The Streetsboro Rockets girls’ soccer team’s six-match winning streak may have ended against Metro Athletic Conference and Portage County rival Field earlier this season, but they can now start a new one. The Rockets triumphed against Field 2-1 in the MAC semifinal last Thursday evening at Kenneth W. Lohr Stadium in Brimfield Township.
“I am proud of my team,” said Coach Ryan Willard. “They played with a different intensity than the first time that we saw them. There were some statistical areas in the first game that we were better, we just could not get the goals, so I think we had some confidence going in.”
The victory advanced the Rockets (8-7-1-, 7-3-0) to their fourth consecutive MAC championship match. After facing MAC and Portage County foe Kent Roosevelt in the MAC title match to defend its three-year run as the MAC tournament champions on Wednesday night, Streetsboro will hit the road and face Holy Name in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III Northeast 3 sectional final in Parma Heights on Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.
On Thursday night, Streetsboro answered the Falcons’ early challenge by matching their physical play.
Willard acknowledged that in the first meeting, Field set the physical tone at the beginning of the match, but the Rockets were better prepared in the re-match.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the first half, Field delivered the equalizer at the beginning of the second half, when freshman Odessa Hottensmith scored after the Falcons connected on a series of well-placed passes to free up Hottensmith for the open shot.
“There was a nice dribbling play to get around the outside first of all that set up the pass into the middle,” noted Willard.
The Rockets’ path to victory became more challenging when one of their starters was ejected from the match after being issued a second yellow card by the referees at the 65th minute of regulation.
The disqualification meant that Streetsboro would play the remainder of the match with only 10 players on the field against the Falcons’ full 11-player lineup.
Willard conceded that it was a tall task for his team to secure a victory being shorthanded for the better part of the second half.
“You are trying to make some adjustments to keep things balanced and make sure that we don’t give up a quick next goal because from a mental standpoint it can be easy to get down as a team and lose focus for a few minutes after something like that happens,” he added. “The girls handled it fantastically and then when I was able to make my next sub, we were able to get our formations set the way that we wanted for the rest of the game and it paid off.”
Streetsboro’s perseverance paid dividends as sophomore forward McKenzie Montgomery scored the go-ahead goal inside the 70th minute of play with an unassisted goal.
According to Willard, Montgomery received a bouncing ball and headed it to herself, dribbled a few times inside the box then booted the game-winning goal, marking her second goal of the night.
In a season in which the Rockets have searched for offense after an injury to standout senior forward Sara Koyan, Willard said that Montgomery has elevated her game to keep the offense afloat.
“She is a player that everyone has to pay attention to all of the time, but when you are trying to do that for 80 minutes, I feel confident that she is going to find a way through at some point,” he said. “She does draw so much attention and that other players end up open and on Thursday night, she took care of things.”
The Rockets’ defense remained stout throughout the second half despite being short-handed, limiting Field to just the one goal, securing yet another berth in the MAC Championship match
Willard credited Streetsboro’s defense for showing mental toughness in the wake of having to compete at a disadvantage for most of the second half.
“Our backline has been solid all year long and I know that we have a great combination of poise, speed and athleticism back there, so they make it difficult on everybody,” he said. “I think that one of the areas where Field beat us in the first game was in the midfield, so I was proud of how our midfield stepped up. They were fantastic in the middle of the field keeping the ball in front of them by being aggressive and they did a wonderful job which complimented what the backline was doing last night.”
