Eagles get physical, battle Brecksville-Broadview Heights to 1-1 tie

Saturday’s matinee boys soccer matchup between Avon and host Brecksville-Broadview Heights left those in attendance with one overriding thought: these teams are destined to meet once again later in the season.

In fact, it was a rematch of Avon’s thrilling 2-1 overtime victory last year in a Division II state semifinal that was won on a wind-blown free kick from at least 40 yards out by Connor Britt. The Eagles went on to win their first state title, which meant that the Bees would probably be looking for revenge this time out.

However, Avon coach Chris Dore cautioned against inserting too much history into this year’s storyline.

“The reality is the only two things that are comparable to last year is the name of the schools,” he said. “Every year every sports team is creating a new story, a new identity. Obviously, there’s pieces that both teams have coming back, but they have new roles and there’s new leadership. So, I looked at it as this year’s Brecksville team, not the one of last year.”

In a match that falls under the umbrella of the more things change the more they stay the same, the teams battled to a 1-1 tie in a very physical encounter that each dominated at times. Last year they tied during the regular season, 2-2, before playing their epic state semifinal.

Brecksville, 10-1-1, entered the match on a 10-game winning streak and was ranked third in the state. Avon, 7-1-2, had won six in a row and was ranked No. 5.

“It was a good test for us because you don’t get the opportunity to play that level of a team throughout the course of a season very often,” Dore said. “So, those games sprinkled in there is a good wake-up call or learning experience. We’ll say learning experience. I think we learned what we have to do and what we can’t do.”

Despite the fact that it was about 25 degrees warmer and the wind was approximately 25 miles per hour lighter than last year’s state semifinal, wind was still a factor in this one. The Bees had the wind at their back for the first half, and it showed. Playing an aggressive, physical style that included lots of long balls, Brecksville dominated the first 40 minutes, but they were unable to find the nets and the half ended in a scoreless tie.

Avon had the wind at its back in the second half, which helped, but the Eagles also had to match the physical play of their hosts, which they did. The result was a half filled with yellow cards on both sides, but the physicality was relatively equal, which is what Dore wanted to see.

“We just needed to adapt to their physicality and see what it felt like out there,” Dore said. “Clearly, they’re a very good soccer team. Before this game they had 10 wins in a row, and they do some things very well. But I think that we started to use our body a little bit better in the second half, and I think that we controlled a big portion of the second half very well.”

Valentino Cruzado provided the lightning for the Eagles, giving his team a 1-0 lead with 27 minutes, 38 seconds left in the match. The senior was dribbling to his left and then blasted a left-footed rocket shot from about 30 yards out to the upper left corner of the goal, a spectacular laser shot that excited even the normally composed Dore.

“I mean, everybody saw it. It was unbelievable,” Dore said. “I don’t usually show too much emotion, but I jumped into the air on that one. I’m old. I can’t jump real high, but I tried. It was just a phenomenal soccer play, something that I know that he and everybody will remember for a very long period of time.”

Brecksville scored the equalizer about 13 minutes later on a somewhat flukey play that senior midfielder Billy Henning took advantage of. The Bees had a long free kick that was sent outside the far left post, and an Avon player headed the ball across the mouth of the Avon goal. Intended to disrupt the Brecksville offense, instead the header went right to Henning, who was able to sneak the ball between goalkeeper Owen Huron and the near post.

“We could have had a little bit better defensive shape and timing, but I think it was a little bad luck, for the most part,” Dore said. “But there’s areas of everything that we do right now that we can improve on. We won’t nitpick it. It was just a little bit unfortunate. It was just one bad moment that kind of changes the momentum a little bit.”

Neither team could score in the final 14 minutes, meaning these teams will have to decide it later in the season … again.