DIVISION III BOYS SOCCER Mooney's comeback halted in overtime, 3-2

The Cardinals dropped the regional semifinal game to Gates Mills Hawken.
By BILL SULLIVAN
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
HUDSON -- Facing a 2-0 second-half deficit to the defending state champion, a lesser soccer team might have folded.
But, the Cardinal Mooney High boys team is not a lesser team. The Cards proved that when they rallied to tie Gates Mills Hawken 2-2 late in a Division III regional semifinal Tuesday.
Hawken scored a goal on a broken play off a corner kick with 3 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the second overtime to beat the Cardinals 3-2, but not before Mooney pushed the Hawks to the limit.
"There's no easy games when you get to this stage," Hawken coach Patrick Sweeney said. "I knew they would be a great team and give us a great game. We went up 2-0 and they came back and fought."
Neither team had given up a post-season goal entering the game which was tied 0-0 at the break.
Hernan injured: However, Mooney played much of the game without junior stopper Mike Hernan who injured a thigh and could not kick the ball with authority.
Hernan normally acts like a personal firewall for Mooney junior goalie Tim Reigrut, who permitted just 12 goals and had 10 shutouts in 18 games.
"With Hernan being out, we didn't have the depth to compensate for the loss of a player like that," Mooney coach Lenny Krispinsky said.
"There definitely was a void there that affected our play."
Eight minutes into the second half Jamie Blecher of Hawken worked free and scored from 16 yards out, just beyond the diving reach of Reigrut.
Five minutes later Blecher blasted a shot from inside the goalie box to give the Hawks (12-5-3) a 2-0 lead.
Mooney (14-4-1) had a season of firsts, winning its first-ever Steel Valley Conference title and reaching the regional for the first time ever. The Cards didn't want to be eliminated playing in reverse.
Myers leads rally: Mooney rallied when it could have collapsed and sophomore D.J. Myers, who had scored just two goals all season, scored two more in just over three minutes to tie it.
At the 61:55 mark, Myers took a pass from Christo Frangopolous in the box and drilled a shot off the goalkeeper's hands to cut it to 2-1.
"The ball just came over the top and I had a clear shot and I took it," Myers said.
At 65:10, Mooney junior Alex Simon had a corner kick which Myers headed in to tie the score.
"I saw it coming over from the corner and I jumped up," Myers said. "I tried to put it in the corner which I did."
Midway through the season Mooney moved Myers from fullback to midfield to take advantage of his scoring ability.
"He has a devastating shot," Krispinsky said.
Mooney attacked with renewed vigor from there but could not put in the clincher.
"We go into the second overtime and we're dominating the game," Krispinsky said.
The teams seemed to be helplessly locked in a stalemate and headed to a shootout when Mooney freshman Kiki Willis went down and had to leave the field late in the second overtime.
Hawken took advantage of Mooney playing with two substitutes on the subsequent corner kick.
Game winner: Hawken midfielder Kevin Vargo headed in the ball to advance the Hawks to a regional final Saturday.
"They hit a lot of nice shots," Reigrut said. "I was in the middle of the goal and it went in the corner."
Krispinsky said, "This is a testament to the kids. We started working on June 9 with conditioning. We ran them hard. It was a stroke of luck we lost this game."
sullivan@vindy.com