The Berkshire Badgers boys’ soccer team is getting closer to solving their offensive woes but have not figured things out yet. The Badgers’ losing streak reached five as they were defeated by Chagrin Valley Conference rival Edgewood 4-1 in a crossover duel last Saturday at Great Lakes Cheese Stadium in Burton.
“They just did not break the back line,” said Coach Russ Buckley. “The build was good and the possession and the attacking in the midfield area was phenomenal. What we have been working on, they connected really well. What we worked on in the first half of the season, they seemed to have forgotten on Saturday.”
It marks the first time that Berkshire (5-7-0, 1-3-0) has been defeated by the Warriors since the teams started competing against each other in 2021. The Badgers were 3-0-1 against Edgewood, including winning the last three contests, but last Saturday’s duel showed that history was not on Berkshire’s side.
Senior midfielder/forward Roman Percic acknowledged that things had changed for both teams since their last meeting.
“The game last year, we had a higher score on them,” he said. “Part of it was because we had an older team, so it is hard to compare to Edgewood. Their play was similar, but we have a really young team, so we are still working on building up that confidence and goal-scoring against these tougher teams.”
On Saturday, the Warriors dominated the first half to build a 3-0 lead thanks to some stellar ball location.
Senior forward Edward Fralic delivered a high arching shot off an assist from junior defender/midfielder/forward Cole Stuvyesant over the goalkeeper’s head from inside the box inside the 12th minute of play to push the Warriors ahead 1-0.
Edgewood struck again as senior defender Robert Walker launched a long-distance kick that once again cleared the goalkeeper’s head in the 22nd minute of regulation, extending the lead to 2-0.
As the Warriors were converting on their scoring opportunities, Berkshire did not have many opportunities to score.
After racing out to a 4-0-1 start at the beginning of the season, the Badgers have hit a rough streak, losing six of their last seven matches. The recurring theme in each match has been the team’s offensive struggles as they have been learning the hard way to build an attack from the back.
In Berkshire’s last five matches, it has been outscored by 24-3 margin.
Percic said that the Badgers have been making strides but are still not a finished product, as evidenced by their lack of scoring in the last two weeks.
“It is not ideal, but we have good morale,” said Percic. “We just have to work on how to finish our build-up. We are working on adding that extra step to score some goals. We are hoping in the next couple of games we figure that out and make a run for the playoffs.”
The Warriors scored once more in the first half, as senior midfielder/forward Geno Measel scored on a breakaway goal inside the 30th minute of play, stretching Edgewood’s advantage to 3-0.
Berkshire’s offense started building momentum in the second half and the Badgers finally responded with a goal when Percic belted a long-distance strike that found the top left corner of the net on a free kick well beyond the box inside the 47th minute of play, trimming the lead to 3-1.
“It felt pretty good,” Percic noted. “We were still down by a couple of goals so it is definitely a morale booster, but I try to not let it get too much to my head so that I still play hard but it definitely good.”
After a first half where Berkshire’s offense struggled to gain steam because of lack of off-ball movement, the Badgers started pushing past Edgewood’s defensive third to create some scoring chances but struggled to finish plays .
Buckley said that Berkshire did a better job at creating offense naturally but still needed to work on finishing the plays.
“The whole second half we were building nicely but they just refused to break that line,” acknowledged Buckley. “We are going to have to work on that.”
Squandering some scoring opportunities proved costly, as the Warriors delivered a response goal when Fralic booted the ball in when he intercepted a free kick from just outside the box inside the 73rd minute of regulation, extending the Warriors’ lead to 4-1.
Following a road duel against CVC Valley Division rival Crestwood on Tuesday and a crossover CVC road match against Geneva on Thursday, Berkshire will return to action when it hosts Fuchs Mizrachi at Great Lakes Cheese Stadium on Sep. 30 at 6:15 p.m.
