Apparently all Medina's girls soccer team needed was a little adversity. The Battling Bees headed into Wednesday night's Northeast Ohio Conference Valley Division contest against Hudson facing an ugly truth. Anything other than a win would take them from a No. 1 ranking in the nation by ESPN Rise to a possible third-place finish in the league in less...
Apparently all Medina's girls soccer team needed was a little adversity.
The Battling Bees headed into Wednesday night's Northeast Ohio Conference Valley Division contest against Hudson facing an ugly truth. Anything other than a win would take them from a No. 1 ranking in the nation by ESPN Rise to a possible third-place finish in the league in less than a month.
Bees center midfielder Jillian Graff ended the suspense in what became a 1-0 Bees win. The Florida recruit was awarded a penalty kick after Hudson keeper Hannah Durak took her down near the right post with 4:03 remaining in the first half.
Graff collected herself and froze Durak on the penalty kick, pocketing the ball to the left.
"It's a big accomplishment," Graff said. "We haven't won [the league] in so many years. Strongsville had won it a couple years in a row. It feels awesome to kick them off the roll they were on."
The win gave Medina (11-1-3, 4-0-1) their first conference crown since 2006. It also ended an impressive streak by Strongsville. While the Mustangs (14-1-1, 4-1) beat Brunswick, 7-0, on Wednesday, they found themselves without a league title for the first time since 2004.
Not that Medina coach Doug Coreno minded.
"The win was huge," he said. "There was a lot of pressure tonight. A tie and we're not the conference champs. We knew we had to come out and win this game.
"We just approached it like a playoff game. It was win or go home. Hudson's a good program. They came in with a nine-game winning streak and had an outside chance of winning [the league] for themselves. Both teams had a lot to play for and we played some great soccer."
The reigning Division I champion Bees controlled action most of the evening against Hudson (11-4-1, 3-2) and put together a game worthy of the victory.
It was only the team's second win in the past six games.
"This means a lot to our team," Medina keeper Taylor Burke said. "It's something really cool to win this year since we won state last year, but didn't win the conference. It's a great accomplishment for us."
Hudson had two chances to tie it 10 minutes into the second half -- the Explorers had only three shots on goal in the game -- but All-Ohioan Burke was there to stone both attempts and pick up her 12th shutout of the season.
Brad Bournival is a freelance writer in North Royalton.