News for the Week of 10/24/2011

Program Notes for the Week of 10/24/11:

Game Recaps:
The 2011 season came to an end on Saturday as the Shoregals lost to Olmsted Falls in a shootout by a score of 1-0.  We finished the season at 7-8-2 which unfortunately ended a streak of 16 consecutive winning seasons.  We can look forward to starting a new streak next year.

AL at home vs. Olmsted Falls  10/22/11
Sectional Championship

AL   0       Olmsted Falls  1  SO (4-3)

Game Summary:
Olmsted Falls claimed a Sectional championship with a shootout win over Avon Lake by a final score of 1-0. The two teams played 110 minutes of scoreless soccer fueled by a tremendous defensive effort by the Lady Bulldogs. Olmsted Falls coach Kelly Yurick employed a clever strategy of dropping 6-8 girls back in the defensive end, employing an offsides trap, and also man marking Avon Lake leading scorer senior Jillian Strimbu. The strategy worked perfectly as the Falls repeatedly frustrated Avon Lake scoring attempts. The Shoregals outshot OF 18 to 5 and had the advantage in shots on goal 7 to 3, but could not convert a finisher. Both senior Jillian Strimbu and sophomore Emily O'Connor had a number of great attempts on goal, but each time were thwarted by the Lady Bulldog defense.

After playing through two scoreless overtime periods, the teams then went to the 5 round shootout format which was won by Olmsted Falls 4 to 3 and thus earning them the lone goal needed to secure victory. Avon Lake penalty kicks were scored by senior Jillian Strimbu, senior Annie Lyons, and sophomore Emily O'Connor. OF countered with made kicks by freshman Emma Whitney, senior Jill Mesaros, senior Reilee DuPratt, and the winner by sophomore Laney Haviland. Haviland has been on fire in the postseason scoring 3 goals in a playoff win over Elyria and netting the game clincher against Avon Lake. In goal for the Lady Bulldogs was junior Madison Woods who made some tremendous saves on Avon Lake shots and blocked one of the Shoregal shootout attempts. She ended the game with 7 saves. Shoregal senior goalie Dana Strimbu ended her career with her 7th shutout this season and 14th overall with the Varsity.

Future Blogs:
Just because the season is over dosn't mean that we don't still have plenty to blog about regarding the girls program. We will continue to update with new blogs each week as we begin to plan for next season with indoor soccer and then conditioning. Next week, we present some statistical tidbits from the past season.

Election Time:
I just want to remind everyone that one of own - John Crooks is running for a seat on the Board of Education in Avon Lake.  He is the father of sophomore Amy Crooks. 
His profile may be found at:

http://avonlake.patch.com/articles/candidate-profile-john-crooks-for-avon-lake-board-of-education

John has some very impressive educational credentials and look over his bio and see if he might be someone you would like to vote for.

Soccer Site of the Week:
Now that the season is completed, the girls are free to tryout with various premier clubs.  This week we will feature a popular club among our Shoregal players in Cleveland United which may be visited at:

http://www.clevelandunited.org/

See the website for details about the club and for information about tryouts.

Cudos Corner:
No season would be complete without recognizing the volunteers who coordinate our concession stand.  Once again this year, an outstanding job was turned in by Betsy Mielcusny and Linda Gates.  They run a very organized stand and people don't always realize the time that is spent in shopping, loading up for every game, and then packing up after the game. On behalf of the coaching staff and the entire program, we would like to thank these two moms for their efforts this season.  We would also like to thank all the parents who worked shifts during the season to help raise funds for the program.