Friday, October 29, 2010
By Doug Chapin
CORTLAND
After an absence of one year, the Cardinal Mooney High girls soccer program is returning to the regional tournament. The Cardinals (12-6-2) defeated top-seeded Lakeview 2-1 on Thursday night to capture the Division II district title.
Mooney, which won district championships from 2005 through 2008, will play Orange or Chagrin Falls at 7 p.m. next Wednesday in a regional semifinal at Ravenna.
“We won it tonight for Coach,” Mooney senior Jaclin D’Apolito said, referring to coach Frank Sikich who was not around for the second half Thursday night after receiving two yellow cards.
In his absence, assistant coach Deb Hillard took over and talked to the Cardinals at halftime.
“I told the girls we need to do this for the coach,” she said. “We need to regroup and refocus and don’t get upset. Go out and do your best, just do the things that we coached.”
The loss was a difficult one for defending district champion Lakeview (16-4), which dominated play throughout, holding a 19-9 edge in shots. The Bulldogs, who were a perfect 8-0 in winning the All-American Conference White Division, were victimized by two set pieces.
“It’s real, real difficult. That’s part of, it sounds clich , but it’s part of our game,” Lakeview coach Shawn Varley said. “You’ve seen that in the papers every single day for the past two weeks.
“They scored off two set pieces, a corner kick and a direct kick, and they put it in the back of the net. Even though we dominated most of that second half, it’s disappointing. But we’ve had a really, really successful season.”
Lakeview senior Nicole Moldovan opened the scoring at the 26:41 mark of the first half with her 29th goal of the season. Moldovan worked past a Mooney defender in the penalty area, only to see goal keeper Rachael Letscher pounce on the ball. However, when Letshcer was unable to hold on to it, Moldovan got to the loose ball and put it in the back of the net.
Hannah Balogh then countered for the Cardinals at the 23:37 mark, drilling a free kick from about 25 yards out on the left side. Lakeview keeper Elaine Molvodan got a hand on the ball but was unable to keep it from going in just inside the far post.
It appeared Lakeview had scored off an indirect kick from about 8 yards out at the 13:58 mark, but the goal was waved off because the official was cautioning Sikich and had not given the go-ahead for the restart. The Bulldogs got three more chances when Mooney players twice came within 10 yards before the ball was kicked. In the end, Lakeview was unable to score on the sequence.
Sikich received his second yellow card and the subsequent red card just as the halftime began.
Mooney’s game-deciding goal came with 19:56 left in the game when a corner kick from Taylor Sikich deflected off a Lakeview defender and into the net.