ROCKY RIVER, Ohio – Rocky River and Lutheran West played to a 2-2 draw on Thursday evening at Lutheran West High School.
The Pirates (7-4-2) twice took the lead in the neighborhood non-conference clash, but in both cases, the host Longhorns (6-6-1) rallied with an answer. With Thursday’s draw, Lutheran West is now unbeaten (2-0-1) over its last three matches.
Prior to Thursday’s draw, Rocky River had been 11-1 over a dozen all-time meetings with the Longhorns.
“Coming on the heels of such a good win on Monday [1-0 vs. Westlake], this was a disappointing draw,” said Head Coach Kevin Zerbey.
Andrew Fry’s fifth goal of the season got Rocky River going early. In the game’s sixth minute, a Gold Rrustemaj-to-Chase DeClerck possession near midfield resulted in a pass to the left side. Fry swept the ball up into his stride, executed two dribbles and then whipped a 7-yarder past Lutheran West goalkeeper Trevester Billingslea.
The Pirates would outshoot the Longhorns, 13-1, over the opening 40 minutes. But of those 14 shots, only Fry’s would dent twine, and Rocky River went into the second half leading, 1-0.
Playing downwind on what was a breezy evening at Alumni Field,
Lutheran West applied pressure early in the second half. The Longhorns had
quality looks in the 42nd, 44th, 45th and 47th minutes. And then had
their best look in the 50th minute when a possession crisscrossed
the River box and finished with Hugo Lopez firing a 9-yard rifle shot
top-shelf.
Rocky River’s counter was swift. In the 56th minute, senior captain Keegan O’Neill propelled a high bounder that Chase DeClerck fought for and won. DeClerck bolted forward and then lofted a 30-yarder over Billingslea and into the net. found the back of the net in the 56th minute. DeClerck’s shot was the Pirates’ first of the second half.
River’s 2-1 lead evaporated in the 68th minute when a Pirate defensive miscue led to a 15-yard chip shot over Connor O’Toole and into the River cage. Sophomore midfielder Manye Schmidt finished on that one, and Rocky River’s north-and-south neighbors would go into the final 12 minutes deadlocked at 2-2.
Those final 12 minutes were scoreless ones.
For the game, Rocky River outshot Lutheran West, 24-9. But the Pirates struggled in putting shots on
target in the second half.
Connor O’Toole logged three saves for the Pirates. Trevester Billingslea finished with 10 saves for the Longhorns
The Pirates got tremendous defensive work from Ben Eberlein, Chris Fry and Keegan O’Neill – reversing possessions and keeping goalkeeper Connor O’Toole as the last line of defense in a traffic-free zone, especially in the first half. Defender Christian Cukon was active both in keeping the ball out of the box and in setting up chances on offense. Cukon’s work nearly created first-half goals on two occasions.
Chase DeClerck has now registered three goals and six
assists this fall. His 12 points lead the Pirates.
Rocky River’s next match will a return to Great Lakes Conference play. The Pirates will host Parma on Wednesday (7 p.m.). The contest will mark Senior Night for Rocky River Boys’ Soccer.
“We need to work on a few things as we get ready for the playoffs,” said Zerbey. “The boys will get Homecoming off to reset mentally, and then we'll have three good training sessions before our next game.”
by Skip Snow
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