Eagles win thriller, 2-1, to earn trip to second consecutive state final

CLYDE, Ohio—You’re going to need more than an own-goal to take down the Avon Eagles.

Granted, the defensive miscue put the Eagles behind, 1-0, in their Division II state semifinal Wednesday at Clyde High School against Toledo St. Francis, the top-ranked team in the state that not only was undefeated but also had never trailed this entire season.

On top of that, the Knights had only allowed five goals this season while compiling a 17-0-4 record, posting an incredible 17 shutouts in their 21 matches. So, to many teams, a one-goal deficit against St. Francis would result in a death knell.

But not the Avon Eagles. They stormed back in the second half and scored two goals to take an emotional 2-1 decision that puts them in their second consecutive state final. The defending state champions will face off against Brecksville-Broadview Heights at 7 p.m. Monday at Scotts Miracle-Gro Field in Columbus. Brecksville defeated New Albany in their semifinal, 2-0.

“Even when we were down 1-0, we still played our game,” said junior forward Brayden Carlin, who scored the game-winning goal. “We weren’t going to panic because we knew that if we do panic, it’s just going to lead to bad things. We had a lot more possession in the second half than we did in the first half, and we just started picking them apart.”

St. Francis scored its goal 15 minutes into the match. The Knights earned a corner kick, and Connor Weaver sent the ball curving toward the Avon goal. It didn’t appear any of his teammates touched the ball, but it ended up in the goal for a 1-0 lead, which is how the first half ended.

The first step toward getting back into the match was to start playing Avon soccer. The 17-1-3 Eagles typically play a possession game, advancing the ball up the field with precision passing. But that’s not what they did in the opening 40 minutes.

“In the first half, we didn’t play the way that I know we can,” said coach Chris Dore. “We played a little too amped up and we were a little too direct. I didn’t know what the outcome would be, but I was not panicking being down one goal at halftime knowing how the first half went.”

Avon came out of the locker room with an increased intensity and began playing its style. There was much more possession which led to more scoring opportunities. The breakthrough came almost 17 minutes into the half when London Carnie got a pass from Vincent Palumbo after Avon played a long free kick into the offensive end. Carnie was all alone just outside the box, and he drilled the ball past goalkeeper Joel Neary with his left foot.

“It gets to him in that spot, I’m thinking goal, automatic,” Dore said. “The kid is a natural contributor to the scoreboard. When that kid has an open opportunity, he’s going to take advantage of it. I felt we were controlling the game, but you can’t just control the game. You’ve got to have some sort of contribution in terms of putting the ball in the back of the net. I told them at halftime, once you score one, then it’s going to be a different story in terms of your opponent’s mentality and your mentality.”

The difference was apparent immediately after Carnie found the nets. The Eagles were flying, and St. Francis was on its heels.

“The first half we kept playing it long,” Carnie said. “That’s not what we try and do. We try and move the ball around. In the second half, we knew that we had to play how we want, and then the goals would come, and eventually they did. We were a little bit nervous when we were behind, but we knew we could get it done. After I scored, we just kept going and going and going. And then it eventually led to another goal. And now we’re back in the state final.”

The other goal came with just 3:45 to play on a header from Carlin on a corner kick from Liam Viers. The senior sent the ball curling toward the back post, and Carlin rose up to score the game-winner.

“That was just hard work,” Dore said. “I mean just fighting, scrapping. He was in the right place at the right time and just has a nose for the goal. I’m so happy for him scoring the game-winning goal in a game like this. It’s something that he will remember forever.”

Carlin said the goal was the result of a connection between him and Viers that started two years ago when they were playing on the junior varsity team.

“I had a feeling it was going back post,” he said. “It started from my freshman year when I played JV. Liam was on every single corner, and our connection’s always been really good. I knew he was going to look for my head, and I knew that if it was going to come to my head, I had to try to do my job to the best of my ability. It came off my face, and it just bounced off the ground into the goal.”

Let’s not forget about the Avon defense, which technically didn’t allow a goal, although goalie Owen Huron doesn’t get credit for a shutout.

“(Defense is) the story of most postseasons for us,” Dore said. “We’ve given up six less goals than we did last year. We have 14 shutouts. One more gets our goalkeeper a tie for the record in school history, which is unbelievable for a player that was a third-string goalkeeper last year. But I have to give credit to the team defending. It’s easy to watch our big, tall guys head the ball out and win tackles, but we defended well all over the field.”

So now it’s on to the state final for another matchup with Brecksville. The teams tied, 1-1, on Sept. 26 this season, and last year they tied, 2-2, in the regular season and then Avon edged the Bees in a state semifinal, 2-1.

“This is unreal,” Carnie said. “No one expects a public school like Avon to go back-to-back. So, let’s make it happen.”