News for the Week of Sept. 12, 2011

Program Notes for the Week of 9/12/11:

Schedule:
Two games this week for the Varsity/JV.  The first game will be on Monday 9/12 at home vs. Valley Forge at 5:00 & 7:00 p.m. The second game will be on Wednesday 9/14 at Midpark.  Varsity game is at 4:00 p.m. and the JV game will follow at 6:00 p.m. Remember that the Midpark field does not have lights so they switch the order of the games to be sure the Varsity game is played in light.  The Freshmen team has 3 games this week on Monday 9/12 at home vs. Hudson, on Tuesday 9/13 away vs. Brecksville and on Wednesday 9/14 at home vs. St. Joseph Academy. All games have a 5:00 p.m. start time.


Game Recaps:
The week's only game was a draw with Amherst. See the game summary below:

AL at Amherst on 9/7:

AL 1  Amherst 1

Goals:
AL - Emily Peepers

Amherst - Gabrielle Semon

Assists:
AL - Jillian Strimbu

Am - Julie Lacock

Goalies:
AL - Dana Strimbu - 3 saves

Am - Ashley Ferguson - 4 saves

Game Summary:
In a hard fought, physical contest featuring 22 fouls and a yellow card, Avon Lake travelled to Amherst and battled the Comets to a 1-1 draw. While the Shoregals missed on a number of great scoring opportunities in the 1st half, it was Amherst who got on the board first just before halftime. On a set kick after an AL foul, the Comets sophomore Julie Lacock sent a ball to right side of the Avon Lake goal which was headed in by fellow sophomore Gabrielle Semon. In the second half, the Shoregals netted the game tying tally on a corner kick from senior Jillian Strimbu which was fired into the goal by sophomore Emily Peepers for her first high school score. Peepers was a JV callup for the game and left a positive impression on the Avon Lake faithful. The Shoregals had another great opportunity in the 67th minute when sophomore Emily O'Connor was fouled in the box and Avon Lake was awarded a penalty kick. Senior Jillian Strimbu sent the penalty kick low to the left post and Comet junior goalkeeper Ashley Ferguson made a tremendous stop to preserve the tie. Ferguson recorded 4 saves on the night while the Amherst defense thwarted a number of excellent chances by the Shoregals. Dana Strimbu was in goal for Avon Lake and recorded 3 saves. Avon Lake's record is now 1-1-2 while Amherst moves to 3-2-1 on the season.

JV Recaps:
In JV action, Avon Lake won a 1-0 thriller for their second win of the season and upped their record to 2-1-1 and remain undefeated in the SWC.


A Word About Our Schedule...
I am getting a sense that there has been some comments made that a reason that the girls program has had successful records is because they play an easy schedule. I would counter that with we win games because of the excellent quality of our players.  Let's quickly review -  on this year's schedule we have a State runner-up in Hathaway Brown, a Regional champion in Strongsville, one District champion (Westlake), and 3 District Finalsits (Rocky River, Solon, & Sylvania Northview). Nine of the teams won 11 games or more last season and the total winning percentage of all the teams combined on the schedule is 61% - WOW!  In addition, we play 3 teams ranked in the top 50 in the nation according to the ESPN poll in Solon, Strongsville, and Brecksville.  Also, in the Plain Dealer's girls soccer preview they list 12 teams that they feel are the best in the area and 6 of those teams are on our schedule this year and a seventh - Bay Village - we scrimmaged.  I would say that this is a sufficiently challenging schedule and is similar to schedules that we have played in the past. Once again, we win games against top ranked teams because of the outstanding quality of our players and coaching staff.


Soccer Site of the Week:
This week our highlighted site will be the RISE/ESPN girls soccer site which can be found at:

http://rise.espn.go.com/girls-soccer/index.aspx

At this site you will find the top 50 nationwide rankings of girls soccer teams along with recruiting commitments and other info. related to HS girls soccer.