ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- With all due respect to the moniker of the visiting Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy squad which took on Rocky River in Wednesday's semifinal game in the
DII Region 5 Tournament, the most apt use of the word "royal" when recapping the game applies to the Pirate defense. Because here's what the Royals learned over the course of a 16-5 loss to River: the Pirate defense is a royal pain to play against.
Thwarting a talented CVCA offense at nearly every turn -- and forcing 22 turnovers in the process -- Rocky River dominated Cuyahoga Valley in advancing to the program's fifth region title game in as many chances (every tournament held) since 2017. An early 2-2 tie was broken by a Kaitlyn Byrne goal at 15:31 of the first half. With a fleet-of-feet, swarming defense turning aside possession after Royal possession, the Pirates maintained a stranglehold on the contest from that moment forward.
Hundred-goal-scorer Caroline Gage wears jersey No. 3 for the Royals. But she may well have been misidentified as 4, 20, or 23 on Wednesday evening at Rocky River Stadium. And why not? Those were the numbers draped all over her, in the forms of Reagan Connelly, Grace DeWitt, and Mackenzie Russell (Rocky River Nos. 4, 20 and 23). Each in turn and sometimes in tandem ... and sometimes in triplicate ... made for a shuffled-stance, stick-checking Buccaneer wall. Gage, to her credit, would break through for three goals. Two of those were on free-position looks, and none came easy. And River made certain those three were not nearly enough.
With Byrne scoring six goals and Olivia Konopka adding her own half-dozen, the Pirate offense cranked out eight goals in the first half and a matching number in the second. Much of the offense ran through Alexis Tisler, who filed four assists along with a goal of her own in River netting its sixth consecutive win by a double-digit margin. The Pirates head into Thursday's Region 5 championship game on a seven-game win streak overall.
For the game, Rocky River (17-2) outshot Cuyahoga Valley 24-14. The Pirates held the Royals to just nine shots on frame. Goalkeeper Hannah Burgess made stops on four of those nine. Burgess made all four of those saves in a 30-minute stretch of clock time that saw the Striped Buccaneers outscore their visitors 11-1.
The Pirates were a plus-5 in ground balls, outdueling the Royals 14-9. Kalyn Scalabrino, Ella Nejad, Grace DeWitt, and Daisy Thompson logged two scoops each. Scalabrino also registered three caused turnovers.
All throughout, the River defense clamped down on a CVCA offense that had scored 61 goals over its previous four games.
That's a River defense that has now allowed just eight goals through three playoff games. For the season, the Pirates have yielded just 4.0 goals per game.
Playing against them is indeed a royal pain. And that's a point of Pirate pride.
CANNON FIRE ...
ON DECK: The Pirates -- the No. 1 seed in the DII Region 5 brackets -- will host No. 7 Walsh in the region title game Thursday at 6 p.m. The Double-R played the Warriors during the regular season, and the Pirates won that game 14-2 (March 26). ... Rocky River has earned 12 wins by double-digit margins this season.
EVERYTHING'S OK: With her 6-and-2 game Tuesday, junior Olivia Konopka is now closing in a pair of career milestones. Konopka -- who notched her 50th career assist against CVCA -- heads into Thursday's game needing one point to reach 150 for her career and two goals to reach 100 for her career. The artful scorer has clocked 47 goals and 26 assists this season.
by Skip Snow