It has been a rude awakening for the Crestwood Red Devils boys’ soccer team in finding offensive success in the first year after graduating their leading goal scorer. Although the Red Devils enjoyed one of their best offensive matches in several weeks, it was not enough to overcome Girard in a 3-2 loss last Saturday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium in Youngstown.
“Obviously, we want to fire on all cylinders but when one is not working, the whole group as a whole falls apart so that is what we need to work on,” Coach Amanda Parsons said. “Offense, midfield, defense, strikers, everybody has to be working at the same pace and same intensity to keep us in the game.”
It was the continuation of a late season slide for the Red Devils (5-10-0, 2-3-0), who have now lost five of their last six matches.
On Saturday, Crestwood once again was on its heels at the beginning of the match, surrendering an early goal to the Indians to fall into a 1-0 hole.
The first-year coach noted as the offense has searched for answers, it has placed a heavy burden on the backline to keep the team in matches. For the first time in several weeks, the Red Devils’ offense came alive.
“They feel like they are not able to carry any of the weight right now, but they have been working tirelessly at practice and we are finally starting to see some of that come to life here,” she added.
In a tightly contested back-and-forth match where the Red Devils had a response every time Girard scored, the Indians still had the final say when they scored the go-ahead goal at the 70th minute.
“We had a bad touch on the right side,” noted Parsons. “Girard was able to capitalize and then they had momentum driving down the left side and they were able to dribble through a couple of people and fired a shot right off.”
Crestwood’s offense could not score the equalizer inside the final 10 minutes of regulation, sending it to another defeat but Parsons said that the team walked away with a much-needed offensive breakthrough.
Prior to the match against the Indians, Crestwood only scored one goal in their previous four losses.
According to Parsons, it has been a challenge for the team to find the same offensive consistency they experienced the last several years when standout Elijah Jurisch spearheaded the offense.
“Now it is we just have to get it to this goal as close as we can and we do have three or four different guys that have four goals, so we have opportunity makers here, we just need to get more of those opportunities,” she added.
After the Indians took the 1-0 lead in the first half, senior forward Kyle Shelhamer drove into the heart of the box and was fouled, earning a penalty kick and converted the free shot, knotting the score at 1-1.
The Indians stayed ahead as their first two goals of the match each came on breakaway goals. Parsons acknowledged that the backline left the middle open by being too aggressive on the ball, allowing Girard players to break free for some uncontested shots.
After the Indians’ second breakaway goal of the match, sophomore forward Ryder Miller delivered a game-tying goal after receiving a cross from sophomore midfielder Colton Mayle, tying the game at 2-2.
“He was at the right place at the right time and just got a foot on it and pushed it right in,” said Parsons. “It was not so much power in the kick so much, but it was perfect placement.”
Crestwood’s offensive resurgence was not enough to earn the victory, but it marked another hard-fought non-conference match for the Red Devils. Parsons said that by playing a challenging non-conference schedule this season, it has left a mark on the squad.
“I will say that the tougher the schedule will hopefully prepare us for this postseason, and we will be able to compete fairly well going forward here,” she noted. “Maybe we don’t have the wins that we wanted to for the regular season but playing the tougher opponents like this does have its benefits of its own in order to push ourselves.”
Following a road match at Lake Center Christian on Tuesday and a road duel against Brush on Thursday, the Red Devils’ will begin Ohio High School Athletic Association Division IV postseason play on Oct. 18 by traveling to face Norwayne in the Northeast 4 sectional championship on Norwayne Stadium in Wayne County.
