ROCKY RIVER, Ohio – Junior Nate Keeling scored the lone goal of a hard-fought 80-minute contest, and senior goalkeeper Connor O’Toole made 10 saves, as Rocky River defeated Westlake, 1-0, on Monday.
Keeling potted his third of the season in the 38th minute. A diving save by O’Toole in the 39th would protect River’s lead going into halftime. O’Toole and the Pirate defense sailed the 1-0 lead into port from there, as Rocky River earned its fifth shutout win of the season.
“We really came together in the second half to see out the win," noted Head Coach Kevin Zerbey whose Pirates closed out a stretch of three straight home matches with the victory.
The victory was a bounce-back for the Sons of Blackbeard who
had themselves been shut out by eighth-ranked (Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches
Association) Lexington, 4-0, on Saturday.
On Monday, the Demons (4-3-3) came out of the gate strong,
but Rocky River weathered the Westlake attack.
“We withstood the pressure they put on us for the first 20 minutes of the game,” said Zerbey. “Our possession from then until the break was some of our best stuff this season so far.”
And that stuff included Keeling intercepting a Westlake outlet some 50 yards in front of the Demon goal, threading a pass to Chase DeClerck, who, in traffic, sent the ball back to Keeling with his heel. The give-and-go caught the speedy Keeling in full stride. He dribbled into the box and eventually to within 7 yards of the Westlake cage. Keeling then took a touch to freeze the advancing Demon goalie. At the precise right moment, he struck a right-footer at a tight angle past the ‘keeper and into the net.
A minute later, O’Toole came away with a diving effort to thwart a Westlake counterattack. O’Toole was sharp throughout in recording the 17th shutout of his career. O’Toole is now tied with John Brandt (1973-75) for fourth place on Rocky River’s all-time shutout list.
"I'm really proud of the way we played all throughout the game,” said Zerbey. “This is a win we can hopefully build off as we head towards the playoffs. It was important that we bounce back after Saturday's loss, and we knew it wouldn't be easy with three guys unavailable because of injury.”
Rocky River (7-4-1) is now 15-26-4 over 45 all-time meetings
with their neighbor to the west.
River will take on another west-side neighbor on Thursday,
when the Pirates visit Lutheran West (5 p.m. kickoff).
CANNON FIRE …
DEMONIC & PIRATICAL: Rocky River is 4-5 against Westlake since 2010. Three of those four victories have been of the 1-0 variety. … The Pirates have now defeated the Demons in back-to-back years for the first time since 2013-14. … River has only two more frequent foes in its all-time history. The Pirates have played Westlake 45 times, Fairview 47 times (36-15-6), and Bay 79 times (15-49-15).
MISTER ASSIST: Monday’s assist marked the fifth this season for junior Chase DeClerck. DeClerck logged seven assists as a sophomore last fall. He has notched 18 points (three goals, 12 assists) in his prep career.
YOUNG BUCS: The Pirates fell to the Demons, 3-2, in Monday JV action. Omar Abazied and Jack Bowers scored goals for River. Ian Tomsik and Patrick O’Neill logged assists. Goalkeeper Will DeClerck made five saves.
by Skip Snow
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