ROCKY RIVER, Ohio – Thirty-two teams remain standing in the 2020 Ohio DII Girls’ Soccer Tournament. Courtesy an 8-0 victory over St. Vincent-St. Mary on Monday, the Rocky River Pirates are one of them.
The Pirates (16-0-2) got four goals from Ava Patti, two from Taylor Byall, and one each from Mackenzie Russell and Ava Blair in remaining unbeaten on the season. The Maroon & White advance in
their section of the Northeast Ohio District brackets and have earned another home date on Detroit Road. Top-seeded Rocky River will host district No. 7 Norwayne or No. 11 Copley on Wednesday (6 p.m. kickoff).
River’s 13th consecutive victory was built on tremendous touch control, sharp passing, and 10 maroon shirts in on developing pressure at the offensive end. That pressure was a near-constant distraction for an exhausted Fighting Irish team unable to mount any quality attacks at the other end of the field. SVSM didn’t log its first shot until the 36th minute of the match, and for the game, the Pirates outshot the Irish, 30-4.
On a cool, misty night at Rocky River Stadium, the Pirates scored five goals in the opening half and three in the second . A health dose of substituting netted valuable and productive play for River’s backup players.
Third-ranked (DII Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association) Rocky River upped its home record to 11-0-1. The Detroit Road Buccaneers are 14-0-1 over their last 15 games at home. With Monday’s, 8-0 triumph, 10 of those 11 home wins have been clean sheets for senior goalkeeper Sabrina Rick (two saves) and the Pirate defense. River has now won 14 games via shut outs in 2020; that ties the single-season program record set by the 2013 state-championship team.
That 2013 squad made the ultimate team statement on Nov. 8, 2013, in a title win over Granville. The 2020 edition of Rocky River Girls’ Soccer is perhaps building toward its own shot at Buckeye State glory. Early returns were impressive, and now the campaign heads toward Halloween.
Still with efforts 11-deep between the lines and deeper yet with the Bucs from the bench. And still without a setback.
CANNON FIRE …
PASSING FANCY: Logging assists Monday night were Sophia Murray, Cara McKenna, Taylor Byall, Maya Patti, and Madeline Lundin. Maya Patti and Mackenzie Russell were in on more than a few plays in effectively setting up the River offense 30-to-40 yards out. On top of them were Keira Vesy, Cecelia Wischmeier, and Mia Kelly; all three were productive in killing any Irish moves out of the zone and in finding open teammates to quickly transition the Pirates back to offense.
PIRATE PLAYTIME: With Monday’s win over St. Vincent-St. Mary, Rocky River is now 5-1 over its last six playoff matches. Those half-dozen contests have been logged over the last two Octobers. The 2019 Pirates advanced to the semifinals of the North Regional before being ousted by Mansfield Madison. … Since 2010, Rocky River is 31-9 (.775) in postseason play.
NET GAINS: With their eight scores against SVSM, the Pirates have now netted 75 goals on the season. That total surpasses the 69 twine-finders River scored in a 20-game season a year ago, and it’s the most the Pirates have scored in a single season since 2013 (128 goals in 23 games).
by Skip Snow
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