Led by Sydney Thomas, Eagles topple Magnificat, 3-1

Sydney Thomas is back, which can only mean trouble for the rest of Ohio.

After a slow start to the season, much of which she says was self-induced, Avon’s All-Ohio junior forward who is a verbal commit to Ohio State, seems to have rediscovered her love for the game. And with it, her ability to score goals.

Monday at Magnificat, Thomas scored two goals and assisted on another as the Eagles overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit to take a 3-1 decision, upping their record to 6-2-1. After opening the season with losses to Bay and Hudson, Avon has now faced seven consecutive opponents without a loss.

After scoring just four goals in her team’s first seven matches, Thomas has four goals and two assists in the last two, going back to last week’s 7-0 victory over Berea-Midpark.

When asked what had changed for her recently, Thomas replied, “Honestly, my mindset. I was in a little bit of a slump at the beginning of the season, and I put so much pressure on myself that it hurts my performance sometimes. But when I do my best, I have fun and enjoy the game with my teammates. I’m playing with my best friends. I enjoy the game, and that’s when I do my best.”

Thomas added that the self-induced pressure is not because of her recent success. It’s something she’s dealt with her entire playing career.

“I’ve always done it, ever since I was little,” she said. “There are times when I am so hard on myself because I expect myself to be perfect all the time, and I have to realize it’s okay to make mistakes and just fix them the next time.”

Coach Attila Csiszar said he has seen a change in his star in recent matches.

When asked to elaborate on what’s different, he said, “I just think the fire. I think she’s just ready. She came off that Berea-Midpark game, and I could see a different player. When you have a player like that, she can make the difference in the blink of an eye, and that’s what she’s done for this program. I just think her confidence is back.”

There was not a lot of confidence on the Avon side during the first half against Magnificat. The Eagles allowed a goal because of miscommunication on the back end—something that has plagued them this season—and struggled to put things together on the offensive end.

But things changed after halftime, as Avon came out with much more intensity. Freshman Matilda Veverka made an early statement when she hit the crossbar just over 1 minute into the half. Then, about 10 minutes later, came the blink of an eye that Csiszar was referring to as the Eagles scored three times in just over 12 minutes to put away the match.

“We were playing as a team,” Thomas said of the second half. “We weren’t just kicking the ball. We were playing to each other’s feet. We were connecting passes. Our defense did great. Our midfield did great. Our attackers did great. In the first half we were struggling a little bit to connect to feet and find those through balls. But in the second half we really put it together. We won every 50-50 ball, we were communicating and, ultimately, just playing as a team.”

First, Sienna Stuckart tied the score off a feed from Thomas, who was dribbling the ball along the goal line. Just 2:40 later, Thomas scored off a nice pass from Veverka. The icing on the cake came when Thomas pressed the Magnificat defense into a mistake, using her speed to deflect a pass and then putting the ball just inside the left post for a 3-1 lead.

“In the first half, I think we allowed them to get in, and every time we allow teams to get in, mentally they start to feel as though they’re comfortable,”. Csiszar said. “They get into their groove. I think we just took that away from them in the second half. I felt like we were pressing them in the first half, but they were beating us to the ball. The second half was totally different.”

The Eagles will take the field again on Wednesday when they host Midview in a Southwestern Conference match.