Local Sports

United falls short in regionals again

BURTON -- United's boys soccer team came into the Div. V regional semifinal on Wednesday used to punching above its weight.

Against a team it played a scoreless tie to in the regular season, the 11th seeded Golden Eagles met their match with a 5-1 loss to No. 2 seed Rootstown on Wednesday at Burton Berkshire High School.

Rootstown scored four goals in the first half when the rain was just steady. In the second half it turned into pouring rain with the occasional burst of wind.

The Golden Eagles fell to 11-7-3, while Rootstown moved to 16-2-2. The Rovers advance to meet No. 1 seed Elyria Open Door at 2 p.m. Sunday in Ravenna in the regional final. Open Door beat No. 3 seed Champion 3-2 in overtime on Wednesday.

United was in the regional semifinal for the third straight season but the Rovers played up to their seed number.

"Weather was crappy for both teams," United coach Curtis Jones said. "The ball was slick for both teams. They hit us hard in the first minute. We had our back to our goal and we kind of gave up a foul. They hit a low-driving shot that skipped. Any kind of shot like that in these conditions was going to be tough for the keeper."

The opening goal was scored just over a minute into the game on a Zach Pastor free kick, but the Rovers kept pushing after that and it was thanks to a player who came into the game with four goals on the season, Bryson Scarlett.

"The last game United played they played six to seven back against Kidron Central Christian, so we just built around the house, moved it around the top and got to where you have to take a shot," Rootstown coach Charlie Voth said. "Scarlett has a good shot, but it's not in his personality. He just had to do it."

Scarlett pushed the lead to 2-0 with 22:45 left in the first half, but United was able to respond quickly with a Zach Blake goal with 16:52 left to pull the Eagles back in it. 

"(Rootstown) went right back down and scored again," Jones said. "The next five minutes after any goal it's so important because the adrenaline of both teams is up. The team that conceded is hyper-focused on giving up that goal.

“Whenever you focus on something negative you often do that negative thing. Whereas the other team has the adrenaline and that push. What I emphasized is whether we scored or not, is we had to lock in. We wanted to be that team that scored again in that five minutes. You could almost create like an avalanche by putting that pressure on." 

There was no avalanche. Only more rain and two more goals from Scarlett to put the Rovers up 4-1 at the half. 

It was in stark contrast to the 0-0 game played on Oct. 8 at United. 

"The size of the field was the difference," Voth said. "To tell you the truth we had shots (the last time) but we just couldn't hit them. Plus when a team is at home they feel more comfortable. They knew where they were when they moved around on the field."

Jones said the Eagles bunkered on defense in the first meeting because they had thought they lost starting center back Liam Jones to a season-ending knee injury. That turned out not to be the case though. 

"I moved some players around," Curtis Jones said. "We were really tidy on defense and they got frustrated by it and committed a lot of fouls. They started focusing on the officiating instead of playing us."

The second half was played in terrible conditions as the wind and rain kicked up harder. United goalkeeper Aiden Gunderson kept the game from getting a lot worse for the Eagles with some strong saves, but just as the rain let up toward the end Pastor added his second goal.

The Golden Eagles ended their campaign having won their third straight district title. The team has also been to six straight district finals. 

Now the hard part is finding out how to get beyond a regional semifinal. 

"This is our hurdle," Curtis Jones said. "We keep stumbling here. I haven't figured that out yet. All the previous years we've just run into juggernauts. The one year we we ran into an Andrews Osbourne team that was good enough to go deep in the tournament.

“Another year we ran into Toledo Ottawa Hills. They went to the state final four. The one year it was Kidron Christian. They went to the state final four. We always run into an opponent that ends up being the best in the state. As you get to this point with the final 16 teams in the state, there are no easy opponents. It's a combination of skill, heart and determination and luck. We just seem to run out of luck when we hit this stage."

GAME NOTES

• Rootstown hit their average of five goals a game. 


• Pastor now has 34 goals. 


• Jude Andrea led United in goals with 30.