11/1/2012: Season Stats

 Iron Man means played in every game

READMORE

10/31/2012: General McLane 7- Conneaut 0

10/31/2012: Eagles ousted from playoffs by Lancers
By Dan Walk
Meadville Tribune

FRANKLIN — The General McLane boys soccer team relied on its defense while averaging two goals per game this season. That said, the focus at practice during the week and a half leading up to the Lancers’ District 10 Class AA quarterfinal clash with Conneaut was finishing at the goal offensively.

McLane’s attention to offense paid off on Wednesday at Franklin High School during a convincing 7-0 victory over the Eagles.

“I think finishing was a big thing today,” General McLane head coach Josh Hopkins said. “We got some bodies forward and we put our chances in. With the weather, we focused on making sure we got more quality opportunties.”

The Lancers (11-6-2) will now face Region 4 champion Warren (14-4) today at 7 p.m. in Harbor Creek.

McLane provided a powerful attack during the first half, scoring four times on just six shots on goal. The Lancers had 17 shots on goal to Conneaut’s five and never let off the accelerator. They added three second-half goals, including Bryan Olson’s score with six seconds left in the game.

Olson and Matt McCallion scored twice, while McCallion also had an assist. Zack Benedict added a goal and an assist, and Daniel Ahn and Parker McDermott also found the back of the net. Andy Zalik also registered an assist.

Senior keeper Kirk Dillen recorded his eighth shutout of the season. Dillen and the GM defense didn’t allow the Eagles (9-8-2) many great looks near the goal.

“It was a pretty standard day at the office for the defense,” Hopkins said. “Those guys back there did their job. Kirk’s a great goalkeeper. The back four make sure he gets minimal shots on him.”

The Lancers, who won last year’s Class AA district crown, lost 10 seniors to graduation. Dillen is among the few returning starters.

“I thought we relied on some of our playoffs experience,” Hopkins said. “We won D-10 last year and our mindset is we’re going to do our best to defend our title. That’s our challenge as a coaching staff to make sure we do our best to reload and get them going.”

Conneaut’s options to score were few and far between. GM didn’t dominate ball control, but the Eagles couldn’t convert once they were on the Lancers’ side of the field.

The Eagles’ best chance at a score was a shot that rung off the crossbar with under 13 minutes remaining. By then, it was already 5-0 Lancers.

“I just wish we could have had a better game,” Conneaut head coach Alan Wise said. “It was just unfortunate mistakes and errors. It was just lack of aggressiveness on the whole team.

“I think General McLane won most 50-50 balls and then when we had our chances, we just broke down with bad passes. ... Every ball went to their defense. Nothing got really behind them.”

Ahn scored an unassited goal at the 11th minute and Olson followed in the 14th. Benedict assisted McDermott’s score in the 27th minute before he added his own goal in the 32nd. McCallion’s goals came in the 52nd and 74th minutes.

Conneaut’s inaugural season came to an end following Wednesday’s defeat. So concludes the coaching career of Wise. He has spent 20 years coaching soccer, including since 2009 with Conneaut Area School District, and now plans to spend more time as a soccer referee.

“I’m proud for the seniors,” Wise said. “They got to taste the playoff experience.”

Today, the Lancers hope to avenge a 4-2 loss on Oct. 13 at Warren in order to have a shot at defending their district championship.

“I think we’re in a good spot mentally, so we’re looking forward to playing again (today),” Hopkins said.

READMORE

10/23/2012: Conneaut Soccer Makes Second Playoff Appearance

10/23/2012: Conneaut Soccer Makes Second Playoff Appearance In 11 Year History
CONNEAUT MEN'S SOCCER BLOG
By Ryan Kozlowski, Conneaut Men's Assistant Coach

11 years of Conneaut Soccer and the 2012 boy's version is the second team out of 22 versions (both men's and women's) to taste playoff competition.

The only other version was the 2007 boys who lost in the first round.

The team before 2012 was officially called Conneaut Valley, even though players from Linesville, Conneaut Lake, and Conneaut Valley always played together; and actually most of the players were from either Lake or Linesville.

"The new name and new colors might not be a positive for the traditions of football for Linesville, Lake, and Valley but it's been a positive for soccer. When I played or when we played last year most of the kids are not from Valley, but we go by Valley. It's nice to see all the players rally around new colors and a new identity and so far it's been good for us," said Assistant Ryan Kozlowski.

"Consider it a new start and a new history. So far Conneaut Eagles soccer is a playoff caliber program and we will look to continue that tradition next year and for years to come," continued Kozlowski.

The Conneaut Eagles (9-7-2), in their first playoff appearance as a new program, will take on General McLane (10-6-2) at Franklin 5 p.m. next Wednesday.

"McLane is the favorite but have an easy conference after themselves and Harbor Creek. They only have one more win then us on the season. We've had our ups and downs, some big wins and some big losses. But, what the players need to understand is that the playoffs is a new season and there 3 games away from a D-10 title. A chance to put that in the new school cabinet and come back 20 years from now and tell your kids, 'look what dad won.' It's up to them if that's enough to inspire them," commented Assistant Coach Kozlowski.

READMORE

10/20/2012: Hickory 3- Conneaut 1

10/20/2012: Hickory 3- Conneaut 1
CONNEAUT MEN'S SOCCER BLOG
By Ryan Kozlowski, Conneaut Men's Assistant Coach

Hickory scored early and Conneaut came out flat on a freezing last day of the season.

The only bright spot on a cold day was when Tanner Houck played a good ball through to Richard Moore, who finished once again, to make it 1-1 early in the second half.

But, instead of energizing Conneaut, the Eagles gave up two more goals to end the season on a sour note.

Nevertheless, 9-7-2 is a winning record and much better than the 2-16 of the previous season. The Eagles may still have an outside chance at playoffs.

READMORE

10/18/2012: Meadville 3- Conneaut 2

10/18/2012: Meadville 3- Conneaut 2
CONNEAUT MEN'S SOCCER BLOG
By Ryan Kozlowski, Assistant Men's Soccer Coach

The Conneaut boys (9-5-2) felt confident that they would have an easy time with Meadville at home for Senior Night.

They beat Meadville 2-1 earlier in the year at Meadville's Bender Field and Conneaut appeared to be on a role while Meadville at 2-13 were not.

But, while everything came to Conneaut easily yesterday against Commodore Perry, the Eagles looked out of sorts against the Bulldogs and struggled.

Freshman standout Cottrell McDonald for Meadville got the Bulldogs going with a goal 15 minutes in and would get a second late in the game to lead the Bulldogs to a 3-2 win.

Meadville went up 2-nil at half.

The second half started off well enough for Conneaut; as Eagles senior Josh Betts strike from 30 yards out deflected over the Bulldogs shot stopper and made it 2-1 with about 37 minutes left in the game.

Conneaut controlled most of the second half, desperate to win the game, but couldn't find many more legitimate scoring opportunities as Meadville's defense did a good job of frustrating the Eagles.

As it goes in soccer, Conneaut had about 80 percent of the possession second half but were caught off guard on a counter; as a nice ball that found Cottrell McDonald, who got one on one with the keeper, led to  a calm finish to put the game to bed at 3-1 with about 7 minutes left.

"Meadville is the best 2-13 team I've ever seen. They have players who can play in Cottrell, Sam, and Dane Cessna. They worked hard and deserved the win. We were tired but should have came with the same intensity that we did yesterday and unfortunately Meadville had a little more in the tank, and appeared to have more direction to their play," said Conneaut assistant Ryan Kozlowski.

Tyler Bone (assisted by Nick Stockton) picked up an insurance goal with a minute and a half left to make it 3-2.

Conneaut dropped to 9-6-2 and put their playoff chances in jeopardy, but would have a chance to rebound and get into double digits wins Saturday against Hickory.

READMORE

10/17/2012: Conneaut 5- Commodore Perry 1

H.S. SOCCER: Eagles continue playoff aspirations with big win

By Pete ChiodoMEADVILLE TRIBUNE

LINESVILLE — Being a Class AA squad in a Class A region, the Conneaut boys soccer team is well aware that it’s going to have to finish the season strong if it wants to be considered for a playoff spot in a couple weeks.

And Wednesday against Commodore Perry, it was easy to see the urgency in the Eagles’ effort as they routed the Panthers 5-1 during a Region 1 matchup at Conneaut Area Senior High School.

“Yeah, we’re trying to get to the playoffs,” said Eagles forward Richard Moore. “It’s my senior year. I haven’t made it yet. ... And this was probably one of our better games. Everyone’s adrenaline is rushing. We’re right there.”

With yesterday’s win, Conneaut is now 9-5-2 on the season and 6-3-1 against Region 1 opponents. The Eagles have two matches left, both against non-region teams — today they host Meadville and on Saturday they travel to Hickory.

Should Conneaut win out, the team will have 11 wins. But the Eagles have to stack that up against a pretty crowded Class AA field, which includes Harbor Creek, General McLane, Wilmington, Franklin, Warren and Saegertown, each of which have double-digit wins on the year.

“We have some good wins this year,” said Conneaut coach Alan Wise. “We beat Saegertown. We beat Kennedy Catholic. And if we can beat Meadville (today) we’ll have beat them twice, a triple-A team. So, I hope our case holds up for the playoffs.

“But we’ve still got to do our job. We’ve got to win (today) and Saturday in Hickory.”

The Eagles wasted precious little time getting down to business yesterday against Perry (6-10, 4-7 Region 1). Just 53 seconds into the match, the Eagles had the Panthers’ net surrounded. Panthers goalie Trent McErlane deflected a shot by Conneaut’s Tyler Bone, but the rebound went right to Ethan Mona, who tapped it across the goal line.

Bone got his turn about 17 minutes later. Brandon Jackson forwarded a pass to Bone, who was all alone near the right sideline. Bone angled in and had a one-on-one with McErlane, whom he then stutter-stepped around and toed the ball into the net to push Conneaut’s lead to 2-0.

The Eagles added to that lead with around seven minutes remaining in the first half. Moore got behind the defense on a deep forwarding pass. McErlane stepped out to intercept it. Both players battled for the ball.

It squeaked free and both dived for it — McErlane with his hands, Moore with his cleats. Moore managed to kick the ball out of McErlane’s grip and it rolled to Tanner Houck, who was all alone near the right side of a wide-open goal. He buried it.

“Not to be selfish, but I was trying to go for my goal,” said Moore. “But I ended up kicking (the ball) off their goalie’s hands and then Tanner Houck went and put it in.”

Moore would eventually get a tally of his own halfway through the second period. He was well to the side of the goal when he batted a bouncing pass out of the air in front of him with the side of his foot, and that shot curled around McErlane and ripped the twine. Tanner Dittrich had the assist.

“Richard had a nice blast,” said Wise. “It was like, ‘Where did that come from?’”

Perry came up with its only goal about nine minutes later on a score by Seth Jaussen. But Conneaut pushed it back to a four-goal lead with 4:49 to play, when Dittrich, getting a nice forward feed from Kyle Ledford, beat McErlane on a one-on-one.

“I’m happy for the boys,” said Wise. “We made a couple formation changes this week and I think it’s helped. It definitely helped in the Kennedy game (on Monday) and it helped (Wednesday).

“So, we’re waiting for the big game (today) against Meadville. That’s a big rivalry. You might as well take the records and throw them out the window for those two teams. ... I think every game we played them the last four years has been a one-goal game.”

READMORE

10/15/2012: Conneaut 1 - Kennedy Catholic 0

10/15/2012: Conneaut 1 - Kennedy Catholic 0 
CONNEAUT MEN'S SOCCER BLOG
By Ryan Kozlowski, Conneaut Men's Assistant Coach

Kennedy Catholic came into this contest with a 12-1-1 record, while Conneaut's up and down season had them at a respectable 7-5-2.

With that in mind, many probably wouldn't have pegged the Conneaut Eagles traveling to Kennedy Catholic and putting up a win with the season that the other Eagles (of the golden variety) were having.

Yet a total team effort by every Conneaut Eagle that stepped on KC's soggy field led to Conneaut's best performance of the season.

Tanner Williams, Tommy Mullen, Josh Betts, and Chris Toth were resolute in defense.

Cole Snodgrass, Brandon Jackson, and Ethan Mona challenged in midfield.

While a striker triumvirate of Richard Moore, Tyler Bone, and Tanner Houck created havoc by pressing the back four of Kennedy with speed and pressure.

Overall, Conneaut had 10 shots on goal to Kennedy Catholic's 8, and the Conneaut Eagles had the better chances while KC rarely threatened.

Nevertheless, goalkeeper Nick Stockton had to be on the top of his game at moments and his clear outs to the strikers were spot on.

Conneaut pressed and pressed, and worked the over the top ball, but couldn't find a breakthrough.

Until the 63rd minute, as Conneaut's Tanner Williams pressed up the right side and then switched a beautiful ball to a wide open Cole Snodgrass who snuck unmarked on a back post run.

Snodgrass trapped the ball..
Then there was a second or two pause on the field..
As no one in the Conneaut or Kennedy Catholic camps could probably believe how open Snodgrass was, let alone Snodgrass..
Then it was just Snodgrass vs. KC's goalkeeper Cianci..
And Cole ripped a shot into the right back post and wheeled off in celebration.

Yet there were still 27 minutes to play and that's where not only the defense but all 11 players on the field for Conneaut stepped up and played team defense, won the 50-50 balls, and killed clock with clever play after clever play in the offensive third.

Kennedy Catholic's coaches, bench, and fans pleaded and pushed their eleven for an equalizer, but quite simply it wasn't their day; it was Conneaut's.

"This is the level of play our team is capable of when all eleven put their minds to a task. Unfortunately that desire by all eleven to win the 50-50 balls, to put pressure on the defense, and to challenge the other team, instead of laying off, hasn't always been there this season.

If we play like this we can beat 12-1 teams and compete with anyone. Hopefully the players put that in their back pocket and use that to inspire them the rest of this season," stated Coach Kozlowski.

With the win Conneaut improved to 8-5-2 overall and 5-3-1 in conference, while Kennedy Catholic dropped to 12-2-1 and 6-2-1 in conference.

Starters: GK- Nick Stockton, LB- Cole Snodgrass, CB- Josh Betts, SW- Tommy Mullen, RB- Tanner Williams, CM- Ethan Mona, CM- Brandon Jackson, LM- Richard Moore, RM- Brandon Moss, ST- Tyler Bone, ST- Tanner Houck

Substitutes: Chris Toth, Mark McLean, Luke Graham, Nick Moss

READMORE