Eagles just one spot short of the Final Four

Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com

Call it the Revenge Tour. Call it a Cinderella Run.
Could the Eastwood girls soccer team be on the verge of making history?
Whatever label you want to put on Eastwood’s run to the Division IV regional final, it’s been a wonderful journey as this team has defied the odds to get back within one match of the Final Four, a place it’s never been.
The Eagles, who won six games in the regular season, defeated Hubbard, 3-0, in a regional semifinals, which was preceded by wins in the district over fellow Northern Buckeye Conference foes in Oak Harbor (3-1), the No. 2 seed, and Lake (1-0), the No. 1 seed — both of whom tied for the league title — and No. 6 Otsego (9-1).
In the regular season, the Rockets beat Eastwood, 2-1, and the Flyers and the Eagles tied, 2-2.
Eastwood coach Julie Cross, who is in her third year coaching the team, talked about the win over Hubbard, which saw Piper Sutton score twice and Karly Wasserman finish with one goal while Karissa Nelson had two assists. Last year, Cross’ squad made it to the regional finals as well. This year’s team, which is 10-8-3, had closer matches than last year’s team, which wasn’t challenged until it beat Woodmore, 3-2, in overtime in a district final.
“We knew once we get to regionals, you know you’re going to play on turf, which is different because we’re used to playing on grass. The girls made the most of warmups, and right from the beginning, we set the tempo and dictated how the game was going to go. We played a complete game together, from front to back, it was connecting passes well,” said Cross. “We talked about keeping the ball (and knew) the wind shouldn’t impact us if we were following the game plan. We settled in and when Piper put in the goal with about 15 minutes left in the 1st half; it was a sigh of relief, and we just dominated the rest of the way.”
Cross said all of the NBC teams, except for Maumee, were in the same district.
“We knew we were going to play teams we had seen before; the girls bought in. We knew we were a better team than what our record was. I talked with multiple league coaches, and we all knew that whichever team made it out would have to earn it,” said Cross. “Playing a team more than once in our season, it was not an easy run, and these girls definitely earned it.”
In the win over the Rockets, Sutton had two goals, Nelson scored once and Kennedy Ameling had two assists while Lauren Scheurman chipped in with one.
The win over Lake was a thriller, one that saw Nelson score the match’s lone goal with 32:01 to play. She received a nice pass from Wasserman, had to juke the goalie (Lauren Tobias), who came out to stop her, and was able to convert.
Nelson, Sutton and Wasserman all had great opportunities to score earlier in the match, but were denied, either by Tobias or some bad luck.
It was the Flyers’ lone loss of the season.
“This is the fourth time in program history we’ve made it to the Elite Eight. It’s our sixth district title,” said Cross. “I was the assistant coach for several of those, and the last three seasons, my first year, we got knocked out in districts, and last year, we lost to Ottawa-Glandorf in regional finals.”
Perhaps the unsung hero of the journey has been the goalkeeper, Jordan Jensen, who has allowed just two goals during the run. Along with Sutton, Kenna Nelson and Riley Burtchin, she is one of the captains.
“Jordan came in as a freshman and worked herself into a starting role on a very talented and senior-heavy team (when) I was the assistant coach. Talk about pressure, being a freshman on a team that was talked about that if Eastwood is going to make a run to state, it’s going to be that year,” said Cross. “They knew we graduated a lot last year, and they were going to have big shoes to fill leadership-wise. Jordan is a very vocal leader, and a leader with her work ethic, and she has had to step up and make more saves and stop more shots, and also had to overcome adversity. It’s a testament to the other leaders on our teams — they got the younger players to buy in (because) the tournament is a totally new season.”
Cross talked about the alignment she likes to employ.
“Our alignment, we switch it up (sometimes). We have a back four, and a combination of midfielders changes, sometimes two up top or three up top,” said Cross. “As the years have gone by, I’ve gotten more confident and comfortable with who we have healthy and who we’re playing.”
Jensen is the goalie with Burtchin, Ameling, Grace Meter and Kenzie Chaffee as the defenders.
Sutton, Kenna Nelson and Ava Kachmarik are the primary midfielders, but Karissa Nelson and Lexi Hoffman also see plenty of time.
Wasserman is a forward with Karissa Nelson and Macy Shoemaker playing alongside her at times.
Kaitlin Abbey is the backup goalie, and there are a number of other key reserves — Lilly Firsdon (D/M), Aubrey Porter (M), Amara Wilton (F/M), Olivia Nutter (M), Josie Appelhans (M), Sophia Sunk (D/M), Teagan Lloyd (D), Delilah Vanderwaarden (D/M), Ell Iiams (M) and Laihela Reardon (D).
“I have a roster of 25 players, I have a very young bench,” said Cross. “Other teams have said this to me that our bench, in general, is a game-changer — whatever the role is for the girl on my roster, they are bought-in, I give a lot of credit to the girls that are not playing 80 minutes. The mindset is they’re bought in and they cheer their teammates on and work hard in practice. It’s special that I have so many players who have bought in.

“Every season, there’s something special. The mindset from the No. 1 player down to No. 25, they’re all contributing in some way, making an impact. That has been real fun, and the turnaround from our regular season record, (most people) wouldn’t have given us a chance. That mindset going into the tournament, we made it this far last year, put pressure on us because we were expected to make it this far. The girls are just having fun. We are pumped to get to practice and be together. We want to make it further than any other Eastwood team has before,” Cross said.