fought through a crowd and got his foot on the cross and put it over the ball from 7 yards out.

This was a tough and big lesson for this young team but their WAS growth and something to hang our hats on when all is said and done.

The young eagles traveled to the eastside and played a half against a strong Eastlake team and then finished the evening playing a half against state ranked University School.  

The eagles opened the day pitted against Eastlake North.  Playing a new formation on an 80 yard wide field allowed the boys to spread the rangers from sideline to sideline and then Owen Reyes made numerous runs right down the heart of the Eastlake defense and had three fantastic chances that all went just over the bar.  Substitute winger Jake Ulewitz fought hard for a loose ball that was in the box which resulted in the ball being played back to Sophomore Patrick Cleary who first time volleyed it into the back post for the only goal of the game.

Senior Goalkeeper Evan Clere made two saves for the first clean sheet of the preseason.

 

The second half we played a very solid University school who last year made it to the elite Eight.  It was a very even match as the entire match was played between the eighteen yard lines.  With 20 minutes remaining Sr Captain Daan Gebura played Sophomore Ryan Sanborn in on a great through ball who then beat his man around the corner and then drove a low ball into the box.  Junior Mohamed "MoMo" Mohamed fought for the 50/50 ball and won it and then blasted the ball past the frozen US keeper.

University equalized with 30 seconds on a free kick that was driven low into the box and was tipped in by one of their onrushing attackers.

Sophomore Gannon Graf made three saves and one was point blank to allow the eagles to tie with the Preppers.

Four unassisted goals helped the Eagles outlast a very physical Mayfield team. Mohamed ”Mo Mo” Mohamed scored the first goal when he fought hard for a ball and a turnover fell right to him and he placed it calmly in the corner.  Mayfield scored the next two goals, one in each half to take a 2-1 lead.  Patrick Clere scored his first goal when battled for a loose ball at the top of the box and won. He then rifled a shot just inside the back post to equalize at 2. Captain Dan Gebura scored the game winner when he bent a free kick around the Mayfield wall. Patrick Clere put the icing on the cake when he finished off Sanborn’s cross that pinged around in the box. Sanborn‘s cross was set up by Gebura’s fantastic thru ball down the right flank. 

Goalkeepers Evan Clere and Gannon Graf split halves and recorded 5 saves each. The Eagles outshot the Wildcats 25 to 11.  Additionally the Eagles had 17 on frame to Mayfield’s 10 and the Eagles also had the advantage in corners, 3-1. 

Day 4 - Game vs Central Valley

 

Owen Reyes opened the scoring after following up on a rebound off of his own shot. 

 

Eagles scored a second goal when Faris Ayyad found Ryan Sanborn early out on the flank to put him in a 1 on 1.  Sanborn beat his man around the corner and cut a ball back to the spot where Reyes slotted home the centering pass. 

 

Fernando Martinez smashed home the Eagles third goal when Reyes’ attempt rebounded right to his feet near the penalty spot. 

 

The forth goal of the first half was scored when Joey Kuhl’s centering pass was flicked to the back post by Patrick Clere and Jacob Ulewitz was Johnny on the spot and tucked it inside the back post. 

 

The second half began with Aiden Fox finishing off a rebound from Clere’s left footed smash that came off the post. 

 

Reserve Game vs Bishop Ludden from Syracuse, NY

 

After playing defense for most of the half the score was 0-0. 

 

Ludden broke through midway through the second half and added a second with 10 minutes remaining closing out the scoring. 

 

Special thanks to Coach Dale from Gannon University and Coach Ryan from St. Bonaventure. 

 

The Major team played Elizabeth Forward from Pittsburgh and defeated them 3-1.  

 

The Eagles opened the scoring when Mohamed Mohamed head flicked Owen Reyes in on a breakaway that Reyes coolly deposited in the back of the net. 

 

Eagles second goal was a nice piece of work with Ryan Sanborn beating the right side and put a diagonal ball across the back to Pele Carney who slammed it in at the back post. 

 

Mohamed Mohamed showed some tremendous individual skill as he took a clearance off his chest and hit a thunderous full volley from 30 yards out to give the boys a 3-0 lead. 

 

 

Reserve Match - played Central Valley

 

Patrick Clere headed in Zack Limpert’s corner kick for the 1-0 lead. 

 

Mathias Fabian scored an unassisted goal when he went on a 50 yard mazey run through the defense to make it 2-0. 

 

Nolan Blume scored an unassisted goal when he beat a couple defenders just inside the box and rifled a shot to the back post.  

 

The Eagles closed the score when Blume’s corner deflected out to a eager Matt “Chewy” Brunst who slammed in the rebound making it 4-0. 

 

On a final note the coaches met us at the dorm with 18 pizzas after the game!  Yuuuuummm!

 

Said Nolan Blume, “Do you have any ranch?”  No Nolan, we don’t have any ranch. 

 

Said Emrah, (after eating 13 slices at lunch) “What, we only get 1/2 a pizza?”

The older boys lost a hard fought 2-3 match against Norwin a traditional Pennsylvania power. 

 

Patrick Clere opened the scoring to equalize the score at 1-1 with a tidy header that he rammed inside the near post off a long throw in from Jacob Ulewicz

 

The Eagles second goal was scored by Ryan Sanborn after beating 4 players and then being brought down in the box.  Ryan safety and coolly put it in the back of the net. 

 

. 

 

In the reserve match the boys won 3-1 over Portville.  Goals were scored by Mathias Fabian, Nolan Blume, and Matt Brunst “Chewy”!

 

The goals were assisted by Blume, Zack Limpert and Grant Becker. 

The major team won 2-1

CAPTAIN'S PRACTICES BEGIN

 

Open fields on the turf!!!

 

Every Tuesday and Thursday evening under the lights from 8:00 - 9:30

 

1	St. Ignatius	119
2	Avon	89
3	University School	73
4	Shaker Hts	68
5	Strongsville	63
6	N. Royalton	53
7	Solon	47
8	Amherst	41
9	N. Ridgeville	36
10	Avon Lake	20

 

The boys of North Olmsted cristined the new stadium with a hard fought 1-0 victory over Painsville Riverside who were the two time defending District Champions on the East side.  The lone goal was scored by Sr. Co-Capt Shane Cairns when Freshmen striker Ryan Sandborn beat his player to the endline and sent a ball to the center where Cairns ran onto it and finished it smartly into the back half of the net.

 

Freshmen Gannon Graf and Junior Daniel Gebera combined for the first shutout of the year!

 

After waking up for the 7:00 am Fitness Session the boys made their way over to the commissary for Breakfast. We then had an hour and 1/2 training session.  After lunch and then free time we had two 30 min classroom sessions based oh mastering your focus and what things can drive you towards excellence.  

After Dinner the 1st group defeated Belle Vernon from PA 4-2.  Sr Vince Marino opened the scoring by heading in a corner from Jr Daniel Gebura. The second Eagle goal was Scored by Joe Kennedy when Sr Co-capt Shane Cairns beat a player to the endline and cut it back to the onrushing Kennedy who tucked it high inside the back post. T

The second half began with the score being knotted at 2.  After Belle Vernon was knocking on the door for the first 20 minutes it was the Eagles Junior midfielder Dan Gebura’s shot that was partially deflected and dipped just under the crossbar for a 3-2 lead.  Sr Co-capt Shane Cairns blasted a free kick inside the back post for the final tally.

 

32 players and 10 cars head east at.10:00 am on the 24th.  The crew arrived at BW3 at noon for a great lunch. 

 

We arrived at Edinboro University at 2:00 and were assigned to our rooms. 30 minutes later we were on the field for a training session with Colin and Austin.   After a quick dinner we had our first match against Noreen from the Pittsburg area. We lost a 3-0 decision in a shortened match due to thunder and lightning.   There was no JV match for the same reason. 

 Update:

Alumni Game #1 with the 45 and older alums finished tied 4-4 against the freshman and sophomore players

Alumni Game #2 with the U45 alums finished with a 4-0 victory for the alums against the junior and senior players

This years Alumni game is actually 2 games!

 

the NOHS Freshmen and Sophomores will play the over 45’s with kickoff at 1:00pm

 

The Juniors and Seniors will face alumni under 45 and that kickoff will be at 3:00.

 

the Board of Education announced an open house for the new school also on the 21st from 1-3.  

 

At 7:00 the teams ANNUAL Wing Night Fundraiser will be at RAZZLES. 

 

In a match where the Eagles came out and played clearly their best match of the season it was the #1 ranked Olmsted Falls Bulldogs who outlasted the Eagles 3-2 in a game that had everything from great skill to controversy!

 The Eagles came blasting out of the gates playing off the front foot and putting significant pressure on Falls.  It was Seniors Michael O'Neill and Dominic Elkady who ran at the Bulldog defense with no fear and forced both wing backs to play more defensive . . . something they were not a custom to do.

 

Midway through the first half the Eagles were awarded a PK when the bulldogs right back pulled down O'Neill when he went by him.  Senior co-capt Trevor Cairns stepped up and delivered the penalty to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.  The lead lasted into the second half until OF equalized on a run down the left side.

 

The Eagles retook the lead with 18 minutes remaining off Brendan Cumming's notorious long throw that Senior Jon Kramer flicked with his head up and over the Falls onrushing keeper.

 

It was 6 minutes later when the controversy raised it's head.  The Eagles had cleared a ball and were rushing out of the defensive zone when Falls played a ball over the top to what appeared to be a clearly (8-10 yards) offsides attacker.  There was no whistle and the attacker promptly went in one on one and scored to knot the score at 2.  Shaken from the obvious injustice, the Eagles immediately gave up a third goal within a minute.

 

For the final 12 minutes the boys threw wave after wave of attacks at the Bulldog goal to no avail.  Senior Goalkeeper Cory Heitmann ended the match with 6 saves and the bulldog keeper had 3.  While we ended up on the losing end of the score the boys left the field knowing they were every bit as good and for LARGE portion of the match better that the #1 ranked team in Cleveland.

 

In a game that began very one sided it settled into a fairly even match!  It was the Eagles who jumped all over the visiting Pioneers from Elyria.

 

It was Dominic Elkady who opened the scoring in the first 10 minutes off of a pass from Michael O'Neill.  Senior Brendan Cummings scored a great goal off a corner from Trevor Cairns 7 minutes later.  Trevor Cairns scored a penalty to close out the scoring for the Eagles who out shot the Pioneers 15 - 6.

The Eagles outcornered the Pioneers 7 - 1.  Senior Goalkeeper Cory Heitmann yielded only one goal which was via the penalty spot.  Heitmann ended the match with 5 saves.

 

Junior Shane Cairns and senior Co-Captains Jon Kramer and Trevor Cairns collected the three goals for the Eagles.  The offense dominated the game in possession and number of shots comparing the 20-10 advantage in shots.  The Eagles also out cornered the Rebels 6-1.

 

Senior Goalkeeper Cory Heitmann gathered in 6 saves and he defended their 1 corner.

 

 

In one of the years best HS soccer matches it was the bulldogs 21st minute goal that held up and proved to be the difference in a wild SWC match. In a game that was played primarily between 18 yard lines both teams didn’t hold back from probing and pressuring each other.   The #1 ranked Bulldogs outshot the Eagles 15-8 but the take a way from the match was how well the Eagles midfield matched up with the vaunted Bulldogs. 

 

The Eagles defense allowed Falls to shot from distance trusting GK Cory Heitmann to clean things up.  Falls out cornered the Eagles 4-0. 

 

In a game that lived up to it's much waited hype the Eagles played a valiant match against the 8th ranked Ohio team from Wadsworth.  The Grizzlies came into the match with only one defeat 11-1-2 and it was the grizzlies who were met with a very stubborn Eagle defense and were suprised by our ability to counter attack.  Most notably it was Sr Michael O'Neill who started to expose the Grizzlies defenders as they committed themselves forward to often.  Mike was able to get behind the defense down the left flank and serve or shoot several balls  

 

The Grizzlies got on the board first as a throw in put a player in and he split two defenders and hit a tremendous shot for a 1-0 lead.  The Eagles Jon Kramer was able to equalize off a Trevor Cairns pass approx 10 minutes into the second half.  The next 20 minutes was about as wide open and exciting soccer as you could have wished to watch as both teams pounded on each other not willing to concede an inch.  

 

It was Wadsworth in the end who found the back of the net with 12 minutes remaining for a 2-1 lead.  The Eagles push an extra player forward for the remainder of the match and nearly equalized on two occasions.  Wadsworth out shot the Eagles 15-9 and the Eagles out cornered the Grizzlies 6-3.

 

The Eagles scored twice in the first 15 minutes and made them hold up for a 2-0 win over Conference rival Berea.  It was the first loss in conference for the Braves.

 

Eagle Co-captain Trevor Cairns opened the scoring with an excellent run through the Braves unsuspecting defense as brother Shane found him with a perfectly timed and weighted pass to put him in one on one with the keeper.  Trevor calmly buried it into the back of the net.

 

The Braves barely got back into the game when the Cairns boys reversed the scoring as this time Shane initiated a perfect give and go with big brother Trevor and the finish was true to give the Eagles their final tally of the match.

 

The eagles created several other half chances but were unable to extend their lead.

 

The Eagles out shot the Braves 8-6 with Sr Goalkeeper Cory Heitmann recording the shutout.  The Eagles out cornered Berea 6-2.

 

 

 

Being down 2-0 at halftime would usually be very frustrating except the Eagles were doing a lot of things right. 

We ran into a bit of hard luck as we hit the post and missed about 3 great chances in the first half.  That coupled with a fortuitous ricochet that had the ball land right at the feet of Normandy's top scorer had us down by 2 at the half.

We decided to focus on the things we were doing very well and just concentrate on finishing our chances!  Sr Jon Kramer and Jr Shane Cairns were simply destroying the invaders out wide, so the key was to get them the ball as much as we could.  

Junior Vince Marino opened the second half with a goal off a corner.  Sr Dominic Elkady drew us even at 2 all with a nice dribble around the goalkeeper.  And Senior Jon Kramer scored a great backpost goal on a shot from the left side that found the side net from 20 + yards out.

The Eagles out shot the Invaders 21-5.

In a game where the boys erupted for 18 shots and held Mentor to 3, it was a matter of time before the Eagles would put the biscut in the basket.  And that they did, as the boy's put 4 in the net verses the Cardinals.

 

 

Junior Vince Marino and Senors Dominic Elkady and Trevor Cairns scored to help put away the Comets 3-1.

While the Comets out shot the Eagles 13-10 it was the quality of the chances and also the quality of the finishes that proved to be the difference makers.

 

While the shot totals and score indicated that the game was very close the corners showed a different story as the Eagles out cornered the Comets 9-1.

 

In a game which clearly saw the Eagles playing off the front foot and attacking with regularity and purpose, it was the finishing that proved to be the deciding factor in the match.  The boys created numerous full chances and several half chances and out shot the Rangers 12 - 5.

 

Sr GK Cory Heitmann faced 1 corner kick and made 5 saves for the shut out!

 

 Playing one of Pennsylvania's strongest teams, the Eagles erupted for 5 goals to defeat General McLane by a score of 5-3.  Catching McLane in a 4-3-3 the boys figured out their opponents early on and then mercilessly attacked from the flanks for the remainder of the game.

The result were goals from SR Captains Jon Kramer and Trevor Cairns and Sr Dominic Elkady scored the first hat trick for the Eagles since Ray Giorgak did it against Cleveland Heights in 2015.  Kramer and Cairns chipped in one assist each while Junior Shane Cairns chipped in two!

 

Sr GK Cory Hietmann stopped three shots to record the victory.

 

McLane went on to win 12 straight after our victory.

 

In a tremendous display of team attacking and ball control the Lakewood Rangers methodically wore down the Eagles and knocked in two goals in each half for a telling 4-0 difference.  

The score was not indicative of how well the Eagles attack functioned.  It was a real testimony to two different styles and how they create chances.  While we were out shot 14-9 It was the Eagles who had three tremendous chances in the first half.  Unfortunately the Ranger's keeper was not called upon to make a save as all three major chances were off target.

Sr Goalie Cory Heitmann played an exceptional game in the space behind the defense as he cleared countless balls that were played in behind.  Heitmann only registered 4 saves in the contest but it was the chances that he cut out that allowed our defense to press higher and restrict space.

In the second half the Eagles created two golden chances.  Sr Jon Kramer whistled a one timer just past the post with his left foot that had the keeper beaten.  A few minutes later Sr Trevor Cairns' free kick from 25 yards out was just over the bar.

The contest finished at 4-0 and was a real testimony to the old saying that "you've got to finish your chances." and Lakewood's commitment to keeping the ball.

 

Westlake deamons scored three goals in the first 20 minutes of the match but it was the two goals that they scored in the final five minutes of the first half that proved to be the difference makers.

 

Westlake came out on fire and pushed players forward creating numerous 1 V 1's.  The Eagles got beat numerous times down the flank and in one on one battles.

 

 

 

The boys gave everything they had in playing the back to back SouthWestern Conference champs The Avon Eagles but fell by a 1-0 score.

 

The boys threw everything they had at Avon as we out shot them 8-2 and out cornered them 8-0.  Avon's returning All-Ohio goalkeeper was really on his game as he continually thwarted the Eagles attempts.  It was with 6 minutes remaining in the first half when the Avon keeper robbed new NOHS Eagle and Sr. Dominic Elkady on a breakaway.  Elkady managed to skin two Avon defenders at midfield and blow by them to put himself in on the one on one.  Sr. Jon Kramer just missed on connecting with a full volley of a Sr. Trevor Cairns corner kick.

Sophomore midfielder Daniel Gebura had a fantastic match as his workrate was spectacular.  Freshman Chris Carleton played about as solid as a freshman can, and Trevor Cairns was simply ALL OVER THE FIELD.  Sr. Goalkeeper Cory Heitmann played a solid roll in covering the space behind our defense and VInce Marino has really evolved as a centerback.

 

No one likes to loose but these Eagles took a giant step forward and gained a ton of confidence.  On to Westlake!

 

The Eagles erupted four four first half goals vs Cleveland Hts and added two more in the second half for a 6-0 victory.

Sr CoCapts Jon Kramer and Brendan Cummings both scored twice to lead the Eagles.  Juniors Shane Cairns and Vince Marino chipped in with one goal each.  Sr CoCapt. Trevor Cairns had three assists and Kramer added two himself.  Sr GK Cory Heitmann registered three saves for the shutout.

 

Well the Eagles came out more like Tigers as the Jumped on the Middies and didn't let them breath.  Eagle pressure resulted in a turnover when Sr Seamus Winchester ran at the defense.  Winchester lost the ball down near the endlind but showed tremendous workrate as he won the ball back and centered a ball That Sr CoCapt Jon Kramer Slotted home just 2 munutes in!

Two minutes later Jr Vince Marino sent a ball over the defense to Kramer.  Kramer's touch put himself in on a breakaway vs the Middies on rushing keeper.  The ball richoceted off both players and ended up behind the keeper.  Kramer rushed in behind him and promptly finished on the open goal.

Sr CoCapt Trevor Cairns got in on the scoring when 10 minutes later he finished off Kramer's cross off a free kick.

 

Cairns finished off the scoring when Sr CoCapt Brendan Cummings was brought down on a breakaway 30 yards out.  Cairns got the ball up and down as he went over the wall.

Sr GK Cory Heitmann covered the space behind the defense very well and recorded only one save but it was point blank as he earned his first shutout.  Defenders Michael O'Niell, Luke Duncan, Marino, Chris Carleton, Saajan Patel, Tyler Rollins and Pele Carney all played well to preserve the shutout.

 

In a game that was plagued by turnovers by both teams it was a couple mental mistakes that turned the result in favor of the shoremen.  Avon Lake took a 1-0 lead when the NO defense let the ball bounce inside our 6 yard box off a corner which they promptly finished.

Sr Seamus Winchester equalized on nifty piece of work when Sr Cocapt Jon Kramer beat a defender and put a ball across the back of their defense right to Jr Shane Cairns.  Cairns, seeing the keeper diving at him along with two other defenders, simply let the ball run between his legs.  The ball rolled right into the path of a wide open Winchester who finish nicely!

The game winner came when the ball was put behind both defenders on one side and the center forward diagonally ran on to it.  He took one touch down the line a drilled a shot inside the near post from 35 yards out.

The Eagles pounded the Shoremen's goal for the remainder of the match.

Both teams finished with 11 shots.  The Eagles out cornered Avon Lake 4-3.

 

The Eagles dominated in every aspect of the match but found themselves on the short end of a 2-1 score.  Late in the first half Riverside opened the scoring off a long throw down the line and then a ball played behind the defense resulted in a breakaway.

Midway through the second half a bizarre play resulted when a pass back was short to Goalkeeper Cory Heitmann.  Heitmann rushed out and crashed into the onrushing forward as they both went for the ball.  As Heitmann tumbled forward the Painesville player found himself with a clear path to the goal.  As a NO defender closed from behind the Painesville player passed the ball forward to another attacking player who was already behind all 11 NO players.  This should have resulted in an offsides call but the Assistand Referee said he was looking directly into the sun and he couldn't see a thing.  Thus the goal stood.  

 

The Eagles really turned up the pressure as they had over 10 shots in the final 20 minutes.  The lone goal came with 8 minutes remaining when SR Capt. Jon Kramer centered a ball and SR Capt. Brendan Cummings slotted it home.

The Eagles outshot Riverside 21-6 and out cornered them 8-0.

 

Alumni all over will be coming in town to play Saturday afternoon at 5:00 on the back field.

 

We will be taking a collection at halftime for Greg Prusha's son.  Greg class of '97 passed away suddenly while playing in a men's league match leaving a wife and 6 month old son.

 

The final match of the camp had the Eagles playing Elizabeth Forward from PA.  We started off very crisp as we moved the ball freely from side to side.  Daniel Gebura and Kyle Seely brought our outside backs into the game better than each of the three previous matches.  

With 10 minutes remaining Senior Brendan Cummings got on the end of Jon Kramer's corner kick and headed it home for the lone goal of the game.  Play in the second half really deteriorated as both teams had numerous unforced turnovers as we really forced balls into tight spaces and tried to turn when we should have been content to posses.

Defensively we were pretty solid with the exception of defending restarts from distance when the ball was flighted into the box.  This will be a point of training as it stuck out like a sore thumb.

 

Camp was an enjoyable experience and the guys were simply fantastic to be around.  As for the games we finished 3-1 in our 4 games.  The boys are a fun and good group!  We look forward to working with them this season!

 

 

In a game that the Eagles were hoping to bounce back after a rather flat performance the night before, the boys came out strong and took hold of the match firmly from the onset. 

 

The first half half revealed a stout resolve from the Eagle midfield as we continually won balls and forced turnovers. The boys continually created half chances but passed up numerous opportunities looking for even better chances. Senior cocaptain Trevor Cairns blasted a shot that just missed moments before the whistle for half. 

 

The second half got even better as the boys began pepper Mercyherst's goal with shots  it was with 15 minutes remaining that Trevor Cairns' corner kick was heavily contested and it went off a Mercyherst player for an own goal and a 1-0 lead that we made hold up for the final result. 

 

 

 

 

The boys faced a significantly stronger team on game night #2.  While we were not outclassed technically we were effected physically as we got banged around from time to time.  As guys started to pick up knocks here and there our effectiveness in keeping the ball wained. The opening goal occurred 7 min into the 2nd half as Sophmore keeper robbed a Belle Vernon  player from point blank. The Ball was deflected off Daniel Gebura's hand then came off the post and then off Daniel's back and in for a 0-1 score.  

 

As as we ended the match with as many as three reserve players filling in we conceded a second goal off a restart when BV clipped a ball in the air just outside the 6 yard box and their player misdirected it with his head for a 2-0 final.

6:45 the boys were rousted out of bed for an early morning fitness session!  All the guys made it there at least in spirit!

 

After getting situated in the dorms we went out and met our coaches Matt Marich - Head Women's coach at John Carroll (Matt was a player alongside several North Olmsted Greats at the University of Akron), and Ryan Arvin- Assistant Men's coach at St. Bonaventure University.  the two Gentlemen ran a spirited session on passing and keeping the ball.

 

After Dinner we played Pennsylvania power Norwin.  After controlling the first half we should have been leading comfortablly by 3-0 but we were on the short end of a 0-1 score.  Literally 2 minutes in the Second half Senior Cocaptain Brendan Cummings went up in the air to fight for a corner and it dropped right to his feet where he promptly equalized the match 1-1.

Ten minutes later Junior Shane Cairns was brought down in the box for a PK.  Senior Cocaptain Trevor Cairns promptly deposited the ball into the back of the net for a 2-1 lead.  With just under 5 minutes to play and Norwin pressing us, the defense stole the ball in a very dangerous situation, found Trevor in the central midfield, who proceeded to play a perfectly weighted through ball to brother Shane who was in on a break-a-way.  Shane shot the ball to the back post where it banged off the post and went in giving the eagles a 3-1 victory.

 

The reserve squad competed against Madison H.S. reserves and battled to a 3-3 draw.  Scoring for the reserves were Faris Ayyad, Kyle Hepp and Joe Kennedy.

 

 

The 2017 schedule is available on the pull down screen.  You can then download it on your personal calanders.

 

Senior Co-captain Max Hess was named 2nd team All-Ohio and First Team All-Greater Cleveland By the Greater Cleveland Coaches Association.  Hess was earlier named 1st team All-SWC.  Max is leaning towards playing his collegiate soccer at Gannon University in PA.

 

Hess led the Eagles this past year with 30 points (12G, 6A).

Westlake defeated Avon Lake by a score of 2-1 in the opening round of the State Tournament and advances to the sectional finals against the 4th seeded Eagles! 

 

The vote has been taken and the seeds have been decided for the 2016 State Tournament.  250+ Teams begin playing last Wednesday.  After the first round there are only 128 teams left. In the second round all the seeded teams begin playing.  Seeded #1 is Olmsted Falls.  #2 is Strongsville.  #3 is Avon and North Olmsted is the #4 seed.

 

For North Olmsted - they play the winner of Avon Lake and Westlake.  North Olmsted will host that match.

 

 

The Eagles raised their record to 7-3-5 by defeating the shoremen by a score of 2-1.  Sr co-captain Max Hess opened the scoring half way through the first half after he made a rather mazey run through the center of the Avon Lake defense.  Hess blasted a shot from 25 yards out that beat the keeper to the left.

 

Avon Lake equalized with 10 minutes remaining in the first half when they took a throwin down the right side and when it went out near the last defender the Shoremen quickly threw the ball in behind the already flat defense.  It was there where the Eagles were whistled for a penalty kick and they converted to equalize at 1.

In the second half the Eagles stepped up the pressure as they pushed Junior Matt Sanburn up top and as Hess beat the defense down the left flank he blasted a shot that the Avon Lake Goalkeeper made a fine reaction save which Sanborn promptly roofed the rebound just under the crossbar for the winning goal.

 

Junior Eagle Goalie Cory Heitmann recorded 4 saves for the victory.  The Eagles finished with a record of 4-2-3 in the SouthWestern Conference.

 

In a game which was about as close to a playoff setting the NO Eagles have to feel good despite losing the match 1-0.  As the game began it was North Olmsted who was playing off the back foot and absorbing tremendous pressure as Avon had 5 corners in the first 15 minutes.  In a revamped lineup and the addition of getting Sr forward Keegan Welsch.  Just before half time Welch broke free and was stoned from point blank by the Avon Keeper.  Minutes later it was Junior Trevor Cairns who won a free bouncing ball and he promptly blasted a half volley that had tremendous dip and swerve that had to be punched wide by the Keeper!

 

The Eagles next best chance was when Junior Matt Sanborn beat the keeper to a free ball and went to shoot the breakaway on goal.   The Avon keeper came up huge as Sanborn's shot was deflected wide by the keeper!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

The Eagles went into State ranked Wadsworth and battled to the end and gave the Grizzlies all they could handle but fell by the score of 2-0.  The Grizzlies out shot the Eagles by only 11-8 and the corners were even at 2 a piece.

 

The Grizzlies opened the scoring almost 25 minutes in on a well conceived goal as they grizzlies got the ball wide and got around the back of the eagle defense and then drove a cross to the back post.  We were able to deal with the cross but the ball came directly out to Wadsworth midfielder how blasted it home first time from the top of the box!  

 

It was a very wide open game with plenty of action for both teams but it was Falls who capitalized on a few defensive miscues that allowed the visiting Bulldogs to build a 2-0 halftime margin.  The scoreless match was broken 30 minutes in when Falls free kick from 40 yards out was played over the top of the defense where an onrushing attacker got on the end of the service and trapped it and then sent a square ball across the face of the goal for a tap in.

Eight minutes later the Bulldogs sent a bouncing ball in that bounded over our centerback.  Falls forward #10 collected it in space pulled up and blasted a shot inside the far post for a 2-0 margin.  

The second half began with the Eagles playing off the front foot and applying more pressure than the first half.  As we began getting more people forward and creating numbers up situations.  This came to a screeching hault when the referee whistled a penalty kick when it appeared the Falls attacker grabbed our defenders wrist and pulled him off the ball.  Fall converted the PK for a 3-0 margin.

With such a commanding lead we had no choice but to chase the game at a higher level.  We switched to 3 forwards and it immediately had two effects.  1) We began creating numerous turnovers in the center of the park and had instantly improved our offensive production.  2) the game opened up and stretched both defenses almost 60 yards apart.  Something the fans probably loved but drove the coaches crazy!  

It finally paid off for the Eagles when Jon Kramer drove a long diagonal ball across to Max Hess who brought it down just inside the back corner of the 6 yard box and then roofed his shot inside the near post.

 

The Eagles continued on the attack but were unable to break through for any additional scores and the game finishing at 3-1.

 

The Eagles are now 6-1-5 and play Saturday at Undefeated Wadsworth!

 

For the fifth time this season the Eagle won with a late late goal, This time it was the Berea braves who fell to the heroics of Max Hess who scores his first hat trick ever!

 

Hess opened the scoring off an amazing individual effort when he blocked the Braves attempted clearance and then ran past the entire defense and placed the ball inside the far post from 20 yards out.  It was Hess again who was put in by a beautiful through ball by Jon Kramer who promptly left footed the ball inside the back post from a tough angle.  The Boys went into the intermission with a 2-0 lead and clearly had the run of play.

 

But this is Berea who has a rivalry built up with us and they came storming out in the second stanza.  Berea got on the board 10 minutes in when Hess was called for a foul when he poked a ball to Kramer on a picture perfect slide tackle.  On the ensuing free kick Goalkeeper Daniel Gebura had a little trouble with the lofted ball.  Gebura appeared to pin the ball up against the crossbar and when it dropped down in the goal mouth it was quickly finished drawing the Braves close with a 2-1 score.  

 

Berea equalized the game with 6 minutes remaining when they were mysteriously awarded a corner when their shot attempt clearly went 2-3 yards wide of our keeper.  On the ensuing corner the ball fell inside our box and Berea finished the attempt during the mele in the box.

 

North Olmsted immediately went on the attack as we pushed an extra attacker forward up and 4 minutes later it paid off as a deflected ball rebounded out to midfielder Trevor Cairns who sent a piercing through ball to the onrushing Hess.  Max was in a one on one dual instantly and he was not going to loose this battle!  Max cut across the defenders' path to seal him behind and as the Braves onrushing keeper came flying out to meet him, Hess lofted the ball up and over him.  The ball settled into the net with 2:18 remaining and we were not going to be denied a victory!  

 

In a game where the Eagles controlled the pace of play, continually pressured the Comets defense, and out shot their opponents 10-1 it was the Eagles who had to scramble for the forth game this year to get a result.

 

The eagles had numerous scoring chances and several from point blank to jump ahead of the Comets but  several close in misses and a couple point blank saves by the Comet Goalkeeper thwarted the boys time and again.  

 

With 3:30 left in the game It was Amherst who got in behind the Eagle defense when the field got stretched almost 50 yards and while we initially slowed the comets down, they got a chance to look at goal and the shot beat Freshman goal keeper Daniel Gebura over the top with a near perfect shot from 25 yards out.

With so little time remaining, the Eagles switched the lineup pushing Junior Matt Sanborn up top.   With under one minute remaining our defense served a ball to the top of the box and Sr captain Max Hess flicked the head on towards the goal where Sanborn beat the keeper and the last defender to the ball and left footed the ball home.  The goal was Matt's first this year and salvaged a point for the home town Eagles.

Jr Jon Kramer has had a tremendous week!  He and his teammates remained undefeated as they went 3-0-1 on the week.

In the first game of the week against Lakewood it was Kramer who finished off a rebound with the game tying goal with .46 seconds remaining.

In game two verses PA power General McLane, Kramer scored his first goal to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.  When McLane scored with 1 minute remaining to equalize the match it was Kramer who finished Max Hess' shot that rebounded out with just 16 seconds remaining giving the Eagles a stunning 3-2 victory.

In game three vrs Cleveland Heights Kramer helped break open a close 1-0 game with two late assists.  The first off a corner to Brendan Cummings and the second coming just minutes later when Hess finished off Kramer's shot that deflected right to him.

Game four against North Ridgeville it was Kramer's non touch that left Duncan wide open when he dummied a ball that Luke smashed home for the opening goal.  And then Jon's free kick found Cummings at the back post for the Eagles third goal.

 

"It has been a VERY long time since the Eagles had a night like this one in the finishing department," was coach Marsh's response to the offensive outburst.  Each and every goal was a high level first class finish.  Beginning with Luke Duncan's blast!  Junior center mid Trevor Cairns got down the right flank and went towards the near post.  When he drew the goalie he centered the ball where Jon Kramer dummyed the ball which drew Ridgeville's central defender leaving Duncan wide oped from 8 yards out, who promptly blasted the ball by the sprawling keeper.

The Second goal came off a free kick from 35 yards out when Trevor Cairns blasted the ball into the upper corner.  The shot was struck with such power Ridgeville's keeper didn't move.  "It was one of the best free kick strikes I've seen in my career," Marsh said.

The third goal also came from a restart when Junior Jon Kramer found fellow Junior Brendan Cummings head at the back post.  Cummings met the ball with tremendous power as he headed it into the opposite corner giving the Eagles a 3-0 lead going into the intermission.

The final goal came from an assist from Freshman GK Daniel Gebura's Dropkick put Senior Captain Max Hess in on a one on one.  Hess looked up and saw the keeper off his line and struck a 35 yarder that just snuck in under the bar for the final 4-0 score.

The game ended with the Eagles out shooting North Ridgeville 10-4 and corners were Eagles 1-0.

 

In a match where the boys really did a nice job of controlling the tempo and pace of the game the Eagles were able to build  continuously throughout the match.   It was Trevor Cairns who finished the opening score when Sr Max Hess was brought down from behind for a penalty. 

The Eagles patience showed as they were able to build to midfield continuously, but it was their lack of patience that saw them force balls over the top when they got near the midfield stripe.  It was in the second half when the boys began to find forwards feet that our chances began to come. 

 

Junior Jon Kramer found Brendan Cummings at the near post to double the score. And it was minutes later that Kramer's deflected shot was finished nicely by Sr co-captain Max Hess. 

 

Jr Cory Heitmann registered the shutout while making three saves. 

In a game where the Eagles outshot McLane 13-3 and the team from Edinboro, PA had a 2 hour drive, and the varsity game was moved to preceed the JV game because of incoming bad weather you would have guessed that it would be the Eagles who would be leading at halftime 1-0 . . . But it was not.  It was the visitors who grabbed the lead off a mishandeled cross in the box late in the half.

 

Despite having most of the run of play and shooting opportunities the Eagles had to play from behind.  When the second half began the boys came out playing with a purpose and created several turnovers and it was a glorious full volley finish from Trevor Cairns off a Max Hess cross that knotted the score at 1-1.  With 15 minutes remaining it was Jon Kramer scoring what looked like it would be the game winner when Ben Gebura put a free kick in the box towards Kramer.  Jon flicked the ball back towards the far post just out of the reach of the 6'6 McLane keeper.

 

With under 2 minutes remaining McLane equalized off a long throw in that came out to the top of the box and their player smashed home the rebound.  When it looked as though we were going to have to settle for yet another tie it was Kramer who smashed home a rebound off of Hess' run down the left side.  When Hess got around the corner he went to goal and after a nice save it became "Kramer time."

 

The Eagles are now 3-0-3.

 

In a game that was wide open from the start, both teams defenses took turns being gratuitous coughing up easy goals in the first 10 minutes.  Max Hess opened the scoring with an excellent give and go off of Trevor Cairns for a 1=0 lead.   Trevor Cairns gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead when the Lakewood keeper stumbled over the ball and it popped right out to Trevor with an empty net!

 

Gabe Schreiner got on the scorecard off of a nice run down the right flank combining off Hess.  It Gave the Eagles a 3-2 lead 3 minutes in to the second half.  After giving up two goals the Eagles put the Rangers under tremendous pressure.  With less than a minute remaining Brendan Cummings picked up a loose ball and hit a shot towards the back post from almost 40 yards out.  The Ranger goalkeeper dove and deflected the ball wide but left it one the field.  Junior forward Jon Kramer ran on to the bouncing ball and volleyed the ball home from a horrible angle.  Kramer showed a lot of poise as the ball had bounced up near his chest and his angle was VERY difficult.

The Eagles remain undefeated and move their record to 2-0-3.  In conference they are 1-0-2 with 5 points.

 

 

Gabe Schreiner scored what might be the goal of the season and certainly one of the better ones in a few years as he blasted a volley off a Trevor Cairns lofted pass behind the Solon defense from 30+ yards 30 minutes into the match.

 

Solon who was previously ranked 5th in Cleveland came to play as the match was the most physical game so far this year and it held a playoff like atmosphere.  The Eagles defense was very stingy as they held the comets to six shot and most of those were from outside the box.  Daniel Gebera handled all 5 of the shots that were on  frame.  One of which was a difficult deflection.  

 

Shot totals were 7-6 eagles and corners were 1 a piece.

 

 

10. Lakewood          39

 

others recieving votes

Twinsburg          32

Berea                     5

Kenston                 5

North Olmsted      2

Westlake                1

 

 

 

No matter what when the Eagles and Westlake Demons get together the game will turn into a hard fought, white knuckle, grind it out affair, and last nights action was no different as the both teams pressure was relentless in a 1-1 draw.

 

The Eagles came out and after a rather pedestrian first 10 minutes, began upping the tempo and playing off the front foot.  After not playing for a week due to a weather cancellation, the boys showed off their hard work from the weeks practices bases around combining off of someone and three man combinations.  The half ended 0-0 despite some very attractive soccer.

 

Early in the second half The Eagles took the lead When Senior co-captain Max Hess headed Shane Cairns's flick off of Brendan Cummings long throw.  It was a near picture perfect goal and was something we actually talked about at halftime.

 

With 20 minutes remaining the Eagles came close again as the demon keeper tipped a blast just over the bar.  With the remaining time the Eagles appeared to go into a defensive shell and with 17 minutes remaining the Demons equalized on a back door cross that was deflected into the upper near post corner past eagle net minder Cory Heitman.  Heitman played a solid game and had 9 saves on the evening.

The Eagles held a 13-12 shot advantage and an 8-2 corner advantage.

 

The Eagles combined hard work, pressure and an early Max Hess goal for a 1-0 victory over conference foe Midview.  Jr Brendan Cummings Stole to ball down in the Midview end and crossed a ball right to Sr co-captain Max Hess who headed the ball into the back of the net for an early lead.  

The Eagles forced double digit turnovers in both halves with relentless pressure and out shot the middies 12-3.  Freshman Goalkeeper made two saves to register the shutout.

 

The boys opened their season last night out in Painesville while dodging raindrops and potential lightning and thunderstorms.   The biggest hurdle for both teams, what it  came right down to, was was who would adapt to the very high grass the best.  It made it nearly impossible to play possession soccer as passes were continually played short as the grass would slow back passes down to a near crawl.

Halftime saw the game scoreless as both teams only mustered one legit chance each!

 

Second half saw the Eagles take more possession but it was Painesville who opened the scoring with a long counterattack when they blasted a ball over the back of the defense and their forward got on the end of it and made us pay.  With 20 minutes left the boys turned up the heat and created numerous turnovers deep into Riversides end.  It was there on a long throw that the Riverside GK shoved Abdelfatah Hassan which resulted in a PK.  Jon Kramer calmly stepped up and finished the chance to draw even.  The Eagle came close on two other occasions but none better when we slipped a ball in behind the defense and Kramer barely beat the onrushing keeper and he nudged the ball.  It deflected off the keeper and then off of a tumbling Kramer and bounded towards the goal.  A defender cleared the ball off the line and it careamed off the post.  Another Eagle ran on to it and first timed it on frame only for another Riverside defender to clear another shot off the line!

 

All in all it was a game that alot lesser teams could have found a way to lose a match like that.  Our feet are wet boys!  Now - ONWARD AND UPWARD!

 

 

The annual Greg Prusha Alumni game collected $326 in a rain soaked affair.

With a team of nearly each member former collegiant players the Alums woar down the boys varsity to open up a 2-0 half time lead.  Mount Union standout Tim Debth scored twice in the opening period.  While the alums clearly had the run of play the varsity did mount a couple really good transition attacks.  None of which resulted in goals but clearly lifted the varsity's spirits. The game was scoreless for nearly 30 minutes when Debth broke thru twice within 5 minutes to put the openning tallies on the board.

 

Approximetly 15 minutes into the second half Bowling Green Standout Chris Kraft scored a very nice goal for a commanding 3-0 lead.  It was Stefan Spanu the OSU senior who capped the alumni scoring with a run right down the center.

 

Abdelfatah Hassan or MH as he likes to be called scored the first goal for the varsity as he picked up a lose ball and beat the defense on a quick run down the right center.  It was MH's first goal as an eagle.  Just 8 mintes later Junior Jon Kramer flicked a bouncing ball up and over the on-rushing Alex Gajowski to finish off the scoring for a 4-2 margin.

The Eagles then had their picnic later in the day....

 

The pace of the day was much slower and allowed the guys to rest a bit more. The training session was centered around possession and taking chances when ever we get them. 

 

The the game of the day saw our schedule get changed as a last minute switch was made so we didn't have to play another Cleveland based team. The first half saw our boys thoroughly dominate the match and late in the half had the Eagles score a fantastic goal when Ali Hammoud sent a driven cross into the middle where Jon Kramer flicked the ball into the far corner for a 1-0 Lead.

 

midway through the second half the  Pittsburg Team was able t equalize when their center forward found a space in the center of the defense and shot a rocket towards the goal. Goalkeeper Seamus Whinchester made a diving save on the point blank shot but the forward followed up the rebound for the equalizer finishing off the score line at 1-1. 

TRAINING SESSION

was on possession and finished with a lively finishing drill. Something we clearly need work on!

 

LEADERSHIP TRAINING

 

was fantastic! As the boys played a version of ping pong with clipboards and then tandom ski sleding where you get 7-8 guys on two skis with ropes and tey have to lift right foots in random and then the left feet. That was a "treat."  Finally they had the teams of four sling shot and catch the ball in a garbage can relay!!!

 

lastly the game. We played Belle Vernon from Pittsburg who will most likely be ranked in top 5 of Division 3A in the state of PA. It was a very intense match. So much that we took a couple knocks.  Brendan Cummings pulled his groin badly and Ben Gebura said his knee twinged so we took both out for the entire second half.   Despite the subs we still had the run of play. Shane Cairns nearly put the Eagles up when he got on the end of his brother Trevor's lofted pass and he almost chipped it over the onrushing keeper. 

 

With 5 minutes remaining we picked up a loose ball in the offensive end Luke Duncan found Trevor at the top of the box and Trev turned his man and deposited it into the upper right corner. 

 

After an uneventful drive out and a substantial lunch at BW3 we met our coaches at Edinboro. Coach Micky - State University of NY @ Buffalo and Coach Robbie - Gannon University put us through a lively session which allowed us to get to know them a bit more. 

 

GAME 1

Madison showed up with their Wrong team so we played their JV for 30 min. Ben Gebura and John Kramer scored for a 2-0 match. They never got a sniff and we controlled every aspect of the match.

 

game 2

 

Madison's Varsity eventually showed up and we played one 35 minute half.  Our guys must have had some pent up anger since we had to wait for 80 minutes to play.  We controlled the match imminently from the onset and scored a sensational goal from Shane Cairns.  Trevor almost netted a second goal 5 minutes later as their keeper made an exceptional save. Mason Doucette killed the game off with a nice goal for the 2 goal lead and final score. 

 

The Eagles played 3 40 minute games and finished with 1 win (3-0 vs Brush) 1 tie (0-0 vs Perrysburg) and 1 loss (0-1) vs Courtland Lakeview in a very disputed offsides non call. 

 

Game 1 vs Perrysburg

by far the most technical opponent. We had the run of play but we're not dangerous enough. When we got the ball to guys in 1 v1 situations they promptly gave the ball up. The best opportunity of the match was when Gabe Schreiner playing out wide cut inside and with a mazy run got to the end line and put a ball across where Mason Doucette just put the ball wide of the net. 

 

Game 2 vs Courtland Lakeview

About 9-10 min in the game was very even and the official missed an obvious offsides call that put us in the whole 0-1.  This rattled us and frankly we had numerous unforced miscues.  Both teams failed to link up consistently and continually turned the ball over with little or no pressure.  We had very little offensive presence and only ran at the end line a couple times late in the match!

 

Game 3 vs Brush

After letting the guys pick the line up for the first 2 games Coach Marsh wanted to experiment.  1st wanted to see Schreiner out wide and just tell him to attack, attack and if there was any question to attack some more. Schreiner absolutely responded with a goal and numerous corners earned.  He was dangerous and he was nasty!

 

Secondly, Marsh wanted to see something from way back in the day and that was a sweeper.  Additionally we got to look at 3 in the back and 5 in the midfield. Shane Cairns scored a very nice goal as he ran through a flat defense when we found Gebura's  (believe it,  He was playing up top!) feet. 

 

All in in all it was a great day with our parents doing a great job with the tailgate and the Crew holding up their part by tying Orlando 2-2.

Plan now to attend as July 23rd will be a packed day in Columbus.  We will travel down south for 3 mini scrimmages with the varsity against the states best teams invited in just for this "Showcase."  After the showcase games THE ENTIRE PROGRAM  will meet in the parking lot for our annual TAILGATE party at  "NORTH OLMSTED SOUTH" at 4:30.  

There is sure to be an amazing assortment of delectable delights as it always proves to be one of the best potlucks around.  Don't worry about cooking your food as several portable stoves and a tented village will be available.

After the tailgate we go inside and enjoy the Crew game which always proves to be entertaining.

Last year North Olmsted brought almost 250 people down and I've only purchased 75 tickets!

Tickets are $25. ($10 for players and drivers)

 

Contact Assist Coach Joe Zarycki with your ticket requests - Zarycki@gmail.com

 

The game is expected to be a sellout so get your order in quickly

Erie Camp begins the next day @ Edinboro University.

MONDAY - APRIL 18th

 

Due to the fantastic weather today the soccer club will be outside on the back field for an "OPEN FIELD."

 

The field will be available from 3:30-5:30.

 

Hope to see you there!!

 

 

Day	Date	Time	Status	Score	Visitors	Home	Venue	Officials
	Fri	8/19/2016	5:00pm	TBP		EAGLES 16 JV	Painesville Riverside	Painesville Riverside
	Wed	8/24/2016	5:00pm	TBP		Midview	EAGLES 16 JV	North Olmsted Practice Field
	Sat	8/27/2016	5:00pm	TBP		EAGLES 16 JV	Avon	Avon High School
	Wed	8/31/2016	5:00pm	TBP		EAGLES 16 JV	Westlake	Lee Burneson Middle School
	Sat	9/3/2016	1:00pm	TBP		Solon	EAGLES 16 JV	North Olmsted Practice Field
	Wed	9/7/2016	5:00pm	TBP		Lakewood	EAGLES 16 JV	North Olmsted Practice Field
	Sat	9/10/2016	2:00pm	TBP		General Mclane, PA	EAGLES 16 JV	North Olmsted Practice Field
	Mon	9/12/2016	5:00pm	TBP		EAGLES 16 JV	Cleveland Heights	Cleveland Heights
	Wed	9/14/2016	5:00pm	TBP		EAGLES 16 JV	North Ridgeville	North Ridgeville High School
	Thu	9/22/2016	4:45pm	TBP		Amherst	EAGLES 16 JV	North Olmsted Practice Field
	Wed	9/28/2016	5:00pm	TBP		EAGLES 16 JV	Berea	Berea (Dora Lee Park)
	Sat	10/1/2016	1:00pm	TBP		Normandy	EAGLES 16 JV	North Olmsted Practice Field
	Thu	10/6/2016	4:45pm	TBP		Olmsted Falls	EAGLES 16 JV	North Olmsted Practice Field
	Sat	10/8/2016	5:00pm	TBP		EAGLES 16 JV	Wadsworth	Wadsworth High School
	Wed	10/12/2016	5:00pm	TBP		EAGLES 16 JV	Avon Lake	Avon Lake High School
	Sat	10/15/2016	5:00pm	TBP		EAGLES 16 JV	Mentor	Mentor High School

Monday Afternoons immediately following the conclusion of the school day we have the gym from 3:30-5:30.

 

There is a possibility that we could lose the gym if the baseball or softball teams have their game cancelled.  They then would over rule us and get the gym since they are in season.  If this occurs we will go outside to the back field and have an open field.

 

Seniors Max Becker and Jack Loftus now appear on three of the Eagles All-Time Career Leaders lists.  Junior Keegan Welch now appears on one list.

Becker goes down as one of the best playmakers ever to put an Eagle uniform on.  Max finished #2 on the all time assist list with 45.  Max did very well in the scoring department as well as he finished his career with 35 goals placing him tied for 20th place all time.  Combining his goals (2 points) and assists (1 point) gave Becker 115 career points good enough for 13th place all time.

Loftus has combined hard work and a consistent ability to finish to carve out a stellar career as an Eagle.  Jack finishes his career with 19 goals placing him 31st on the all time career goal scoring list.  Jack also assisted on 15 goals placing him 28th on the all time assist leaders list.  Combining Jacks goals and assists (19g,15a) gave him 53 points good enough for 31st on the all time points leader list.

Junior Keegan Welch's name has also climbed high enough to appear on one of the career lists.  The injured Eagle (recovering from an ACL injury) now has 15 career goals placing him in the 33rd spot on the All time Goal Scoring list.

 

The Eagles season came to a halt last night on a rain soaked Roehm Middle School Field.

 

The Eagles got goals from sophomores Trevor Cairns and Jon Kramer.  Cairns opened the scoring when Kramer put him in down the right side. With just under 20 minutes remaining Kramer knotted the score at 2 when senior Max Becker put him in down the left side for the assist.  

 

Berea scored what proved to be the game winner with 16 minutes remaining on a through ball down the right side. The Titans added two more when we pushed defenders forward trying to get the equalizer. 

 

Jon Krammer said he was going to come out ready and roaring to go and boy did he make good on his prediction as he scored two goals in the first three minutes.   Freshman Shane Cairns finally scored his first varsity goal when he punched in the rebound of his brother Trevor's shot that hit the crossbar.  Senior Jack Loftus scored when Max Becker put him in on a breakaway.  Becker finished off the goals with a Blast from the top of the box.

 

The Eagles improved to 11-5-1 and move into the Sectional Final against the #2 seed Berea-Midpark on 10/24 at Rhem Middle school at 7:00p.m.

 

The Tournament Draw went pretty much the way the coaches thought it would as Westlake and Berea took the #1 and #2 seeds. Falls and Strongsville filled in the remaining Bye slots.  Avon selected the Olmsted falls play in sectional and we as the #6 seed took the Berea play in match.  It was latter that Elyria selected to play against us in the first round On Wednesday 10/21 at NOHS at 7:00.

 

 

 

 

Sr Captains Max Becker and Jack Loftus Helped the Eagles struggling offense take over the game as Loftus netted two goals and Becker collected 1 goal and 2 assists. Jr Max Hess chipped in with a goal and an assist to round out the scoring.  Becker's first assist went to Loftus giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead and moved him ahead of Former Eagle great Chris McGuire into a tie for second on the Career Assist List (41) with another great Lefty Patty McAndrew.  The Eagles took a 2-0 lead when Becker found Hess at the near post on a set piece.  Becker's second assist of the night moved him into sole possession of second on the assist list with 42.  

After the Shoremen narrowed the lead to 2-1 the Eagles responded when Hess found Loftus down the left flank and Jack blasted a ball just inside the back post.  It Loftus who then returned the favor as he set Becker up as Max Blasted home the Eagles 4th goal from the top of the box.

The boys finished off the regular season at 10-5-1 overall and 4-4-1 in the SWC.

 

With the Eagles clearly missing injured Keegan Welch and the score knotted at 1-1 we clearly had to make changes.  Sr. Jack Loftus loved the adjustments as he exploded for a second half hat trick. Sr  Max Becker scored the opening goal off an assist from Loftus.  Sr Michael Schuler scored off an assist from So Trevor Cairns and Jr defender Gabe Schriener Tallied his first career varsity goal on a header from a rebound.

Becker added 2 assists now giving him 40 career assists which put him in a tie (Chris McGuire) for third on the All-time Assist list.  His goal (13) gives him 33 in his career putting him in the top 21 All-time Goal Scorers.

 

The Eagles now stand 9-5-1 overall.

 

 

Olmsted Falls scored two early goals and then held off a late charge by the Eagles.  In a match that was very much back and forth it was the Bulldogs who opened the scoring 16 minutes in as a midfielder dribbled through about three Eagles and blasted a shot into the far post.

Falls scored again with a perfectly timed through ball beat the entire back line as the left mid walked in one on one with the Eagle goaltender.

As the Eagles figured out the Bulldogs attack the game took a turn for the Eagles offense.   It was with just a few minutes remaining that Max Becker's driven corner was smashed in off the head of Michael Schuler as he came crashing to the back post.

The Eagles are now 8-5-1 overall and 3-4-1 in the SWC.

 

Two schools combined couldn't do it.   #8 in Ohio State ranking couldn't do it.  The Eagles were up to the challenge this Wednesday night as we came out and took the game to an undefeated Berea/Midpark team.  Max Hess scored the first and the third goals while Max Becker blasted the second goal from the left flank over the keeper into the far post.  But it was a disallowed goal that proved to be the difference maker.  In the sixth minute Sophomore Trevor Cairns played a diagonal ball across the defensive back four.  The Berea defender shanked the ball off the side of his foot and the ball went right to Eagle forward Keegan Welch who brought the ball down and calmly finished to the back post.   Keegan upon review of the tape was clearly onsides by 3-4 yards was ruled offsides and the goal was disallowed.

The boys battled hard and deserved the win but they are still quite hungry especially given the ruling on the "Offsides goal."  

 

Eastlake North came in confident after beating the Eagles the year before along with carrying a solid 5-2-2 record but it was the Eagles who continually applied the pressure and repeatedly broke down the Rangers.  Junior Max Hess had a career day offensively as he racked up his first hatrick of the year. Juniors Ben Gebura and Keegan Welch scored the remaining goals for the Eagles.

 

One could have called it the Max Becker show as he contributed towards all 4 of the Eagle goals as he scored twice and assisted on both Jack Loftus and Keegan Welch's goals as the Eagles went on to defeat the Comets by a score of 4-1.

 

The Rankings had just come out and Cleveland Height had just made it into the top Cleveland 10 for the first time in two decades but it was the Eagles who clearly had the upper hand all game.  It was Junior Keegan Welch and Senior Max Becker who both score twice and Sophomore Matt Sanborn who may have scored the goal of the year to finish up the scoring as he blasted a 35 yarder from the right flank.           6-4-0

 

The Eagles really took to the road and traveled all the way to Edinboro, PA to take on the #8 ranked (DII) General McLane.  It was a beautiful day to play as the overcast day dropped the temps in the low 70's.  The Eagles opened the scoring on a tremendous combination play as Trevor Cairns slipped Max Becker a lovely though ball and Becker blasted the ball by the Lancers keeper from 12 yards.  The Eagles took the 1-0 lead into half time.  The Eagles had the run of play for most of the second half as we created numerous turnovers.  However it was sophomore Mason Ducette who had just subbed in the game who was played in by Becker and then beat two players to the endline and then drove a ball across the face of the goal and Sophomore Jon Kramer who calmly deposited the ball into the back half of the net for a 2-0 lead.

 

It was with just 10 minutes remaining when the skies opened up and a near monsoon dropped on us!  With a complete downpour and the Eagles playing against a gale force wind GM was awarded a free Kick just outside the box.  Their player blasted the ball over our wall and the knuckling shot avoided Eagle goaltender Jeremy Duncan.  With a little over 4 minutes remaining the game was delayed for nearly 45 minutes due to lightning and thunder.

 

The Eagles calmly killed off the remaining time for the 2-1 victory.          5-4-0

 

In a game that the Eagles needed, the boys exploded out of the gates for a quick 3-0 lead whick expanded in the second half to a 5-0 win.  Max Becker lead the Eagle attack with 2 goals, Jack Loftus, Michael Schuler and Keegan Welch all chipped in with one goal each.

 

In a match where #9 Lakewood had much of the possession it was a matter of bad luck that came into play in the lone goal.  Sr defender Eric Nguyen picked up a loose ball deep in the box with no one near him.  As he was about to clear the ball Nguyen slipped on a painted portion of the turf.  The end result was a clearance that dribble to a Lakewood player wide open at the penalty spot who then rammed it into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

With the deficit the Eagle switched to a more offensive formation and it paid immediate dividends as we began peppering the Lakewood goal.  3 shots from Becker, 1 from Loftus , and one from Hess put the Rangers on their heals.  With a little over 1 minute remaining the Rangers were called for an illegal pass-back.  The resulting free kick was saved by a defender and then the rebound hit off the post.  

 

The Eagles battled the #3 ranked team in Cleveland for better than 60 minutes in a scoreless draw.  With Solon putting constant pressure on our Defense we were left with a few counterattack opportunities.  The Eagles continued to force the comets to bad angles and limit them to outside shots.  With a little under 20 minutes remaining the Comets took advantage of a miscue and rammed home a rebound.  The obviously disheartened Eagles fell apart as Solon scored three more goals in the next 8 minutes leaving the final margin 4-0.

Some how after a very lackluster first half the Eagles found themselves not only still in a game that Westlake had thoroughly dominated but were tied 1-1 by the result of a Michael Schuler goal from a brilliant cross from Trevor Cairns.

 

In the second half the Eagles came out with more purpose and a bit more passion.  This work resulted in a quick transition goal by Keegan Welch who had a brilliant left footed strike.  The Eagles took over the run of play for the first 25 minutes of the 2nd half.

 

The Demon's equalized off a long throw-in that the Eagles somehow let bounce in the center of their box!  It was here that the Demons took over the run of play as the Eagles committed numerous unforced errors down the stretch.  Westlake capitalized with 4 minutes remaining as they connected on a counter attack.

 

The result drops the Eagles to 3-2-0 (1-2-0)                     ( ) = conference

 

The Eagles were handed their first loss of the campaign and it wasn't due to a lack of effort.  Coming out fast from the start, it was North Olmsted who was all over Avon and eight minutes in we capitalized on a long throw in from Becker as Loftus flicked the ball up and over the Avon keeper for the 1-0 lead.

The boys held the lead till 20 minutes were left in the game when a ball got deflected several times and it fell to a wide open player on the 6yd line who finished it off nicely to tie the match.  With 8 minutes left Avon countered a N.O. restart and ended in an easy 3 on 2 goal.  Avon finished the scoring with less than 2 seconds remaining.

In a game that featured a significantly improved Midview Middies in their first SWC  conference match, it was the North Olmsted team pressure that ruled the day!  

22 minutes in Sr Co-captain Jack Loftus opened the the scoring on an assist from Sr Co-captain Max Becker.

5 Minutes later Jr Keegan Welch followed up a ball Sr Micheal Schuler headed toward the goal.  

With two minutes remaining in the first half Becker found Welch for the Eagles third goal.

The second half, while played mostly in the midfield had the Eagles dominate the run of play.It was Jr midfielder Max Hess who stole a ball and went on a run right up the middle beating numerous defenders.  The goal finished off the scoring at 4-0.

The Defense of Nguyen, Schuler, Gebera, and Sandborn along with Sr Goalkeeper Jeremy Duncan have not conceeded a goal this season.

 

 

 

 In a typical Twinsburg and North Olmsted Game both teams showed up to play and the quality and intensity clearly matched the atmosphere.

Played in a manner of a playoff game, the Eagles battled for over an hour until Jr Midfielder Max Hess Deflected Sr Captain Max Becker's centering pass by the Twinsburg keeper for the only goal of the match.

 

Sr Keeper Jeremy Duncan made three fine saves and the defense of Sr Eric Nguyen, Sr captain Mike Schuler, Jr Ben Gebura, and Sophomore Matt Sanborn combined for our second shutout.

 

The Eagles outshot the Tigers 8-6, but were out cornered 2-0.

 

The Eagles improve to 2-0 in the young season.

Senior Captain Max Becker scored the first two goals and Jon Kramer scored the third just before halftime to build a 3-0 lead with less than a minute remaining.  Junior Max Hess opened the second half scoring just one minute in to expand the lead to 4-0.  Senior Captains Jack Loftus and Michael Schuler added in goal each before Junior midfielder Keegan Welch closed the scoring with approximetly 20 minutes remaining to 7-0.  Sr Goalkeeper Jeremy Duncan made one save to log his first shut-out of the season.  

 

The Eagles out shot the leapords 29-1, and out cornered them 8-0.

10:30	Load Bus (Front of School)
11:00	Depart High School
1:00	Arrive Crew Stadium
2:30	NOHS (Home) vs. Louisville Kick-Off
4:00	Game Ends
4:30	Tailgate Begins
6:00	Tailgate Ends
7:00	Enter Stadium
7:30	Kick-Off for Crew Game
9:30	Crew Game Ends
10:00	Depart Stadium
12:00	Arrive NOHS

In our final day we played a single full game vs Mayfield.

 

We jumped out of the chute and completely controled the pace of the game as we probed and switched the point with very little pressure.  Our attack broke down around the top of the box as we never really got to the end line or took shots from the outside.

As the second half began we tried another formation that we have never played and it paid off as young Shane Cairns was brought down in the box when he snuck in between two defenders and they just pulled him down.  The 1-0 lead stuck untill Mayfield equalized late in the match on a well earned goal.

Day Three was an interesting day as we were going to face  two of the strongest teams in the camp but only for one full half each.

First was Mercyherst Prep who were defending small school state champs for PA.  We jumped all over them as Welch scored a lovely goal about 10 minutes in as he made a blind side run and flicked it past everyone before they realized he was there.  Max Becker simply smashed a free kick from 35 out into the upper left hand corner.  The ball smashed into the crossbar and ricocheted straight down and then back up into the roof of the net for a 2-0 lead.  MP were able to get one goal back but we were able to hold them off and end it 2-1.

 

Our second match was vs a PA power and frankly were were experimenting with a different formation and different line up.  even with those we tied in an even match however we did create several dangerous chances.  That half ended 1-1 with Keegan Welch scoring our goal.

 

all in all - playing two good teams, experimenting with the lineup, being very dangerous, putting guys in different problem solving situations.

Day 2 began with an after midnight fire alarm.  

Highlights of the day included a crisp training session encouraging each other

to work as a group and less as an individual. 

Our leadership sessions was very good as we had to accomplish three ridiculous tasks. 

The best was having to feed players through a spider web with out touching the web and not

using the same hole in the web twice. 

In our evening game the varsity played Chipewa - a team that is both usually good and very scrappy. 

We were very good as we clearly had the run of play and we defeat them 3-0. 

Goals were scored by Becker, Welch and Trevor Cairns.

 

The JV looked like a completely different team as they were clearly in the match!  

The game finished 1-0

after a nice drive out to Erie the boys stopped for lunch at a BW3. 

 

The short drive to Edinboro from there was uneventful and even Coach Marsh didn't get lost. 

We met our coaches for an immediate training session and coach Dale (Gannon University) and coach Nate (Allegany College) quickly mentioned "You've got some skill to work with." He also said "you're a bit on the small side.  

After dinner the varsity played their first game vs Norwick,PA. 

Half way through the first half Keegan Welch scored a left footed blast from 18 yards out where he deposited into the opposite corner.  Midway through r the second half Max Becker scored a lovely goal for the final margin. 

 

The JV boys really struggled as their opponnets were clearly bigger faster and more skilled than our younger lads. Our boys played valiantmy as the game was decided in the closing minutes 1-0.

Week 2 standings: 

 

 

Purple team: Max Becker, Keegan Welch, Zach Kluever, Nick Deissman, Michael O'neill, and Ju'Juan Sims.

 

Players can sell/purchase tickets towards their quota.  JV (4) and Varsity (8) players have to collectively sell 225 tickets for our August 22nd game at Crew Stadium vs. Louisville.  Tickets are $25 each.

 

The Crew is home on the 22nd.  They will play a few hours after the Eagles match.  We will tailgate in between games.  The 22nd will be one of the three dates the tickets will be eligible for.

The 2014 season ending Soccer awards Banquet is this evening at the Community Cabin.

 

The Greater Cleveland Coaches Association has just announced this years winners and this years winners of our team awards will be released.

Most Valuable Player - Max Becker

Most Improved Player - Gabe Schriener

Best "O" - Max Becker

Best "D" - Mike Schuler

Team Hustler - Max Hess

Team Sportsmanship Award - Tyler Matko

Coaches Award - Brad Reinhard

Team Scholar Award - Ray Gyorgak

Additional awards of Varsity Letters, JV awards and Plus/Minus awards will be handed out.

Senior Captain Comments are always a special time!

 

You can have your own hard copy off the Eagles 2015 schedule.

 

Click on schedules.

Pull down Eagles 15.

There is a "Print" option.

 

 

Next years Eagles are going to experience a lot of firsts. It all begins with 9 games being spoken for by the new and significantly improved SWC. The conference was already considered to be one of if not the strongest Soccer conference in the state.  It only gets better as 2 of the 4 seeded teams (Avon and Lakewood) in the district join the fold. 

 

On top of the conference adds we continue to play Eastlake, Twinsburg, Riverside, Cleveland Hts, and new addition SOLON. 

 

The final 2 new matches are meant to be highlights of the season. We will open the season playing at Crew Stadium on August 22nd vs. Louisville before a Crew game. 

The second would be to travel to Erie/Pittsburg to play General McLaine H.S. one of their top 10 teams. These would be regular season games.  Because we are travelling to PA it means that we will play with PA rules.  The two most significant rules are overtime in the case of a tie and a shootout if it is still tied

 

These trips have now been finalized. 

 

For one half the boys scratched and clawed there way to stay in the match with Strongsville but the Mustangs came storming out in the second half.  The Mustanges scored two goals in a span of the first three minutes of the second half.  

Up until this point the boys had managed very little offense and things were demanding that we figure out a way to build some kind of attack. 

With 30 minutes remaining we switched to three attackers by moving Michael Schuler and Max Becker up top along with Keegan Welch.  The move almost paid off as the Eagles hit the post and the Mustangs keeper had to come up with a big save to keep the score at 0-2.

The Eagles continued to thwart the Mustangs over and over but we continued to turn the ball back to them.  These unforced turnovers were the things that proved to be  the cause of all the Mustangs goals.

with 4 minutes remaining the Mustangs finished the scoring off an unforced turnover. 

 

The Eagles finished the season with 7-8-3 record.

 

Avon Lake had their choice where to go on the State Tournament bracket and they chose to face the Eagles after a close regular season match loss (1-0) early in the season.

 

It was the Eagles who grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the 17th minute when Sophomore Keegan Welch's shot hit the upper 90 crossbar and the rebound fell to Junior Max Beckers feet whocalmly finished from 8 yards out!

 

Tonight the boys varsity soccer team begins their quest to see just how good they really are.    The eight seeded Eagles take on the nineth seeded Avon Lake Shoremen.  The boys defeated the shoremen in the third game of the season 1-0 however it was the shoremen who out shot the eagles 16-4.

The biggest difference this time around is that the Eagles have finally got healthy and seem to have all hands on deck.

The focus now is one game at a time!  and Take care of business!

 

Go Eagles!

 

In a year loaded with injuries and missed games due to injuries and suspensions, the Eagles finally had all hands on deck as players have finally gotten healthy enough to contribute!

 

As The #4 Shaker Heights red raiders rolled in with a 12-2-1 record and the Eagles State Tournament season just around the corner it was our hope to be competitive but without the risk of putting our "dinged up" players in harms way.

 

We substituted regularly using a three man rotation in both centerbacks and outside backs and switched to 4 centermids formation and rotated and extra man in there too.  This was designed to keep "fresh legs and help stay away from possible injuries.  This work quite well as Shaker repeatedly tried to switch the point of attack through the midfield and time after time they were denied.

 

The Eagles hard work paid off as they won their 8th corner of the day and after the Red Raiders had cleared their box it was Sophomore Keegan Welch who knocked a ball back into the box where Senior Matt Spyak ran onto it and first-timed it past the keeper for the lead the Eagles would never relinquish.

 

Avon H.S. is not only the #1 ranked team in Cleveland, but they have been absolutely crushing ranked and non-ranked teams.  North Olmsted traveled to Avon and found that they could indeed play with a highly ranked team.  While our boys did a really nice job of cutting the field in half and making Avon as predictable as possible, it was silly mistakes that allowed them to grab a 2-0 lead.  The mistakes actually created an atmosphere among the boys that we had to "buckle down" and stay away from silly stuff and concentrate. . . WE did just that!  

Max Becker scored off a free kick that found it's way inside the back post through a maze of players drawing us within 1 and giving us new life just before halftime.  The second half was actually a very well played half both from a fan's perspective and a tactical one.  With 10 minutes remaining Avon scored an absolutely brilliant goal to seal the match and it ended 3-1.

In a game that 8 goals were scored one would think finishing was not a problem.  It was however exactly the difference in the game.  The boys created numerous chances as they out shot the Tigers 19-5.  Many of which were one on one chances, or really good looks at the goal.   After struggling to finish several chances the tigers scored on three of their four shots to take a 3-1 into halftime. 

The boys came roaring into the second half as Ray Gyorgak blasted a rebound into the back of the net from 20 yards.  It was Ben Gebura who equalized the score with 19 minutes remaining of a nice cross from Jack Loftus.  Gyorgak completed his hat trick with seven minutes remaining as he rammed home a header of a cross from Max Becker.  Cleveland Heights finished out the scoring with 3 minutes remaining to earn a tie.

 

Despite the Eagles missing their goalkeeper (Alex Gajowski - concussion), and starting centerback (Michael Schuler - leg edema) the boys hung tough and figured out a way how to compete with one of the top ranked teams in the area.

After Brecksville grabbed a 1-0 lead 20 minutes in, it was the Eagles Sophomore Ben Gebura who scored a brilliant goal off a tremendous assist from Sophomore Keegan Welch who drew the Bee's keeper to the left side of the goal and then slipped the ball across the goal to Gebura who deposited it into the back of the net to equalize the match.

The game stayed 1-1 throughout the match and on a couple moments it appeared that it was the Eagles who were going to double the score with their best chance hitting the post and rolling along the goal line.  Finally it was Brecksville who took the lead with 8 minutes remaining.  The Bees added a third goal with a minute and a half remaining. 

The Boys fall to 5-3-2 over all and 1-2-0 in the SWC.

 

The Eagles got payback from last years staggering 7-2 loss where the All-time goals against in one game was tied.  An Early goals from Keegan Welch off a nice thru ball from Max Becker gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead that the boys held throughout most of the game.  The Panthers equalized with 11 minutes left on an own goal which deflected off of Gabe Schriener into the upper near post.

With less than 2 minutes left Jack Loftus played a ball over the top and Max Becker fought through a defender and keeper and came up with the ball.  When the keeper took Becker down the Eagles were awarded a penalty kick.  Matt Spyak calmly stepped up and deposited it into the back of the old onion bag for the winner.

 

First half goals by Freshman Matt Sanborn , Keegan Welch,  Mike Schular, and Max Becker gave the Eagles a 4-0 lead and the boys settled in and equaled the Comets second half output to end the scoring at a 5-1 clip.  Schuler scored the final goal on a assist from Becker.

The boys increased their SWC record to 2-0-0 and their overall record to 3-1-2.

 

 

Sr Matt Spyak and Junior Max Becker each scored once to lead the Eagles offensively in their 2-2 ties vrs the Invaders.

In a game that had a playoff type atmosphere the Eagles Junior Max Becker scored on a free kick from 20 yards and the team hunkered down and defended as a team and held off the potent Shoremen from Avon Lake.  While Avon Lake outshot the Eagles 16-6 the majority of their shots were from outside the penalty box.  Sr Goalkeeper Alex Gajowski tallied 7 saves for the shutout.

 

 

Juniors Jack Loftus, Max Becker, Eric Nguyen, Mike Schuler, Senior Matt Spyak and Sophomore Ben Gebura all Scored goals to lead the eagles past the Beavers 6-0.  The boys out shot the Beavers 10-3.

 

In a game that had the Eagles Score on a razzle dazzle free kick, and then score on a penalty kick to equalize at 2 each. 

Jr Max Becker scored on a free kick to get the boys on the scoreboard.  With 17 minutes left in the contest Sr Matt Spyak score on a penalty kick to tie the match.  

But it was a half field shot following  the Rangers kick off that proved to be the Eagles undoing and hand the boys their first loss of the campaign.

 

The 2014 version of the Eagles openned last night vrs top ten opponent Twinsburg.  The Tigers and Eagles came out playing as if their hair was on fire.  The Eagles finally settled in and began to connect and started to get the run of play, finding a free center  mid almost everytime down the pitch.  After 10 minutes of this the Tigers made a small adjustment which created major problems for the boys and the game changed almost immediately.  The Tiger openned the scoring on a rather bizzare play in which a Brad Rienhard clearance hit Ben G in the face and ricochetted behind the defense.  Their forward found the inside of the back post with his shot.

The Tigers doubled their lead when Keegan Welch got clipped at what appeared to be a foul and the Tiger defender played a direct ball to his Right forward who centered the ball to an apparent offsides opponent who finished on a wide open goal.  In checking the replay it is clear that it was alot closer than anyone even imagined however the goal was called good and the Boys had a very big uphill fight to make a game of it.

 

7 minutes later Jack Loftus earned us a corner.  On the ensuing kick Max Becker found Micheal Schuman's head with which he rammed it into the back of the net.  Leaving the score 2-1 at the break.

The Eagles came out on fire in the second half by making a nice switch to counter Twinsburg's earlier adjustment and it paid off as the eagles began to get the run of play.  15 minutes in, the boys equalized when Loftus brought a difficult ball down, drew a defender then led Max Becker perfectly into a one on one.  Max's shot to the back post was true to make the score 2-2.

The boy's didn't stop there as the continued to press the attack and indeed had a chance to go up when a penalty kick was awarded.  The Tiger Goalie guessed correctly and made a nice save on a good shot.

 

All in all it was a tremendous match for a first game and a difficult opponent pushed us along the line of our development.

Estimated crowd 247

 

 

Today was an exhastive day as we covered alot in bot practice and classroom sessions.

In training we worked on the back 4 four sliding accross the pitch and staying connected and in the afternoon session we worked on striking balls from distance.

Our classroom sessions covered how team USA played their version of the 4-5-1 formation and in the afternoon we went over the various strengths and weeknesses of the different formations.

 

EVENING GAME vs Central Valley (Pittsburg)

We came out and dominated the first 15 minutes by winning balls and forcing turnovers left and right.  After winning the ball we almost always connected on our next pass.  Things broke down in the attacking third but we had the run of play.  In the 2nd half they pushed 3 up top and begin to even the game out.  With 15 minutes remaining the scored off a long throw in that we let bounce in our box (TWICE).  A few minutes later we noticed they had switched to only three defenders in the back.  We switched to three forwards and literally we scored two goals in the next three minutes.  They were fairly similar with Sr. Matt Spyak slotting home both goals.  Jr Max Becker got around the left defense and drove towards the goal pulling the keeper towards the near post and then slotted a diagonal pass backwards to Spyak who finished it towards the back post.  The second goal was very similar except it origonated from the opposite side when So. Keegan Welsch beat the right side and found Spyak again. The third goal was set up when Becker beat the last defender and he was brought down for penalty and Max scored from the spot.

JV Game vs Rocky River

JVs had a very tough game and 4-1 score is not indicative as to how hard fought this was.  Jerremy scored the only goal of the first half and it was a cracker!  In the second half, Mason turned the corner on the left side of the box and finished a goal.  Matt Sanborn took the ball down the middle of the field and finished a goal from the top of the box.  After building a 3-0 lead we did conceed one back before Seamus finished off the scoring by chipping the keeper from 25yds out. What we learned in this game was that play is much easier for us when the outside midfielders stay as wide as possible in a 4-4-2 and a 4-5-1!

 

 

 

 

 

After a few "detours" the boys reached Edinboro Universary and got checked in. 

We've met our coach Davie Carmichael - coach for Lake Erie College who seems great.  It just takes a bit to work thru his Scottish accent :)

Varsity played Ambridge, a team from near Pittsburgh, in a fairly even game; perhaps we were a bit better.  We tried out a few different playing styles during the game including one new formation.  We ended up losing 1-0 on a breakaway where their player appeared to be offside, but at camp there is only one official so it was difficult to call.

JV also played Ambridge trying out different shapes.  The 4-3-3 was fairly difficult for the boys to adjust to, but I doubt most of them have seen that before.  We conceded one goal in the first half.  The second half was played in a 4-4-2 which more naturally suited the players that we had.  We were able to finish level at 1-1 after a good finish by Jon on a through ball by Phil.

 

The Boy's Soccer Team has just been named Team - Academic All-Ohio.

Qualifications to recieve the honor was that the team's cumulative average had to be above a 3.0 Grade Point Average.

The Eagles Team GPA was 3.266

We will play at home on Sat. 10/19 at 7pm against the winner of Berea vs. Lakewood (being played on Wed. 10/16 @Berea). 

Top 6 Seeds:

#1 Avon

#2 Westlake

#3 Avon Lake

#4 Strongsville

#5 North Olmsted

#6 Berea

(more to follow)

 

 

Simply an exceptional effort and tremendous defense continually thwarted the Mentor Cardnals.  

The Eagles were out shot 20-3. and outcornered 8-2.  Jr Goalkeeper Alex Gajowski made numerous saves but

two were of the spectacular nature.  One he just got a hand on and it deflected off the crossbar and another was deflected and he made his body big

and covered as much of the angle as possible and the ball happened to find his outstreached body.

 

Mike Coleman nearly scored the lone goal as he blasted a left footed shot off the keeper and then the post.

After jumping out to a 2-0 lead and thoroughly dominating the first 2-0 minutes the Eagles got pushed around for the final 60 minutes and gave up 7 straight goals.  The 7 goals allowed tied a school record of goals allowed in one game.

Goals were scored by Stefan Spanu and Austen Medley.

Final shot totals were tied at 11 each.

The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead and after conceeding a goal went on too score two more and win going away 4-1.

Goals were scored by Brad Reinhard, Mike Coleman, Jack Loftus and Ben Lyons.

 

The Boys got over ran as Avon put them under tremendous pressure and then jumped out to a 2-0 first half lead.  While the boys handled the pressure better in the second half and started to get more of the possesion, it was Avon who scored again to finish the game out at 3-0.

The Boy's clearly had the run of play and dominated posession.  They out shot Olmsted Falls 14-8 and out cornered them 8-4.

Despite giving up the late goal the Eagles immediately put the dogs under emense pressure but they had to settle for the tie.

 

When all was said and done, After 80 minute of play the Eagles and Comets had to settle for a 0-0 tie.  The Eagles clearly had the run of play and were the more dominant side as they outshot Amherst 11-5.  Junior Goalkeeper Alex Gajowski recorded his second shutout of the year as he turned back 4 shots.

 

The Eagles conference record is 0-0-1 and overall they are 3-0-2.

 

After going into halftime losing 1-0 the Eagles came out of the locker room for the second half fired up.  They tallied four straight unanswered goals to win going away.  Goals were scored by Sophomore Max Becker, Keegan Welch, Senior captain defender Austen Medley and Stefan Spanu.  Assists were by Becker, Spanu and Junior Tyler Matko.

 

The Eagles outshot the Tigers 13-6 and now hold a 3-0-1 record.

 

Mike Coleman, Senior captain Stefan Spanu, Keegan Welch and Sophmore defender Mike Schular each scored one goal apiece as the Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 halftime lead and then added one in the second half to defeat the Rebels on their home turf.  Eagles raise their record to 2-0-1.

Senior captain Spanu was man of the match with one goal and two assist.

 

It took single goals by Junior Tyler Matko, Freshman Keegan Welch, and Senior Mike Coleman to hand Eastlake their first loss of the season.  Junior Goalkeeper Alex Gajowski recorded his first varsity shut out.  The Eagles outshot the Rangers 14-10 and were out cornered them 0-4.

 

For 73 minutes it appeared the Eagles Low Pressure Defense was going to frustrate the High Ranked Tigers. But with 7 minutes remaining the Tigers blasted a shot past Eagle goaltender Alex Gajowski For a 1-0 lead. When the Eagles were reduced to 10 men due to a double yellow/red card Things looked bleak for the good guys.  

 

With under 30 seconds remaining Max Becker found Ausen Medley who was now playing forward. Medley beat two players and got the shot off past the on rushing keeper.  Medleys shot appeared golden as the clock wound down uner 10 seconds. We watched in dis belief as the ball Kareem's off the crossbar and back on the field. It was then that Senior Mike Coleman crashed in and finished the rebound on a first time half volley for the equalizer. 

Kevin Terry

After spending the trainning session working on cutting the field and keeping the ball on the same side it started on, we then got to try and put it into practice during a match!

 

We Played Seneca Valley from the Pittsburg Area.  They came out and scored in the first 5 minutes.  Slowly we worked through our issues of sorting out what they were doing and the game began to change.  After we weathered the storm about half way through the first half we began to get the better of the run of play.  Max Becker knocked a ball dow for Austen Medley who then deposited it in the corner.

The game winner was an absolute thing of beauty as Ben Lyons playing left back, cut the ball back inside onto his right foot, and then served a 40-45 yd diagonal ball onto Medley's head behind the defense!  

The boys played well the rest of the way as they played out the clock by possessing the ball for large segments.

The Boys faced a team from Maine in their second match in Edinboro.

Instantly we were faced with different problems as they played a formation we never see.  They played with only 3 defenders in a 3-4-3 formation.  This ment that all three of our forwards were in a constant one on one situation all game long.

Mike Coleman's hard working physical style proved unstoppable as he scored two goals to lead the boys in a 2-0 victory.  His first goal came off a scramble in front of the net where he just flicked the ball into the corner from inside the 6 yard line.  The Second goal was picture perfect as Keegan Walsch beat his man down the left flank, cut it back and then whipped in a right footed cross onto the head of Coleman who nodded it home.

 

22 young men and a 9 car caravan made the 140 mile trek across eastern Ohio and in to Pennsaylvania into the lovely town of Edinboro.  

We grabbed a quick lunch at a very nice Pizza joint and checked into Camp.  The dorms are fantastic!

We quickly got ready for our first training session where we met our coaches for the week.  We are excited to be working with coaches Mikey and Jared.  We love Mikey's accent.

Our first match find us playing a senior heavy team who are quite good.  They carry much of the game and 25 minutes in open the scoring.  They are cutting us apart.

With the second half begining we have identified that we must stop them from switching the ball so easily and go out with a plan that we must, at least, do this.

IT works!  we are keeping them on one side of th field and it is making them very predictable.

With 20 minutes left we switch Austen Medley and Max Becker up front and then push  Ben Lyons into the midfield.  With Mike Coleman keeping their centerbacks busy Becker beat his man on the left side and crossed right to Medley's Head as he slammed home the equalizer.

in less than 1 minute the other team kicked off, went down the right side, crossed it and scored to take a 2-1 lead.

 

With eight minuts left in the match Medley spun his man on the right flank.  Then got to the endline and whipped in a fantastic cross which Becker slammed in a great header to tie the match again.

 

The match ended that way as our first game came to an end.

Coach Marsh bought us all pizza to celebrate!

 

EDINBORO UNIVERSITY

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CLICK ON EAGLES 13

 There are no Sunday practices.

The 2013 Calendar is ready!

 

Click on the 2013 calender and move to August and scroll thru the season and get a peek at who the Eagles will play next year!

 

There are SEVERAL NEW TEAMS on the schedule  next year!

 

 

 

 

The 2012 Season ended as the Strongsville Mustangs scored a first half goal halfway into the openning half and made it hold up to defeat the Eagles and thereby ending their season.

The Boys bow out of the tournament as Sectional Champs and a record of 11 wins 5 losses and 2 Ties.

And so it began this past Saturday night the boys opened the post season on Senior night with a 3-0 win over conference rival Berea. The two teams met earlier and battled to a 1-1 tie. This time around the result was VERY different indeed.

Senior captain J.J. Ball scored his 21st goal on a nifty free kick from 23 yards out as he blasted into the upper opposite corner just 16 minutes into the match. Just three minutes later Junior Stefan Spanu got his head on the end of a Josh Buchek free kick and doubled the eagles lead.

The lead stayed like that until 13 minutes into the second half when Steve Newport extended his now nine game scoring streak when he tipped in Senior co-captain Mike Butera's shot from 20 yards out.

The Defense of Buchek, Austen Medley, Kyle Klisseroff, Kevin Soneson and Keeper Alex DeAnna played a solid match and earned a shutout!

That is step one on a seven step tournament which now has only 64 team out of 226 left.

The Boys next match is 7:00 Wednesday at Strongsville's Foltz Park when they take on the #1 seed Mustangs.

Ball's goal now gives him 21 on the season and 44 for his career moving him into 12 place on the career goal scoring list. His 99 career points leave him tied for 16th place on the All-time points scoring list.

Steve Newport's goal marked his nineth straight game that he's played in that he has scored at least one point in the match.

AND SO THE "SECOND SEASON" Begins.

The Eagles first match will be Saturday when they take on the winner of Wednesday's Berea vs Midview match.

226 teams begin the tournament.

It takes EIGHT WINS to win the Ohio STATE CHAMPIONSHIP.

By earning the 4th seed the Eagles have earned a bye and therefore only need 7 wins.

The Goal is realistically set . . . to win the district championship! That is THREE wins!

That will get the boys into the "SWEET SIXTEEN" and then . . . ANYTHING can happen!

THIS CAN HAPPEN!

THIS WILL HAPPEN!

O N L Y . . .

IF YOU BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We can do this!

A slow start, sloppy passing and forcing the ball (on one of the biggest pitches the boys will play on) made things significantly tougher for the boys to find success. As a matter of fact it ment playing from behind as the Eagles gave up a sloppy goal to the Cleveland Heights Tigers late in the first half.

Trailing 0-1 the boys came out more focused and immediately began connecting on more of their passes. Senior J.J. Ball was put in on a breakaway and was brought down in the box for a PK. Ball's free kick was Up tight and pretty as it was a fantastic finish!

With approximetly 15 minutes remaining M.J. Akpo-Esambe got in down the right flank and was hammered as he played the ball back and on the grond. It was Ball again who got on the end of the pass and he smashed it in for the game winner.

The game marked three eagle starters who were out for the match as Austen Medley, Steve Newport and Kyle Klisseroff were off for various reasons. Because of that Sr Phil Fedor, Jr Mike Coleman and So Ray Gyorgak had an opportunity to step up for the missing players.

With Ball's two more goals he now has 20 for the season and 43 for his career. That puts him into a tie for 17th on the all-time career goal scoring list.

With the win the Eagles move to a 10 - 4 - 2 record.

In a game that featured play off atmosphere the two Eagle squads faced off in a hard contested match.

St. Edwards enjoying the run of play for most of the evening and North Olmsted playing towards counter attacks and quick strikes.

The match featured the absence of two prominent North Olmsted players in Austen Medly (on the Injured list with a very bad quad) and Steve Newport (who earlier in the evening broke his nose).

Shots ended up 7-7, while corners ended up 7-3 St. Eds.

1 St. Ignatius
2 Twinsburg
3 St. Ed's
4 Brecksville
5 Solon
6 Strongsville
7 Aurora
8 Westlake
9 Mentor
10 Avon

Others receiving votes;

Normandy
North Olmsted
Lakewood
Kenston
Olmsted Falls
Brush
North Royalton
Avon Lake
Cleve Hts
Berea
Brunswick
Mayfield

Great food! Plenty of food! And proper preparation prevented dampened spirits as North Olmsted central was firmly established in the G2 parking lot!

Beginning with 4 tents being set up in a square to form a hub and a dry local for any who were made of sugar (You know sugar melts) families, parents a like began setting up tables, grills and chairs. The kids kept themselves busy with corn hole, frisbee, soccer 4 square etc.

With well over 150 dogs being consumed Eagle Nation was ready to venture inside the stadium to where they themselves might one day play (State final is at crew stadium).

Inside over 90 eagles lined the field entry as the teams came out of the tunnel.
Being on the field reminded me of a line in the movie "Rudy" when his dad walked into Notre Dame Stadium and said, "These eyes have never seen a more beautiful site."

Then we were treated to a fantastic match with Kansas City who has already clinched a playoff spot and our Crew who are fighting for the last playoff spot. The crew were stymied on two consecutive shots early in the match and then gave up a silly silly goal going down 1-0.

With mere seconds remaining in the match the Crew equalized on a brilliant near post header that just squeaked inside the post.

What a fantastic ending to a solid chilly day in Columbus!

Thank you parents for all your amazing help.

Trailing 2-1 with a little over 25 minutes remaining, the Eagles inserted Ray Gyorgak and Mike Coleman and switched to a 3-5-2 formation.

The move paid almost immediate dividends as the Eagles quickly took over the run of play. By pressuring the Polar Bears midfield and defenders, the boys began picking up numerous loose balls and started to win back the middle third of the field.

With 20 minutes remaining Max Becker found a wide open Coleman on the 6 yard line. The surprised Coleman collected the ball with a fantastic first touch, composed himself, and calmly finished to equalize for the Eagles.

With a little over 13 minutes remaining Mike Butera blasted in a loose ball from the top of the box for the game winner.

To close the game out, Phil Fedor came on to man mark the bears #21 who had been a pain all match long. Phil limited him to 0 shots in the final 10 minutes.

Senior J.J. Ball scored the first goal on a cheeky touch around the keeper. Senior Steve Newport had the assist to extend his personal 8 game point streak.

With Ball's goal he now has 41 in his career and is 15th on the Career Scoring list and Ball is now tied for 17th on the All-Time Career Point Leaders list as he passed Chris McGuire and Doug Ziemanski.

Newport's assist gives him 13 career assists and it moves him into a tie for 28th on the Career Assist Leader Board.

The boys are now 9-3-2

Game time is still at 2:00 but the location is switched.

Boy's bring both color uniforms.

Bring soft grounds!

Bus leaves Revere at 12:30 from Revere Lot.

THE TEAM THAT ADAPTS BEST TO THIS LAST MINUTE SWITCH WILL HAVE A MAJOR ADVANTAGE!!!!!!


BE THE BEST!



North Royalton High School (Memorial Park)


Driving Directions
1. Start out going NORTH on BURNS RD toward MIDVALE AVE. (0.43 miles)
2. Turn RIGHT onto BUTTERNUT RIDGE RD. (1.32 miles)
3. Turn LEFT onto GREAT NORTHERN BLVD/OH-252 N. (0.38 miles)
4. Merge onto I-480 E toward CLEVELAND. (3.59 miles)
5. Merge onto I-71 S via EXIT 11 toward COLUMBUS. (8.66 miles)
6. Merge onto ROYALTON RD/OH-82 E via EXIT 231A toward N ROYALTON. (4.46 miles)
7. Turn RIGHT onto STATE RD.
8. End at NORTH ROYALTON Memorial Park on the right hand side (also the NR library)
Total Estimated Time: 28 minutes
Total Distance: 19.13 miles

Sr. Captain J.J. Ball scored a hat trick vrs Avon Lake and Jr Stefan Spanu and Freshman Josh Buchek tallied one each as the Eagles outlasted the Shoreman in SWC action 5-4.

Freshman Max Becker tallied two assists and Sr. Steven Newport added one. It was Newports 5th straight match where he's tallied atleast one point!

The Eagles outshot the Shoreman 12-9 and outcornered them 3-1.

With Ball's three goals, he moved into a tie for 16th on the all-time goal scoring list with 40 goals.

1 St. Ignatius
2 Twinsburg
3 St. Ed's
4 Brecksville
5 Solon
6 Strongsville
7 Aurora
8 Westlake
9 Mentor
10 Avon
11 Normandy
12 North Olmsted
13 Lakewood
14 Kenston
15Olmsted Falls
16 Brush
17 North Royalton
18 Avon Lake
19 Cleve Hts
20 Berea
21 Brunswick
22 Mayfield

When J.J.Ball scored the game winner vrs Brush he moved into a three way tie for 16th place with 37 career goals.

J.J. is in 22rd place in the all-time career points list with 84 point (37 Goals and 10 Assists) having just passed Chris Kraft with 81 points. Kraft was All-Ohio in 96 on the State Championship team.
The next person in front of J.J. is Kurt Russell with 87 points.

J.J. is also tied for 30th on the All-time assist leaders with 10.

In a game where the Eagles destroyed the Braves in every statistic . . . it was the first 20 minutes that cost them the victory and probable 2nd place finish in the SWC.

The Braves caught the Eagles in an ill advised offsides trapp and scored on the breakaway.

The Braves then switched to 5 defenders. They were going to make this as tough as possible.
Fortunately the Eagles were able to get the goal back in an exceptional combination off of Steve Newport to Stefan Spanu as Spanu finished smartly just inside the back post!

The boys pressed the attack throughout the 2nd half but were neve able to put the finishing touches on a game winner.

We finished with an 11-5 shot advantage and a 7-3 advantage in corners.

In a VERY physical match the Eagles went into South Euclid and promptly played one of their best matches! It was a physical match as there were over 40 fouls called.

J.J. Ball scored the game winner off a near post corner which he flicked off his head into the near post. The corner was sent in by Josh Buchek. Senior Steven Newport scored a nice break a way goal off an assist from Ball to give the boys a two goal lead at halftime.

Brush hung around until Newport closed the scoring when M.J. Akpo-Esambe found a wide open Newport just inside the penalty spot which he promptly put it into the far post.

Alec DeAnna had to make two saves to keep the shutout.

Senior Captain J.J. Ball scored his second hat trick of the season and Steve Newport chipped in with a goal and an assist to lead the Eagles offensively to a 4-0 win over North Ridgeville.

Devensively Senior Goalkeeper Alec DeAnna earned his fourth shutout of the year but kudos needs to be given to the entire defense as the unit held the Rangers to zero shot attempts!! Congrats go to Kevin Soneson, Kyle Klisseroff, Austen Medley, and Josh Buchek.

With the win the boys raise their record to 6-3-1

The Eagles stormed out of the gates and put alot of pressure early on the wildcats.

Keeping the ball on the ground and finding the open man allowed the boys to have the run of play early. It was Senior captain J.J. Ball who got free down the left flank, cut into the middle and blasted a 30 yard screemer beating the keeper to the near post!

Senioer M.J.. Akpo-esambe and freshman Max Becker really openned the game u on the flanks as they earned numerous corners and crosses.

Senior Kevin Soneson and Freshman Josh Buchek were constantly found wide open as the boys did a great job of forcing Mayfield to defend from sideline to sideline!

With the win the boys move to 5-3-1

The Eagles played what could be the best half of soccer North Olmsted has seen in the last 5 years as they dominated the match in all aspects except the score.

It was Austen Medley who finally got the Eagles on the scoreboard as he finished off a perfect headball pass from Kyle Klisseroff.

The match featured both wide players Max Becker and M.J. Akpo-Esambe as they got to the endline almost at will vrs the Demons!

Westlake equalized with just 7 minutes remaining to spoil what was a near perfect evening for the boys!

Just 45 seconds into the match freshman Josh Buchek made an overlapping run down the right side, beat a couple defenders and blasted a shot past Midpark's goaltender. One minute later J.J. Ball ball got into the act as he chipped the onrushing goalie.

In all, Ball finished with three goals, Buchek had two, Mike Coleman had one, Anthony Hilpert had one and Steve Newport chipped in one to finish the scoring.

With the victory the Eagles move to 3-1-0 in confewrence and 4-3 overall.

The Eagles gave up 2 goals in the first 20 minutes of play against Avon and then had to press the attack the rest of the match.

Avons defense bent but never broke as we mounted several attacks that resulted in numerous scoring chances.

The Eagles came ready to play vrs the 5th ranked team in Cleveland and led for most of the first half on a fantastic goal by J.J. Ball. Ball was put in on a breakaway with a fast restart by freshman Max Becker.

The Bees tied it on a late PK with just 7 minutes remaining in the first half.

Brecksville came out with passion and intensity to begin the second half but the boys weathered the storm. 20minutes later the game setttled in and the boys were back at it. Both teams were back and forth until with 17 minutes the Bees scored on a corner from just 7 yards out on an unchallenged header.

While the boys pressed hard for the eaqualizer it was the Bees who finished off the match scoring with just over 30 seconds remaining.

The boy will see AVON High School this coming Monday evening!

With a little over 10 minutes remaining Freshman Josh Bucheck beat his man down the right flank and played a perfect centering pass to Sr. Captain J.J. Ball who finished at the back post.

Senior Goalie Alex DeAnna reorded his second shutout of the season making three saves. One of which included racing back and diving towards the goal line while swatting a ball that was going in!

The Eagles outshot the Bulldogs 18-4 and just missed on several chances.

The boys outcorner Falls 4-2.

The JV's won 3-0.

In a somewhat onesided match the Eagles misfires were the theme that kept the match close.

While the Eagles actually controlled the run of play, the Eagles only outshot the Comets 6-4 as they passed up several looks to try for the perfect chance!

Corners were 3-2 for the Eagles.

It was Senior J.J. Ball who put Steve Newport in on a Break-a-way.

Defenders M.J. Akpo-Esambe, Austen Medley, Kyle Klisseroff, and Kevin Soneson combined with Goalkeeper Alec DeAnna for the Eagles first Shutout!

After the Eagles got shut out in their first match they erupted for 6 goals against the Rangers.

Senior captain J.J. Ball had a career night as he scored 4 goals including his second goal with just 1 second left in the first half.

Freshman Max Becker scored two goals to finish out the scoring for the Eagles. Max scoreded his first career goal for North Olmsted when Sr M.J. Akpo-Esambe got around the outside of the Renger defense and put in a cross that Max was on the back door to slot it home.
Steve Newport had two assists to go along with one each for Akpo-Esambe and Ball.

After openning what hopes to be an exciting season, The Eagles home openner did not go the way the large crowd had hoped.

While the teams shot total was close 7-8, it was Twinsburg who finished on 5 of their chances. Many of the tigers chances came as a result of an Eagle misplay or or as a result of an Eagle foul.

The boys are going to have to shake this loss off as they are immediately back in action Wednesday at Eastlake.

Thanks to Mr and Mrs Fedor as the Soccer Picnic was a smashing success!

While it looked like the weather was not going to cooperate the sun did fight off the clouds and it proved to be a wonderful afternoon.

Mr Carras covered his usual OHSSA material so the parents could attend the Solon scrimmage. The coaching staff covered their basic proceedures and expectations

The Fedor's volunteered to head the picnic up and everyone chipped in. There was so much food left over that the Fedor's supervised a tailgate for the first game!

Thanks to all, especially Mr and Mrs Fedor, for making it such a fun time!

The Varsity and JV took on always powerful Strongsville in our final preseason scrimmage.

The Varsity had a very interesting match as it was very much a game of two halves!

The first half featured the Eagles having much of the run of play as the boys dominated the midfield. We were able to limit the Mustangs time of possesion especially in the midfield and we were for the first time this year able to play out of pressure and play into forwards feet.

All of this resulted in two free kicks, two corners, a breakaway and several other half chances.

The second half we switched formations to a 4-3-3 and the Mustanges attacked the weakness of that formation relentlessly. The Mustangs found their outside mids at will and when we rotated an outside back up, they were able to attack the back of our defense as we rotated over way to slow!

We were banged up going into the scrimmage so we brought up some swing players. They got an exceptional oportunity! There were some significant steps forward!

In the Second half Strongsville came out strong and they broke through off a low diagonal free kick that someone got on the end of to take a 1-0 lead. Even though the Mustangs took control of the match it was the Eagles who were more dangerous as J.J. Ball pinged a ball off the post and Steve Newport's throw ins proved to create instant offense.

The JV team stayed close for a half trailing by a score of 0-1. The Mustangs overpowered the JV's midfield and pulled away eventually winning by a score of 5-0.

As we pack up for the closing of camp on day 4 I reflect on todays results.

The JV's played and defeated Mayfield 4-0

Mike Coleman scored twice, Matt Spyak and Jack Loftus tallied for the Eagles. Max Becker assisted on three of the four.

The Varsity team faced off against Geneva and won 3-0.

JJ Ball started the scoring by blasting a half volley from 12 yards out. Late in the first half Kevin Soneson ran on to a rebound and he calmly took it off his cest and volleyed the ball from the penalty spot. Half way through the second half Max Becker was taken down in the box and a PK was awarded. Ball converted it too seal the match.

Austin Medley was selected by Edinboro's staff as the varsity team's MVP and Jack Loftus was selected for the JV group! Nice job gents!

We come away with four days af solid soccer. We were very fortunate to get two very good coaches. and finally, We had a chance to blend as a team/family

Well done boys! Thanks to the parents for helping make this a very successful week!

Click on teams

Click on Eagles12

and it will list the games and places

This IS A TENTATIVE SCHEDULE and can change!

Both the JV and Varsity teams played Cannon Mac from the Pittsburgh area. The JV team lost 2-1. The goal was from a corner kick taken by Jack Loftus who got the assist. Mike Schuler scored the goal with his head.

The varsity team lost 3-0, but the play from our team was surprisingly good relative to the score. After going down a goal against the very physical Cannon Mac team the eagles switched the three center mids to Butera, Ball and Spanu and the game changed immediately as the boys then began to control the ball and have the run of the game.

We played well inn a difficult environment as the field was quite small and the official let the boys play,

Sorry for the delay, but we just got WI-FI.

Day 1 results
JV vrs West Geauga Win 5-0
Goals by Max Becker, Anthony Hilpert, Mike Coleman (2), and Harry Kamenos.

Varsity vrs Montour (Western PA) Won 2-0
Goals by JJ Ball and Steve Newport - assist Becker

Day 2

JV vrs Seneca Valley (Pittsburg) Lost 0-2
2nd half shutout Alex Gajowski

Varsity vrs Seneca Valley won 4-2
Goals by Ball, Steve Spanu (2), and Newport

You must have a physical in order to participate in practice in any way! Please print out this form and have ALL of the pages completed. Obviously, you will have to see a doctor or equivalent to get this done which can be difficult to schedule so make sure you do it well in advance of the first practice which is August 6th. ALL PAGES MUST BE BROUGHT TO THE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE. Special note: Physicals are valid for one year after the exam date so one physical will work for the entire 2012/2013 academic year