South Range boys go back-to-back with another district title

By Ryan Buck

sports @vindy.com

NORTH LIMA

One is fun and twice is just as nice.

The South Range boys soccer team earned its second straight Division III district title with a 2-1 victory over Ursuline on Saturday at South Range Stadium.

Cole Durina and Mark Vennetti notched first-half goals for the Raiders (13-1-2), who dominated possession for much of the afternoon and took 27 shots in 80 minutes of play.

Ursuline goalkeeper Trey Roller was outstanding in net, but the Irish could not generate enough scoring chances against a stout South Range defense, which surrendered just 10 goals all season.

“We just wanted to advance farther than we did last year and that’s been our goal,” said Durina, a senior who will be making his second appearance in a regional round with South Range. “That’s starting right now.”

Durina broke a scoreless tie with 18 minutes left in the first half. With Roller, an all-district goalie, repelling one opportunity after another, the Raiders’ constant pressure and runs at goal finally broke through.

Raiders freshman forward Brandon Youngs commenced one of his many runs down the right sideline and fired a shot at Roller. Roller denied the precocious Youngs’ shot, but the rebound fell right at the feet of Durina, who banged home the loose ball as Roller struggled to his feet.

“We were really nervous coming in,” Durina said. “It’s the district finals and we’re defending it, so once we got that goal, we all settled down and the nerves went away a little bit. It felt good.”

Four minutes later, Landon Baer cut toward goal with possession and sent a low cross at the six-yard box. Roller dove forward to cut off the pass, but his outstretched hands came up short. Vennetti, a sophomore forward, tapped in the wide-open shot after running onto the ball unmarked.

“I saw [Baer] cutting to the corner and I just stood there hoping he’d cross it and I happened to be in the right spot,” said Vennetti, who checked in off the bench to score what proved to be the game-winner.

South Range continued its domination of the possession battle and it took Roller’s talents to keep them from breaking the game open. He denied Youngs three times in the second half alone with sprawling saves and cut off every cross sent his way.

“We’re coming off an 11-game winning streak,” said Ursuline coach Roy Schmidt. “All streaks must come to an end. Trey’s played wonderfully for us. Our defense has stood up and when there were breakdowns and chances, he was there to pick up the pieces.”

With 17 minutes left in the game, Ursuline midfielder John Hintz sent a perfect cross into the box from the left of the 18-yard box. Irish defender Mathius Kongshavn drilled the pass out of the air and into the far post netting.

After only its fourth shot on goal of the game, Ursuline could generate no more as South Range maintained the preponderance of possession and ran out the clock.

“We work on possession every day in practice and we run every day so it helps us on days like today,” Durina said. “They got tired running around chasing us and a lot of teams don’t have the endurance we do so we use it to our advantage.”

Roller made six saves on eight shots on goal.