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Catholic Central boys soccer team advances past Coshocton

STEUBENVILLE — The third-seeded Catholic Central boys soccer team collected three goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half and did not look back, en route to a 3-0 victory against fifth-seeded Coshocton in a Division III Eastern District sectional final on a warm Tuesday evening on the Tony Recinella Soccer Field.

During the first half, the Crusaders applied pressure on the Redskins, but the hosts were unable to find the back of the net. At one point, head coach Steve Kopcha told his team, “It’s coming.”

Indeed it did.

“We started out a little nervous,” Kopcha said. “We calmed down and got into the flow of the game. We started developing some momentum, and we started to take control of the game. We just were not able to finish. We talked to them at halftime about having good touches and good things would come. That’s what happened.

“We were able to get it right in front of their goal. We had direct kicks. We had some of those special teams play, and that was enough (Wednesday).”

Coshocton struggled to generate offense against Catholic Central, as the Redskins recorded just four shots in the game.

“It was a lot different result this year,” Coshocton (4-11-2) head coach Matt Hartley said. “We only have two seniors. We have a lot of underclassmen. We have a lot of juniors. We don’t have a lot of player with a lot of playing team. We are an inexperienced team out on the field. We had to change goalies.

“It is tough. I thought he played well (Wednesday). We don’t have a lot of offense. That is something we are going to have to work on. The lack of offense has hurt us.”

Joseph Rohde delivered a goal and an assist to lead the Crusaders (8-6-2), while Michael Lee and David Kissinger each tallied a goal. Anthony Venditti contributed two assists. Michael Duff made two saves in goal for the shutout.

“I guess you can call this a sectional final,” Kopcha said. “This means we are happy we get to play another game in the tournament. We are able to extend our season for a few more days.”

Isaac Dickerson finished with seven saves for the visitors.

With the win, Catholic Central will now play No. 2 seed West Muskingum in a district semifinal Tuesday night on the road. West Muskingum advanced by defeating No. 8 seed Caldwell, 4-0, Tuesday night at home. Caldwell defeated No. 9 seed Edison, 6-1, in the sectional semifinals Saturday afternoon.

“I know they are a very good team,” Kopcha said about the Tornadoes. “They have had a great season. They only have one loss. It is going to be a challenge. If we go out and play to our best ability and play the way we are capable, I think we can give them a good game.”

After a scoreless first half, Lee finally put the Crusaders on the scoreboard about three minutes into the second half. Catholic Central was awarded a direct kick. The shot was on goal, and Dickerson bobbled it and Rohde knocked the ball into the back of the net, giving his team a 1-0 lead.

A few moments later, the Crusaders were awarded a corner kick. Venditti took it, and he sent the ball into the box where Kissinger was able to corral it and rip a shot into the net, making the score 2-0.

Lee capped the scoring about a minute later when he headed the ball into the net.

“They move the ball pretty well,” Hartley said. “I thought we were pretty evenly matched. I look at them out on the field, and I think they look a lot like us in a lot of aspects. I know it was 3-0 and the game got away from us, but our games against them always seem to be close. No matter what, our games and our scores against SCC, we always seem to be equally matched. It was the same this year.

“They had a couple nice balls that led to goals, and we couldn’t recover. They play a nice style of soccer. They have some good players.”

Last year, as the No. 4 seed, the Redskins defeated the Crusaders, 4-2, in a sectional final on the road. A round earlier, Coshocton shut out No. 8 seed Edison, 7-0, at home.

“It is hard to say,” Kopcha said about comparing last year to this year. “We both lost quality players. We knew coming in it was going to be a tough game. They have lost to some good teams. They play a tough schedule. We knew they were a quality team. Things worked out in our favor (Wednesday).”

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