Success has United wanting more
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GIRARD - Following a very successful regular season, the United Eagles girls soccer team had a chance to make school history Saturday afternoon at Girard's Arrowhead Stadium.
But unfortunately, the fifth-seeded Eagles came up short in their bid to capture their first district title in a heartbreaking and hard-fought 2-1 loss to the 22nd-seeded Wickliffe Blue Devils in Division V action.
"Last season we had a rough year. And this year we set goals at the beginning of the season, and we reached all of them,” United senior Maddy Figley said. “We haven't been here (district finals) in six years, and I think this is an accomplishment just getting here. We were just excited to be here today.”
Despite the Eagles dominating the play for much of the afternoon, the Blue Devils were able to come up with two goals, including a game-winner at the 13:57 mark of the second half to steal the victory.
The game-winner came a little over 10 minutes after the Eagles came up with a huge stop on a breakaway by the Blue Devils. Eagles' junior defenseman Miley Pitts was able to harass the Blue Devils forward to force a weak shot on net that goalie Cheyenne Chuck was able to smother.
"I think if we could have gotten one more in the back of the net, I think we could have weathered the storm," United coach Niki Blazer said. "But they were able to capitalize on a quick strike. They are fast up top."
The Blue Devils did not appear to be a 22nd-seeded team on Saturday. They possessed two strong forwards and played fundamentally sound defense.
"Their two up top really surprised me with how fast they were," Figley said. "And they packed the box, and we really struggled to be able to move the ball in there.
"They are not a twenty-two seed," Blazer said. "It's hard to tell when our district has something like a forty-two team bracket. When you get those teams in the middle, how do you rank them? You look at records and strength of schedule as well. It's difficult with forty-two teams."
The Eagles outshot the Blue Devils 18 to 6, but they had a hard time getting the ball into the back of the net. Although the field seemed to be tilted in the Eagles’ favor, they were only able to get a few close, high-quality shots on goal, while the Blue Devils cashed in on their high-quality shot opportunities.
"It is very frustrating. I'm back there, and I see all of this movement, and I can't help," Figley said on playing mid-center fielder and watching the offensive struggles.
The Eagles close the season with a 13-5-2 mark, their best since 2000. That was the last time that the Eagles advanced to the district finals.
"I was an assistant on that team, and what is pretty cool is that we have some of the girls on the team now that were ball girls then,” Blazer said. “So, it was kind of cool for them to see what we can do, and we can be a part of this.”
The Blue Devils came out on the offensive early in the match as they scored just 1:55 into the contest on a scrum in front of the net. The Devils took advantage of a corner kick with Devils midfielder Sophia Ervin sneaking the ball through traffic to stake them to an early 1-0 lead.
"Once we got scored on, I think we realized that this game is going to be a lot harder than we expected,” Figley said. “We all wanted to be able to move on, and I think we all played our hearts out to the end.”
But the Eagles quickly answered back with a goal of their own at the 33:33 mark of the first half when junior forward Elli Powers was able to score on a blast from the right wing. That knotted the contest at 1-1, and it remained tied until the game-winner late in the second half.
"We have a huge future,” Blazer said. “And we are gaining some girls who have come up through our youth program, so I'm hoping that they will fill in some holes that we have. There is no limit for these girls if they want it.” The Blue Devils advance to the regional semifinals to take on the top-seeded Chippewa Chipps at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Ken Dukes Stadium in Medina. W: 1-1--2 U: 1-0--1 FIRST HALF 38:05 - WICKLIFFE, Sophia Ervin. 33:33 - UNITED, Elli Powers. SECOND HALF 13:57 - WICKLIFFE, Gwen Reynolds.