TWINSBURG — Sixth-seeded Chagrin Falls tallied a goal off a deflection just minutes into the match and made it stand up for a hard-earned 1-0 win over 10th-seeded West Branch in a Div. IV regional semifinal girls soccer match on Tuesday at Twinsburg Tiger Stadium.

Youthful West Branch bows out of the season with a 12-3-4 record. The Warriors defeated Ravenna 8-0, Northwest 2-0 and Southeast 6-0 to reach the regional semifinal.

“We’ll have nine returning starters next year,” said West Branch head coach Zachary Dean, who praised his team for reaching Ohio’s Sweet 16. “It’s a great year, definitely. I can’t speak highly enough of the girls. They put in hard work all year. Unfortunately, we came up a little short tonight.”

The loss was an exceptionally tough one for the Warriors, who had won an 11th straight league title this fall and hadn’t allowed a goal in the past three and a half weeks. West Branch hadn’t given up a goal in a match since Oct. 5 in a 3-1 win at United.

“Getting that early goal was huge,” said Chagrin Falls head coach Joe Ciuni. “Then, we had to dig deep, we lost a few key players to some injuries, unfortunately, but everybody else stepped up, and they needed to. We needed the shutout tonight and our defensive mids and forwards all contributed to that as well as Izzy (Pribanic) in the goal and we got what we needed.”

Chagrin Falls, which is just three years removed from winning the Div. II state championship, tallied a goal by Tiger senior Abby Coy, a member of that state championship team, at the 33:14 mark of the first half.

The match then turned into a defensive gem played by both teams. The Tigers, who led in shots on goal 10-3, were able to kill off the few scoring opportunities the Warriors had in the match.

“I’m proud of my girls, they had to dig deep for this one and they played with a lot of heart,” stated Ciuti.

West Branch’s best chance to score actually occurred in the match’s opening minutes. The Warriors had four corner kicks in the first 40 minutes and the first one sailed inside and was rocketed just wide of the net at the 35:00 mark.

“I thought we definitely had one early,” said Dean of the near miss off the corner kick. “Their keeper came up with a great save.”

Less than two minutes later, the Tigers tallied their goal off a deflection in heavy traffic.

“Chagrin is a great program,” said Dean.

“Three years ago the seniors were freshmen (on the state title team) and three of them were all starters on that team, so they bring a lot of experience and knowledge to the team this year,” explained Ciuni.

West Branch’s standout sophomore goalkeeper Audrey Eaton had eight saves in the match.

Chagrin Falls (12-5-4) advances to the Div. IV regional title game Saturday at noon at Parma’s Byers Field at Robert Boution Stadium against No. 2 seeded Poland (15-3-2) which advanced through its regional semifinal against Wickliffe Tuesday evening.

“We’ve never played them (Poland) but I’ve seen them play,” said the Chagrin Falls head coach. “It will be a good match, they’re a good team. You have to start by going step by step. We started with a district title but we know we have more in us, and so this game was next and now Saturday is the next step and we’ll try and go win that one.”

The Tigers had defeated Akron Coventry (8-0), Lakeview (6-2) and Fairview Park (8-2) in reaching the regional semifinals.

Meanwhile, West Branch will return a veteran team with regional experience next fall. The Warriors outscored their opponents, 55-8, this season and won seven matches by shutout.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the seniors, they were great leaders for us this year,” said the West Branch head coach. “Especially with a first-year head coach, they definitely stepped up and helped out tremendously and we’re going to definitely miss them.”