The Crestwood Red Devils girls’ soccer team had a lot of questions to answer entering the season. They are still searching for answers after being shut out by Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division foe Kirtland 10-0 last Thursday evening at Jack Lambert Stadium in Mantua.
“We were in their way,” said Coach Scot Etling. “They were up on us 2-0 less than two minutes into the game. It is still learning the game of soccer for my team. We are starting literally all over again from foot skills to strategy to all of that.”
The first-year coach has noted that the Red Devils have been short-handed to start the season, with sophomore midfielder Hailey Persarcheck being injured and freshman Abigail Pfost also having missed time recently, leaving the team with only nine available players. He added that Crestwood had been undermanned even more recently as sophomore midfielder Destiny Singleton just returned to action for the Kirtland match after missing games due to an injury.
On Thursday, Etling said that the Hornets actually started with only nine players, to meet Crestwood on equal footing. The Red Devils still fell into an early hole, trailing 2-0 in the first two minutes of regulation.
Kirtland continued to roll, pushing the lead to 5-0 at the half.
Etling said that although Kirtland played with only nine players, the gap of playing experience was vast.
“We are having trouble with knowing what to do with the ball when we get it,” acknowledged Etling. “We are having trouble having people move to get a pass so it is systematic, one thing leads to another and another leads to another and again it is not from lack of effort, is from a lack of knowledge.”
The Hornets scored five more goals in the second half to seal the victory, as Crestwood’s offensive woes continued.
In addition to having a new coach, the Red Devils return with a smaller roster having not only graduated eight seniors from last year but also the majority of their offensive talent.
Although six players returned, Etling said that most of his returnees did not receive much varsity playing time. With a small freshman class, that has resulted in the Red Devils having a lot of room for growth at the beginning of the season.
Etling did not downplay the impact of experiencing such a slow start to the season and added that the Red Devils would be undergoing a lot of growing pains not just for this year but also the following year as well.
“The thing is we might struggle this year and we might even struggle next year because I think we only get three or four freshmen,” he said.
Although there are tough times ahead for the Red Devils, Etling said that the primary focus for the team is to keep growing and reach full strength in numbers by the time the season ends.
“The other thing is that we have not scored a goal this season, so I think that is going to be huge as well,” he said. “I have to be very careful because when kids especially try to score goals, that is all great and that is the name of the game, but you also want to make sure we don’t lose focus.”
Etling said that there are some intriguing building blocks in the current crop of Crestwood girls’ soccer players, in Persarcheck, who was voted as one of the team captains as a sophomore, and in in Pfost and freshman forward Ava Macik.
“Hailey is one of our captains and when I first met her, I realized she was a captain; she was a good leader,” he said. “Of the freshmen that we have are Ava and Abby, they are both definitely showing some signs that they have some good skills, and they are picking up on what to do.”
After a road duel against Woodridge on Wednesday and a home match against new CVC Valley Division foe and Portage County rival Rootstown, the Red Devils will return to the pitch and host Akron Coventry on Sep. 9 at 7:10 p.m.
