Last year, the West Geauga Wolverines boys soccer team did not know how to finish strong.
Game photos click here.
Last year, the West Geauga Wolverines boys soccer team did not know how to finish strong.
But this season has been a different story, and West Geauga continued its fast start to the season, shutting out Geauga County rival Chardon 2-0 on Aug. 31 at Howell Field in Chester.
“We started a little slow, but then they really picked it up in the second half of the first half,” Wolverines Head Coach Danny Cappelucci said. “It continued in the second half, and we were on the front foot for pretty much the whole second half.”
In only the sixth game of the season, the Wolverines (4-1-1, 1-0-0) exceeded their win total from last year when they recorded a 3-11-2 record.
“That was one of the worries going in, that maybe the depth would not be there when we play some of these bigger Chagrin Valley Conference schools,” said senior midfielder/forward Nick Res. “We are just figuring out where everybody fits, and it is just working.”
West Geauga dominated possession for most of the game, but their efforts had not yielded any goals with the score tied at 0-0 in the middle of the second half.
The Wolverines had outshot Chardon (0-1-3, 0-0-0) by a 7-2 margin, but according to Res, West Geauga did not feel discouraged by some of its missed opportunities.
“Honestly, it was encouraging,” he said. “There is something to be said about that. It’s frustrating to not be able to getting a goal, but it is encouraging when you know you can get it down to their defensive third and you can possess with a level head and try to create.”
West Geauga broke the scoreless tie when junior midfielder Alex Schaffer fed a through ball to scorer and junior midfielder/forward Frankie Sassano across the middle of the field and Sassano beat Hilltoppers junior goalkeeper Nate Suszynski to score the go-ahead goal, putting the Wolverines ahead 1-0 inside the 57th minute of play.
After West Geauga took the lead, the Hilltoppers picked up the pace and tried overwhelming the Wolverines with a more physical style of play, but Chardon’s overzealous nature worked against it, resulting in two consecutive yellow cards.
The Hilltoppers continued their chippy play, but everything unraveled when sophomore defender Austin Seese was issued a red card for yelling at the official.
“The fouls and the yellow cards, we can deal with,” Chardon Head Coach Mike Smith said. “The red card was a big factor in the result. Playing down to 10 players is very difficult.”
The Wolverines delivered the dagger when Sassano booted a corner kick into the middle of the box and junior defender Chase Pirosko tried heading the ball into the net but mis-timed it.
Res was there to collect the deflection and tapped the ball in, pushing West Geauga’s advantage to 2-0 inside the 67th minute.
“All the credit goes to Chase,” Res said. “It was a beautiful header. He should have had two, honestly. The keeper was in the right place at the right time, so it was a reflex save, but Chase did everything he could. But I got lucky when it fell to my feet.”
West Geauga surged to its second consecutive shutout victory and third overall on the season after posting only three shutout victories last season.
The second-year Wolverines coach gave kudos to his new back line of defensive starters: freshman Ian Res, junior Thomas Kirchner and Pirosko.
“(It’s) a new defensive line compared to last year, but there are players that played on our team but did not get as many defensive minutes,” Cappelucci said. “They have really stepped up and really made those roles their own.”
The Hilltoppers finally recorded their first win of the season when they defeated Euclid 6-1 in a road game on Sep. 2, improving their record to 1-1-3 (0-0-0).
Following a road game against CVC Chagrin Division foe Orange on Sep. 5 and a home contest against Padua on Sep. 7, the Wolverines will go back on the road and face off against Lutheran West at Lutheran West Stadium on Sep. 12 in Rocky River.
Meanwhile, after a road game against Gilmour on Sep. 5 and a home contest against Crestwood on Sep. 7, Chardon begins conference play when it goes on the road to play Western Reserve Conference foe Willoughby South at Harry E. Winters Stadium on Sep. 12 in Willoughby.
