Despite flurry of yellow cards, GlenOak ousts Canfield, 3-1

By Jon Moffett

Jared Turocy scored the Cardinals’ goal.

CANTON — The Canton GlenOak High boys soccer team overcame four yellow cards and a feisty Canfield team Wednesday.

The Eagles beat the visiting Cardinals 3-1, advancing to the boys Division I district final. The Cardinals headed home after a tough loss, but successful season.

“We played a relatively tough schedule,” said Phil Simone, Canfield’s coach. “For the most part we had a good season.”

Canfield looked impressive early and scored first. Junior midfielder Jordan Ricks passed the ball to a wide open Jared Turocy with 4:52 to go in the first half.

Brett Niarchos, GlenOak’s coach, acknowledged Canfield outplayed his team for the beginning of the game.

“They won the first half,” Niarchos said. “I thought the first half of the game we played Canfield soccer. And then we played our soccer in the second half, playing at the feet with short passes.”

GlenOak earned the first of what turned out to be a slew of yellow cards in the contest. Sophomore Nate Hayes earned the first card of the game for an aggressive play.

A few seconds later, it appeared as if Canfield had scored again, but the referee called off the goal because Canfield was offside.

The second half proved to be much of the same for the Eagles in terms of cards, but the exact opposite in terms of play. Five yellow cards were handed out within the first 15 minutes of the second half. Three of those cards were against the Eagles, including one on Niarchos.

Senior Tony Rome collided with a Canfield player and went to the turf holding his left shoulder. Niarchos entered the field before the referee signaled for a time stoppage and was carded.

Simone said the play was physical, but clean.

“The boys kept their cool and they played their butts off tonight,” said Simone. “They played well, they went after it and they didn’t sit back. I am proud of them.”

GlenOak seemed to be an inspired team in the second half and turned up the heat on Canfield with their offense. Senior Jordan Semple broke the tie when his shot went past Canfield’s freshman goalkeeper Mike Thomas with 21:46 left in the game.

GlenOak scored again on a shot by junior Colin Pacelli, and Semple scored his second goal of the night with 43 seconds remaining to put the game out of reach.

“This is like the third time this season we’ve come back in the second half ,” Niarchos said. “We’re a second half team. We made a couple of adjustments at halftime ... it’s all about adjustments and keeping your cool.”

Niarchos said he added an additional forward in the second half in order to put more pressure on the Canfield defense.

GlenOak plays host to Kent Roosevelt Saturday at 7 p.m.

jmoffett@vindy.com