Thursday, October 29, 2015
Hudak’s heroics not quite enough
By Tom Williams
CANFIELD
Canfield High School soccer player RJ Thomas admitted there was a little frustration at halftime after his teammates watched Cardinal Mooney goalkeeper Dustin Hudak thwart several quality scoring chances.
“There was a little bit of concern, but we knew if we stuck to the gameplan, we’d be able to beat them,” Thomas said.
Canfield (12-4-2), the top seed for the Division II district tournament, wasted little time seizing control of Wednesday’s semifinal game. Four minutes after Thomas scored, Tanor English used his head to send the ball into the Mooney net for the game-winning goal in Canfield’s 2-1 victory.
Canfield will meet Poland in the district final at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Bo Rein Stadium in Niles. Poland defeated Canfield, 4-2, in the regular season.
Hudak’s heroics had Mooney’s players feeling confident at intermission. Late in the first half, after Hudak stopped five scoring chances, Mooney took a 1-0 lead when Christopher Perry used his head to knock Ahmed El Khafif’s corner kick past Canfield goalkeeper Jeff Joseph.
The tide turned early in the second half after Canfield took a long direct kick about three minutes into the half. The ball bounced off several players before English gained control and found Thomas open on the left wing. Thomas’ shot eluded Hudak to tie the game.
“We work on that in practice and he usually tries to look for me,” Thomas said of the break. “[Hudak] is a very good player, he worked very hard and it was tough getting it past him.”
English’s goal was deflating. The play began with Sam Accordino’s throw-in that bounced past several Mooney defenders and found English.
“It bounced over one of the [defenders] and I just found it and put it into the back of the net,” English said. “We normally practice that because he [makes] long throws.”
Hudak finished with 10 saves.
“He’s a hell of a keeper,” Mooney head coach Lou Cali Jr. said. “He saved us — Canfield came out the first 20 minutes and really controlled the game. We had to change tactically what we were doing.
“We had a Plan B, we gained confidence and we took the lead,” said Cali, adding that the coaches advised the players at halftime that Canfield would respond with intense pressure. “And we gave up two really silly goals, particularly the second one.”
Cali said Mooney practiced for long throws.
“When we have the ball bounce two yards from the goal, that’s inexcusable,” Cali said. “There is no way that ball should bounce there.”
Canfield head coach Phil Simone said the halftime message was to stay positive.
“We controlled most of the half,” Simone said, pointing out that Mooney took advantage of three straight corner kicks by El Khafif to produce its goal.
“They scored off the third one because we didn’t attack,” Simone said. “Then we turned frantic.”
Persistence paid off for Mooney (7-9-2). Twice, Canfield defenders deflected El Khafif’s kicks over the back line. The third time, Perry leaped high to bounce the kick past Joseph.
Mooney was the fourth seed because of a monster schedule against some of Ohio’s best teams.
“Very deceptive,” Simone said of Mooney’s record. “They play a very intense schedule. Our staff knew they are not a .500 team.”
Cali said his players had a good season.
“We weren’t deep to begin with and we lost probably one of the fastest players in the state in Justin Parkins with a torn ACL,” Cali said. But the seniors really stepped it up. We were never the deepest team but we played hard.
“Tonight Canfield deserved to win and I wish them good luck.”