Mooney upends No. 3 Bay Village
BEATING BAY WILLAGE: Bay Village High soccer player Kyle Hyland is stopped by Mooney goalkeeper Jonathan Critell Saturday in Struthers. Looking on are Mooney's Thomas Beck (9) and RObby Fox.
KEEP AWAY: Kyle Hyland (7) of Bay Village tries to keep the ball away from Mooney's James Simon during Saturday's game in Struthers. The No. 4-ranked Cardinals beat Bay, which was ranked No. 3, 3-0.
Joe Merlo scored two goals for the No. 4-rated Cardinals to lead a 3-0 win.
STRUTHERS — Bay Village soccer coach Bobby Dougherty said he’s been frustrated with teams his Rockets have played lately that camp out near their own goal.
When Mooney’s Joe Merlo scored just 2:14 into Saturday’s game at Valley Sports, the frustration continued.
“They played pretty well in the back today,” Dougherty said after Bay Village lost, 3-0. “They were organized and the keeper did a great job. That’s exactly what you want.”
Bay (9-2-1) was ranked No. 3 in the Ohio Scholastic Coaches Poll in Div. II while Mooney (10-2) was No. 4.
Merlo’s goal gave Mooney the upper hand until halftime, then the senior scored again at 26:24 of the second half. After Mooney goalie Jonathon Critell stopped Kyle Hyland’s penalty kick attempt at 26:30, sub Cory Ryhal scored on a header at 24:13.
Dougherty stressed the importance of the first goal and beyond.
“We had one breakdown and gave up a goal. Then we had four or five opportunities, but didn’t put it away and they go up 2-0. Then we get the PK and, basically, wet ourselves on that and gave it to the keeper.”
Critell was eight-for-eight in saves while his counterpart, Nate McDonald, had 10 stops for the Rockets.
While Critell was sharp with his radar, the senior co-captain got help in his shutout from defenders Robby Fox, Nicola Frangopoulos, Sean Sikich and Eric Ehrenberg.
“They’re playing well this year,” Mooney coach Larry Lencyk said. “We need them. Last year, we had injuries that affected our play a little.”
The diminutive Ehrenberg, a junior, was very efficient with steals and denials and was consistently a winner. Anyone with the ball in his territory went away empty.
After Merlo’s first goal, Dougherty realized that the Cardinals were going to get defensive.
“If you go up by a goal, it’s attractive. But if you are down, that allows them to sit back and not do much. In the meantime, we had to create and didn’t get one.”
To start the second half, Dougherty took the approach that losing by three or four is no different than losing by one. That’s why he flooded the front with forwards.
“We’re going to go at you nonstop,” Dougherty said of playing three up top.
The only disadvantage is that Bay was vulnerable to a counterattack.
“Like I said, I’d rather lose 3-0 than lose 1-0.”
Bay and Mooney may meet again in the postseason, so Dougherty isn’t overly concerned.
“I know we can play, but we were just a little flat. You tuck it away and that makes it a game. We didn’t tuck it away and they did. If it went to 2-1 [with a PK] it would have settled things down a little.”
Lencyk also emphasized the advantage of a 1-0 lead.
“You always like to come out strong and score early. But that didn’t change our strategy. We were just hoping to hang with them. They’re a very strong team, especially in the middle, but we didn’t make any adjustments other than thinking that we could start controlling the ball. Our midfield played well.”
Lencyk said he expected a tighter game.
“You don’t expect to beat Bay Village by three goals, but we just had some breaks. There were no superstars today, but we did play good team defense.”
Thomas Beck had two assists, while Matt McWilson assisted on Merlo’s second goal.
On the first goal, Merlo passed to Beck, who passed it back.
From 20 yards out, Merlo then placed a right-footed shot toward the left post which was to McDonald’s right.
On McWilson’s assist, Merlo tapped in his second goal from 8 yards out.
“Our team was energetic and clicking and we wanted this bad,” Merlo said of being undefeated at Valley.
Merlo, who played at Niles until transferring for his junior year, has five goals this season.
The game’s last goal started with Robby Fox’s throw-in, which Beck flicked to Ryhal, who was standing 3 yards from the left corner of the net. It was Ryhal’s second career goal.