Although the Berkshire Badgers girls’ soccer team may be a newcomer to the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division this season, they still know how to handle CVC rivals. The Badgers conquered conference rival Harvey in their CVC Valley Division debut 10-0 last Thursday evening at Great Lakes Cheese Stadium in Burton.
“It was very beneficial for us, coming off of a tough loss against Streetsboro the other night,” said Coach Ian Patterson. “Coming out and just building the morale a little bit by playing some girls in different positions and letting everyone have a good time, it was really good for us.”
It marked the 16th straight victory for Berkshire (3-2-2, 1-0-0) against CVC teams, with its last loss against a CVC opponent being in the 2022 Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II sectional final against West Geauga. Since then, it has been smooth sailing for the Badgers against the CVC.
After three straight seasons of ruling the CVC Metro Division, the Badgers have moved to the CVC Valley Division and left their mark with a resounding victory against Harvey.
Entering the match against the Red Raiders, Berkshire had been mired in a winless stretch of four matches, the longest winless streak since the 2019 season. During that span, the Badgers had been outscored by a 9-2 margin, resulting in two losses and two ties.
According to junior forward Kelly McCandless, the Badgers were gaining valuable experience by competing against bigger programs, but it was also becoming frustrating not seeing any wins.
“It was definitely tough,” she said. “It was nice to get that challenge, so we knew how to build out of it, have different practices and change the atmosphere. It is really nice to play people above our level because it gets us prepared for the postseason and the hard games we have to prepare for.”
On Thursday evening, the Badgers got off to a fast start by mounting a 4-0 lead in the first ten minutes of regulation.
Freshman midfielder Emma Ruchinski struck first, scoring from the right side of the box on a breakaway goal in the third minute of regulation, pushing the Badgers ahead 1-0. McCandless followed suit by firing a rocket from the middle of the box at the five-minute mark. Ruchinski scored her second goal of the evening when she received a through ball off the foot of McCandless for another breakaway goal inside the eighth minute of play and McCandless added her second goal of the game on another breakaway.
According to the seven-year coach, speed was the name of the game and the Badger girls excelled in the open pitch.
“We came out on fire,” he added. “They wanted it, and they were hungry. It is not typical for us to go on a four-match streak without a win whether it is losses or ties, but it is good for us to come out and bounce back from that.”
McCandless recorded a hat trick when she scored on a header off of a corner kick from junior defender Alie Ruchalski in the 12th minute of play, pushing the Badgers’ lead to 5-0. It also marked the 100th point of McCandless’ varsity career, making her only the seventh player in school history to join the 100-point club.
McCandless became the second Badgers’ player to do so in as many years as her older sister, Evania, was the last player to accomplish that feat two years ago during her junior season.
According to McCandless, it was news to her that she was even near such a feat.
“I had no idea,” she said. “It is really nice. I appreciate that everyone knew it and I did not. I was not even thinking about it.”
Berkshire remained relentless, consistently pushing the ball into the Red Raiders’ defensive third and built a 7-0 advantage heading into the half, triggering the running clock in the second half.
The Badgers added three more goals in the second half but what was most encouraging to Patterson was that his squad did not lose its defensive composure.
Although Berkshire returned seven of its starting 11 from last year’s OHSAA Division II district semifinalist team, it graduated the bulk of its offensive players, with McCandless being the only key returning offensive player.
Berkshire’s new core of offensive players include junior forward Caitlyn Ruchinski, Emma, freshman forward Marissa Karl and senior midfielder Sarah Shively.
“For the younger girls, the opportunity is there for them, but we have just not really had anyone that has taken hold of that position yet to dominate the attack with Kelly,” Patterson acknowledged.
Berkshire fell to 3-3-2 (1-0-0) on the season when it lost 1-0 against Aurora in a road match on Monday evening.
Following a road match against CVC Valley Division foe Crestwood on Thursday night, the Badgers will return to the pitch to face conference rival Kirtland for another road match on Sep. 19 beginning at 7 p.m.
