All season long it has been a battle for the Ravenna Ravens boys’ soccer team to score goals. Even in their best offensive showing of the season, the Ravens dueled Akron Ellet to a 5-5 draw in their home finale last Thursday evening at Portage Community Bank Stadium’s Gilcrest Field.
“It was good to see that we can score goals but when you end in a tie, it is a feeling that it is not a loss but not a win, but the seniors took it pretty hard,” said Coach Eric Hedge. “They wanted to go out in the regular season with a win, but I could not be more proud of the leadership of our seniors.”
After taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the first half, Ravenna’s (5-7-1, 1-5-0) lead dwindled to 3-2 at the half. The Orangemen continued surging in the second half, tying the score twice before the Ravens pulled ahead 5-4 on a corner kick.
The Ravens’ defense suffered a huge loss when senior goalkeeper Lincoln Hedge was injured going for a 50-50 ball in the 64th minute of play. Senior Mason Biechler took over for Lincoln in the goal and Akron Ellet tied the score on a penalty kick by senior midfielder Samwel Matendo in the 68th minute of regulation.
According to the first-year coach, after the Ravens’ dominated the game in the first 32 minutes, Akron Ellet found the spark it needed to battle back after scoring its first goal on a penalty kick near the end of the first half.
“I know they have not won a game, but their record is not indictive of the team that they have,” he noted. “They have some quality players much like us and some issues finishing.”
The Ravens had one more chance to take the lead for good when senior Chauncey Walton was awarded a penalty kick with 52 seconds remaining, but he could not convert. Neither team mounted another serious scoring opportunity, bringing Ravenna’s regular season to a close having only won two of their final five matches heading into the Metro Athletic Conference tournament.
Hedge acknowledged that the Ravens still felt they had plenty to play for despite having already been seeded for the MAC tournament, with it possibly being the final home game for its five seniors.
“You want to see your seniors step up and they have all season, but we just have not been able to finish but to put up three goals in the first half was super exciting to see,” he added.
Although it was not the result that the Ravens wanted, Hedge said that their offense finally came alive in the first half when they built that 3-0 lead on goals by seniors Derick Skilton, Biechler and Walton.
What excited Hedge the most was not necessarily the big lead or the fact that Ravenna was being fueled by its senior leadership, but the fact that the Ravens were scoring in all different facets of the game.
“This was finally the game that everything is coming together,” he noted. “The first 32 minutes of the first half it was soccer that we knew how to play and we scored in a multitude of ways. It was not just one thing, it was well-rounded soccer so they were playing out of their minds so that was super exciting.”
All it took was one penalty kick for the tide to swing in the Orangemen’s favor and no matter how many times the Ravens extended their lead, Akron Ellet always responded until forcing the final tie on another penalty kick.
The Ravens may have ended their regular season with a below .500 record for the second straight season, but Hedge said that it was a step in the right direction.
“The thing about the beginning of the season was that we wanted to develop the culture of family and that came through on Thursday night,” he said. “Obviously Lincoln getting hurt was devastating for the entire team because he is well-respected by the team in regard to his leadership, but they rallied and from the guys on the bench who were just super supportive and boys on the field, they just really rallied.”
Should the Ravens defeat MAC foe Cloverleaf in the quarterfinals on Tuesday evening and win their semifinal match on Thursday night, they would earn a bid in the MAC Championship game on Oct. 10 at Kent State University’s Dix Stadium at 7 p.m.
