Thursday, September 20, 2007
St. Edward is listed 12th in this week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of
America ratings.
By DOUG CHAPIN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
STRUTHERS — The Mooney High boys soccer team got a good look at Ohio’s top-ranked Division I squad Wednesday at James J. Simon Soccer Park and found out why the Lakewood St. Edward Eagles are number one.
The visitors tallied 10 minutes into the first half, then tacked on two second-half goals on the way to a 3-0 victory over the Cardinals, ranked fourth in the state in Division II.
“I think we were a little bit nervous,” Mooney head coach Larry Lencyk said. “We are still a young team and in the first half we gave them way too much space.
Tentative
“We played the game down on their side of the field for the first 15 or 20 minutes,” Lencyk said. “They are a very good team and I think we were just a little bit tentative and we never fully recovered from that.
“We played better in the second half, but they played better in the second half, too,” Lencyk said. “There is a reason they are number one — they are a very good team.”
The 8-1 Eagles suffered their only loss to a team from the Chicago area. St. Edward is listed 12th in this week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America ratings.
“In the tournament, we expect to see teams like this and that’s what we are preparing for,” said Lencyk, whose Cardinals (7-1-1) were tied 1-1 Saturday by Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary on a last-second goal.
“That’s why we are playing these types of games,” Lencyk said. “It gives us a chance, being a very young team, to know what it’s like going against the number-one team in the state, a team that has the caliber of players they have, and knowing we can play with them.
“If we play a little smarter and don’t give them as much space as we did, we can play with them.”
The goals
Junior forward Joey Haught scored the Eagles’ first goal, chesting down a pass from Matt Elliott and driving the ball home from about 15 yards out with 31:35 remaining in the first half.
Haught picked up an assist with a good pass to Adam Mackson for a goal with 36:10 remaining in the game.
Jordan Zgrabik scored unassisted at the 24:49 mark after a defensive miscue by Mooney.
The Cardinals had some good chances, but came up empty.
Of Mooney’s 13 shots, five were on goal, with St. Ed’s goalkeeper Mark Angelo coming up big on a couple of occasions.
But the Cards also misfired at least three times from very close, failing to hit the target.
“We’ve been struggling all year with scoring and we need to keep working on that,” Lencyk said. “We had some opportunities, particularly off our set pieces, and we just didn’t finish.
We definitely need to improve on that, we have to be able to score.”
Part of the problem has been a slew of injuries to the Cardinals defenders, Lencyk said.
Eric Ehrenberg played his first game in two weeks Wednesday night, Nicola Frangopoulos returned from injury on Saturday and Hector Hernandez, Mooney’s sweeper, played sparingly Wednesday.
What is lacking
“When we get our starting defenders back, I think it will give the midfielders and forwards more confidence and we’ll get more quality balls out of the back to go to goal with,” Lencyk said. “That’s what we’ve been lacking the last couple of games.
“We’ve had to patch a defense together with some guys playing out of position,” Lencyk said. “We had everyone together in the preseason and we were sound. Now, as we get everyone back we think it will make a difference.”
The Cardinals’ next two matches are at home, Saturday against Bloom Carroll, rated ninth in the state in Division III, and Sept. 27 against Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, second in the state in Division II.