News for the Week of June 11, 2012

Program Notes for the Week of 6/11/2012:

Coaches Contact Days:
Just a reminder that a series of four coaches contact days will be held this week on Mon. thru Thurs.  It will be a combination of fitness training along with defensive and offensive skills training.  The sessions will be held at Troy at 7:00 a.m. and will last to approx. 8:30 a.m.


New Varsity Assistant Coach Named:
We have some good news to report as we would like to announce a new assistant coach for the Varsity. His name is Todd Kauffman and he is a 2005 graduate of ALHS where he played Varsity soccer all 4 years for the boys team. His senior year he was named to the first team All_SWC along with being named numerous times to All County teams and All Greater Cleveland teams throughout his career. He also lettered in Cross Country and Track for 3 years and was an impressive all around athlete. After high school, he attended Ohio University where he graduated in 2010 with degrees in communication and video production. He is currently an employee with Avon Lake City Schools. Please join me in welcoming Todd to the girls program!


 20th Anniversary of Shoregal Soccer:
This season we will celebrate 20 years of Shoregal soccer. That is a long time and we have had a lot of terrific girls pass through our program over the years who have set the bar high for future generations. Each week, we are going to highlight some of the important games and important people to the program over these last 20 years.

This week we will feature the 2006 District championship game: 

It is hard to pick out one game as the greatest game in program history, but this game would probably fit that bill.  Not only for the importance of the game, but for all the events and emotions that surrounded the game.  There were many levels to this game and its effects were felt for years afterward.

The game was played on Saturday afternoon 10/28/06 against a powerful Magnificat team in which the Shoregals were a decided underdog. In fact, it was noticed that the Magnificat parents had a brought a "Congratulations District Champions" cake into the stadium before the game started - that's how sure they felt about this game.  No one was picking Avon Lake to win this game as the Shoregals came into the playoffs with a very average record of 6-6-3 and had started the season 0-4.   But during the playoffs, the Shoregals got hot and won their first three playoff games all by shutout to reach the District championship game.

The game was originally scheduled to be a home game for the Shoregals, but the night before the Shoremen football game was played in a driving rainstorm in old Memorial Stadium which featured a grass field.  The football game rendered the field unplayable for the District game and it was moved to Rocky River which had an all weather turf field.  This game ended up being used for years as one of the main justifications for installing the turf field that is in existence today in Memorial Stadium.

As for the game itself, the Shoregals and Magnificat battled to a 0-0 tie through 80 minutes of regulation time.  Avon Lake really had the better scoring opportunities throughout the game as they had 5 solid chances where the Mags goalie was out of position, but failed to put it in the back of the net.  Adding to the drama were adverse weather conditions.  A typical fall day in northern Ohio where every season was represented.  It was a cold day and was raining during many parts of the game.  The rain at one point turned to sleet and frozen pellets mixed in with some snow.  Then during the second half, the skies cleared and the sun actually came out, but by the end of the game the snow had come back.  While the action was taking place on the field, there was also drama in the stands.  Word had circulated through the stands that Gino Strippoli a long time coach, referee, and board member of the Avon Lake Soccer Organization had been rushed to the hospital with a heart attack while reffing a game in Lodi. 

Back on the field, the girls has finished regulation time in a 0-0 tie which meant that two 5 minute overtime periods would be played with the team that scored first the winner.  Through the first overtime period, neither team was able to score.  Meanwhile, up in the stands the incredibly tragic news came that Gino had died from the heart attack. A very weird vibe swept through the stands as the sadness of hearing about Gino was mixed with the intense rooting for the girls to win this game.  Then it happened - the Shoregals were awarded a corner kick which was taken by Sammy Harris who drove the ball into the middle of the box and a leaping Kimmy Ward, who was a defender that was moved up for the corner kick, headed the ball in for the winning goal and the Shoregals first District championship!  Just an amazing victory for a huge underdog team which was given no chance of winning. However, the joy was muted by the knowledge that the girls would be told about the news of Gino within the next few minutes.

There will probably never be a game quite like this again which will end in a bittersweet moment where the elation of winning our first District championship is tempered by the death of a man who personally coached many of the girls on the field that day and would have been so proud of them in their victory, but never got the chance to tell them.

 The Shoregals were coached this season by Caleb Reutter who was in the third year of a 4 yr. coaching stint in which he coached the girls to 40 victories and still their only District championship.