It only took 40 seconds for the Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin boys soccer team to gain an edge against its Geauga County rivals.
Match photos click here.
It only took 40 seconds for the Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin boys soccer team to gain an edge against its Geauga County rivals.
The Lions were propelled by a quick goal at the beginning of the match on Sept. 7 and went on to top Hawken 3-1 at the Hawks’ multi-purpose field in Chester for their third victory in the last five seasons against this prep school rival.
“Hawken is a team that has had a very good record coming in,” NDCL Head Coach Dan Palmer said. “To come back on their home field and get the win was pretty important. We are getting better every time. We have some challenges with some injuries and illnesses and different people have filled in. We keep getting better.”
Since Vlad Muresan became the Hawks’ (4-2-1, 2-0-0) head coach, they have had their hands full against NDCL, scoring only one goal in the last two meetings.
The Lions (3-2-0) got off to one of their quickest starts when sophomore Ryan Cvitkovic sent a cross to sophomore Luka Sesar, who finished the play, pushing NDCL out to a 1-0 lead inside the first minute.
“They executed our kick-off to perfection,” the Lions’ first-year coach said. “They executed the restart to perfection. It was nice to see them be disciplined and execute that way.”
According to Palmer, one of NDCL’s biggest obstacles to gaining consistency at the start of the season has been learning how to play with each other; the team did not get healthy until the first game.
Muresan acknowledged that falling behind 1-0 in the opening minute changed things.
“I think it’s not the perfect situation,” the Hawks’ fifth-year coach said. “We tried to chase the game a little bit, and I think we were a bit rushed in our decisions. Soccer is a sport when the decision making is so important, and the early goal they scored made our decision-making go down.”
Despite falling behind 1-0, Hawken’s defense packed the middle, making it difficult for the Lions to expand the width of their offense.
According to Cvitkovic, the Hawks’ defense did a nice job taking away offensive opportunities for NDCL in the first half.
“They bunched the middle a lot,” Cvitkovic said. “We found success anytime we would switch the field. When we would have our wingers wide open, we would serve it in and they would get good looks.”
Hawken’s defensive momentum kept the score at 1-0 in the first half, but the Lions struck quickly again at the beginning of the second half when senior Grayson Baird passed a through ball to Sesar.
The Lions’ sophomore had a good look at the goal, but his shot bounced off the upper crossbar to Cvitkovic, who was there to collect the rebound and buried the shot, stretching NDCL’s advantage to 2-0 in the 43rd minute.
“It’s just instinct,” Cvitkovic said. “You see the ball and you go up for the goal. It was huge. I put my body on the line for it, and it was all worth it in the end.”
Hawken snapped its scoreless drought when senior midfielder Johnny Drockton chased down a throw in to NDCL’s net and finished the play, trimming the Lions’ lead to 2-1 inside the 51st minute.
Their defense stifled the Hawks for the rest of the second half, and in the final 10 minutes, Muresan opted to go with a more offensive-oriented lineup.
His gamble, however, backfired. The Lions executed another breakaway when Cvitkovic scored the dagger, crossing up Hawken senior goalkeeper Zolton Kotrebai off an assist from junior Jonathan Anthony in the 76th minute.
In the Lions’ three victories this season, they have only surrendered one goal.
“They are staying pretty organized,” Palmer said. “Bit by bit, we are getting more organized and stronger. Hawken played a lot of balls through and have some big athletic forwards, which gave us a handful. But we had good numbers around the ball and we shut them down, save for that one goal.”
