CANFIELD-GREEN Sorice shakes injury for winner
Grazia Sorice scored the game-winning goal in overtime against the third seed.
By BILL SULLIVAN
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CANFIELD -- The Canfield High girls soccer team wasn't going to let the season end the same way it began -- with a loss to Green. Junior midfielder Grazia Sorice made sure of it.
Sorice started, but then sat out about 50 minutes of the game with an injured right knee. She returned in time to score a goal with 5:18 remaining in overtime to give the Cardinals a 3-2 win in a Division I district semifinal Wednesday.
Canfield (11-7-1) will play host to North Canton Hoover Saturday at 7 p.m. for the district championship. The Vikings defeated Howland 4-3.
"It was my decision. I forced them to put me back in," Sorice said after sitting much of the game on the bench with her knee propped up and bandaged.
The teams were tied 1-1 at the half and 2-2 after regulation. Midway through the second 10-minute overtime session, Canfield's Whitney Zunic had a throw-in deep in Bulldog territory. The ball bounced around and then came to Sorice.
"The defender was turning in toward the middle and I read where she was going," Sorice said. "I got it and cut around a player and shot it. It chipped over the keeper's head."
Goal distance: The shot, from about 18 yards, gave Sorice her ninth goal of the season.
"Grazia is a tough kid," Canfield coach Dennis Opritza said. "She's got a high pain tolerance and she hates being out of the game.
"My trainers checked her out and she seemed to be moving OK, but the final choice was mine," he said. "She said she could go and she was moving well. So we gave it a try."
Green (13-5), the third seed, beat Canfield 3-1 to open the season.
The Bulldogs got a goal from senior midfielder Cheryl May with the game just two minutes old, but the Cardinals tied it at 1 midway through the half.
Zunic, a sophomore forward, broke toward the goal with the ball and sent a pass to junior Abby Ferko on the right side. Ferko filled the lane perfectly and punched it home from 10 feet away.
Noelle Zalac, who had 10 saves in goal for the Cards, kept it 1-1 with a pretty stop in the box early in the second half when May failed on an indirect kick.
With 30 minutes to go in regulation, senior Kerry Hageman dribbled to get free and her 20-foot left-footed shot gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
May tied it at 2 with a 30-yard free kick that just dropped in over Zalac with 26:11 to play. Opritza has seen his team mature since midseason.
"We had a chance early in the season to kind of just give up," Opritza said. "We had a lot of bad breaks."
Due to injuries and illnesses, the unseeded Cards didn't field the same lineup twice in the first 10 games and they went to the tournament draw with a 4-6-1 record.
"The last loss at Poland really galvanized my team," Opritza said. "They felt at the end of the game they were better."
"Everybody is scared of us now and they should be," Sorice said. "We peaked at the right time."
sullivan@vindy.com