JOSHUA GUNTER/THE PLAIN DEALERMedina's Jillian Graff and Strongsville's Emily Ogle fight for a ball in the first half of Medina's 2-0 victory on Sept. 11. Cuyahoga Heights soccer player Erika Gibson is not sure where she will attend college. But the senior forward sure knows how to score goals. Entering Thursday's regular-season finale at Wickliffe, Gibson's 27 goals were...
Medina's Jillian Graff and Strongsville's Emily Ogle fight for a ball in the first half of Medina's 2-0 victory on Sept. 11.Cuyahoga Heights soccer player Erika Gibson is not sure where she will attend college. But the senior forward sure knows how to score goals.
Entering Thursday's regular-season finale at Wickliffe, Gibson's 27 goals were tops in the area. Nicole Mikolcic has 26 goals for St. Joseph Academy, according to the Greater Cleveland Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association.
A year ago, Gibson had 14 goals and 11 assists for the Redskins, who stand 12-1-2 this season.
"I am actually surprised," said Gibson, who is considering a couple of offers from NAIA colleges. "I'm not focusing [on goals], but they are popping up like crazy."
Gibson, who intends to major in physical education and enter the coaching ranks, has two four-goal games and five hat tricks. She is the Redskins' career (64 goals) and season (27) scoring leader.
Cuyahoga Heights opens the Division II postseason tournament Monday when it hosts Independence.
Big dip After going 1-1-3, Medina dropped from the top spot in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 national poll to No. 22. The Bees (11-1-3) righted themselves with a 1-0 win against Hudson on Wednesday to claim their first outright Northeast Ohio Conference Valley Division title since 2006. The defending Division I state champs conclude their regular season Saturday against Massillon Jackson.
Conference rival Strongsville stands 14-1-1, the lone loss to Medina, heading into postseason play.
Boys soccer
Numbers game There were a lot of coaching victories on display at last Saturday's Strongsville-St. Ignatius contest.
In 21 seasons at Strongsville and two at Lake Ridge Academy, Tobey Cook was at 313-79-64. St. Ignatius' Mike McLaughlin was at 256-38-33 in his 16th season with the Wildcats.
Both coaches stand out in the playoffs, with Cook at 70-25 and McLaughlin at 62-12. St. Ignatius won state titles in 2004, 2005 and 2008.
McLaughlin got to add one to the victory column after the 4-1 win.
Moving up: The Wildcats (14-0) passed Gahanna Lincoln (14-0-1) for the top spot in the Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association state poll this week. It's nothing new since they were in that top spot all last season before losing the Division I title game on a shootout.
Senior Yianni Sarris said his club has become used to dealing with its lofty status.
"You know it's there," said Sarris, who had a goal against Strongsville. "The target is on our back. But we keep bouncing back."
Seton Hall Prep from Orange, N.J., has the top spot in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 national poll, with St. Ignatius second and Gahanna sixth.
Volleyball
Back in the swing: When Dawn Moses returned to coach Olmsted Falls after a one-year hiatus, her immediate goal was to get her team back in contention for the Southwestern Conference title. Thanks to last week's victory over previously-unbeaten Amherst, the Bulldogs entered the week 15-4, 11-1 and tied for first place with the Comets with two SWC matches remaining.
"Anytime you can keep up with Amherst, your program is headed in the right direction," said Moses, who led the Bulldogs to an unbeaten 2008 season en route to the Division I state title. "Amherst has five conference championships and we have nine since 2000."
Falls, ranked 18th in the recent Division I coaches state poll, avenged an earlier loss to the No. 4-ranked Comets with better passing and serving.
"Deme Morales is a great, great player for Amherst," said Moses, "but the girls needed to go into that match with the goal of beating the entire team and not Deme. Our girls bought into it." To the rescue: When Keystone found itself without a coach at the end of June, a familiar face stepped in. Dave Cross, who coached the Wildcats for 22 seasons, returned to the helm after being away for two seasons and they haven't missed a beat. They're 14-5, 9-2 and in second place in the Patriot Athletic Conference Stars Division behind Buckeye, which is 11th in the Division II coaches state poll.
"It was just the right thing to do," said Cross, "because this is such a talented and good group of kids."
If anything, his return has made him feel older since senior defensive specialist Karen Schaffer, senior setter Jessica Jewitt, junior rightside hitter Becca Conrad and senior outside hitter Megan Johnson are all younger siblings of ex-Keystone players who played under Cross.
"Our senior outside hitter Casidy Gregory played for me when she was a freshman but it's [junior libero] Kiki Williams who really makes me feel old," said Cross. "I coached her mom." Fit to be tied: Waterloo and defending champ Streetsboro entered the week tied for first place in the Portage Trail Conference County Division after Waterloo's 25-17, 25-18, 22-25, 25-18 victory over the Rockets, avenging an earlier-season loss. Emily Plajer (10 kills), Bryce Wiley (18 digs) and Megan Forney (five kills) led the way as the trio also combined for 24 blocks. Magic in the middle: Stow pulled a minor Northeast Ohio Conference Valley Division upset with a five-game match win over Strongsville.
"We served tough to get [Strongsville] out of their system and we played great defense but the difference were our middle hitters," said first-year Bulldogs coach Miguel Ramirez, whose team lost to the Mustangs in three games earlier this season. "They were running all over the place and running different sets."
Jackie Close finished with 18 kills, 20 digs, four block assists and two solo blocks and Lexi Stefanov added 14 kills and 14 blocks, but both teams weren't at full strength.
Stow was without Jenna Chilinski, whose knee was scoped three weeks ago. She was expected to play in Thursday's match against Solon. Strongsville was without Maryland-Baltimore County recruit Alexis Plagens, whosesprained ankle will sideline her until the postseason.
"It didn't matter because Stow played well and we did nothing to help our cause," said Strongsville coach Erick Sopata. "We lost the battle of serving and serve receiving." Turning it around: Mayfield stood 11-8 as of Monday after once being 4-7. Second-year coach Rosella Glodkowski cited two reasons for her team's slow start: youth and strength of schedule.
"Our back row players are young and we had to improve our serve receive," said Glodkowski, citing the improved play of junior libero Kayli Canganelli and senior defensive specialists Jen Hengst and Emily Johns. "We also opened the season against Gilmour Academy and Beaumont."
The Wildcats seasoned front line is headed by 5-11 junior kill leader Amy Kole, senior outside hitter Erin Citraro and 5-8 junior outside hitter Morgan McGrath.
However, it all starts with junior setter Mikayla Zernic. "Mikayla never loses her cool and because she doesn't, she's the key," said Glodkowski. Knights fall short: Newbury felt it could challenge for the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division tile but will most likely fall short by two games to defending champion Berkshire.
"We needed to beat [Berkshire] the first time we played because it was at our place," said Knights coach Carla Richardson, referring the Badgers' 26-24, 25-27, 21-25, 25-18, 15-5 victory. "The first game of that match was crucial and it might have had a different outcome if we had won the first game."
Newbury, a Division IV regional qualifier a year ago, will be led into the postseason by senior outside hitter Katie Barton and senior setter Lindsey Knight.
"Katie's defense gets overlooked but she plays the left back very well," said Richardson, "and Lindsey's been solid running our 5-1 attack the last three years."
Wake up please For the second consecutive week, Lake Catholic is ranked No. 1 and Kenston is No. 2 in the Division II coaches state poll, despite the fact Kenston defeated Lake Catholic three weeks ago the first time they met. The Bombers beat the Cougars again on Monday.
"I know a lot of coaches say they don't pay attention to the polls and we really don't," said Kenston coach Dan Coughlin, "because the coaches in the southern part of Ohio don't know what's going on up here."
Dan Coughlin then reverted back to when his brother, Kelly Coughlin (now Gilmour's coach), was an assistant at Olmsted Falls when the Bulldogs went unbeaten and won the Division I state title in 2008.
"Falls was ranked No. 6 in the final state poll that year so you really can't put much stock in the rankings," said Dan Coughlin.
Cross country
Conference weekend: Most area league meets will be Saturday as the regular season draws to a close. District, regional and state weekends follow.
The Northeast Ohio Conference meet at Strongsville at 3 p.m. features five teams ranked in this week's Division I state coaches poll: Medina boys (second), Hudson boys (21st), Hudson girls (third), Brunswick girls (fourth) and Strongsville girls (14th). For the first time, all three NOC divisions will race together, and be scored separately.
Defending Division III state champion and fourth-ranked Independence boys are one of four ranked teams at the Chagrin Valley Conference meet at the Perry Outdoor YMCA. The others are Chagrin Falls girls (18th, Div. II), Berkshire girls (14th, Div. III), and Berkshire boys (seventh, Div. III).
A pair of third-ranked boys teams, Elyria Catholic (Div. II) and Trinity (Div. III), headline the North Coast League meet at Squire Valleevue Farm in Hunting Valley at 10 a.m. Trinity is led by state 3,200-meter track champ Nick Gliha. Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's boys are ranked eighth in Division II.
No. 1-ranked and defending state champ Woodridge boys (Div. II) are among four ranked teams at the Portage County Fairgrounds for the Portage Trail Conference meet at 9 a.m. The Bulldogs girls are ranked eighth, and Crestwood's girls and Field's boys are both 17th in Division II.
There should be a good boys battle between No. 5 Avon and No. 6 Bay at the West Shore Conference meet at Cahoon Park in Bay Village at 10 a.m. Rocky River girls are No. 2 and Bay's girls are 13th, all in Division II.
No. 16 Avon Lake boys (Div. I) are the top-ranked team at the Southwestern Conference Championships at Lorain County Community College at 10 a.m.
The Suburban League meet at Akron's Goodyear Park at 9 a.m. will feature boys standout Josh Sabo of Revere, as well as Wadsworth's 22nd-ranked boys team.
The Patriot Athletic Conference meet is at the LaGrange Equestrian Center at 8:15 a.m.
Boys golf
Game planning Seldom do you hear of teams making a game plan for a golf tournament, other than the usual credo of "keep it in play, weigh the risk versus the reward and try not to three-putt."
That was not the case for the Lake Ridge Academy Lions, who became the first team in school history to qualify for a state tournament when they finished second to Gilmour Academy in the Division III district tournament at Seven Hills last week with a score of 322. Lake Ridge opened in 1963.
With only the top two teams advancing to today's state tournament, the Lions were in fourth place at the turn, two shots behind Warren JFK and Hillsdale. But, they were paired with Gilmour and that helped make a difference.
"Our overall plan was to maintain a 'match play' mentality playing with Gilmour," said third-year coach Andrew Edgar. "We felt coming in that we were the second-best team at district and by shifting our focus away from individual scores and staying as close as possible to the Gilmour players on a hole-by-hole basis, it would give us the best chance at qualifying for state. We stayed patient, focused on the game plan and kept our composure on the back nine."
Senior Spencer Scheeler led the Lions with a 79 and was followed by senior Nick Nemetz (82), junior Mitchell Rice (83) and freshman Ryan McCarthy (88).
"I credit our top three with sticking to the plan and doing what they needed to do," said Edgar. "The Seven Hills greens were pretty tough and I know each of them weren't overly thrilled with their individual scores, but when they could see how it played out in the end, they knew the actual score didn't matter."
What made the runner-up finish additionally sweet is the team missed the cut of advancing to the state tournament by two shots last year.
-- Bob Fortuna, Joe Maxse, Tim Warsinskey