COLUMBUS, Ohio – A day after their classmates on the girls soccer team lost a state title in a penalty-kick shootout after a scoreless draw, the players on the Wyoming boys soccer team found themselves locked in a defensive struggle of their own as the specter of overtime and penalty kicks loomed closer.
The Cowboys didn’t let it get that far, as Wyoming junior Louie Trenkamp connected on a header from close range with 2:51 to go in regulation. That was the only goal Wyoming needed to defeat Bay Village Bay 1-0 in the OHSAA Division II state championship game Saturday at Lower.com Field.
Wyoming won its first-ever state championship in boys soccer and gave its residents one trophy of each type to celebrate after the girls team lost to Chagrin Falls on Friday.
The Cowboys finished the season 20-2-2, and Bay, which is on Lake Erie west of Cleveland, finished 18-3-3.
MORE: Wyoming loses Division II girls soccer state final.
“It feels amazing,” said senior co-captain Sam Yocum. “I’ve been on the varsity team for three years. Losing in 2019 to Tippecanoe (in the regionals), it was a terrible feeling knowing that they won state and we could have done that. To come out now and win state, it’s amazing.”
The winning play came from a free kick from 25 yards out. Senior Nick Mouch lofted the ball near the goal line, where Trenkamp rose to battle for the ball against two Bay players. Trenkamp won the battle and directed the ball inside the left post for his 12th goal of the season.
“It was 100 percent the best feeling of my life when I scored that,” Trenkamp said. “I knew when he kicked it that I had a chance to put it in.”
The goal was Wyoming’s only officially credited shot on goal, but the Cowboys consistently put balls in the goal box in the second half and created chances. So did Bay.
Wyoming had been strong on free kicks and corner kicks all postseason.
“We worked on it all season long,” said Wyoming head coach Adam Jones. “We’ve been really dangerous in set pieces, and (Bay) recognized that, because if you look at how they defended us, they sent all 11 back. We look at every single set piece as the opportunity. Every single one we had in the second half, I felt like it was going to go in."
Wyoming was scored as having five total shots against 13 for the Rockets. Bay had seven shots on goal, four by Ethan Jacobs, who was the focus of Wyoming’s defense.
“We worked really hard on putting pressure on the opponent,” said Bay head coach Bobby Dougherty. “We felt we would be dynamic on the outside. We got some good looks by taking their outside backs on the dribble. Got in the box, got good looks, got second looks, but weren’t able to tuck one away.”
During one particularly wild sequence at the Wyoming net with nine minutes to go in the second half, the teams battled for the ball in the air several times. The Rockets had three shots on goal in the sequence. Two of them were blocked by outfield players on the line.
“Every big game we’ve had moments where we had to clear the line multiple times,” Jones said. “That’s how championships are won. You win in the box. You’re selfless. You’re willing to sacrifice for the team. You throw your body on the line. Defense doesn’t get a lot of credit, but our guys have one of the best defenses in the state.”
Late in the first half, Jacobs just missed from close range after a Wyoming player forced him to the outside.
In the final minute of the first half, Bay had a shot barely missed going inside the post, with the ball hitting the outside of the net in such a way that the Rockets fans on the opposite corner of the stadium erupted in cheers because they thought it was a goal.
MORE: Mount Notre Dame wins first state soccer title.
MORE: Waynesville girls soccer wins first state title for the school.
The end result was Wyoming’s 14th shutout of the season, fifth in the postseason. The Cowboys outscored their eight postseason foes by a combined score of 38-3.
Noah Popovitz got the shutout with five saves.
Seniors are Nick Mouch, Simon Marques, Owen Vickers, Sebastian Sinigaglia, Sam Yocum, Owen Walls, Zayn Tanveer and Paul Rutherford.
Rutherford’s mother Bari and grandfather Barry are both members of Wyoming’s athletic hall of fame, and his sister Katherine was on Friday's state runner-ups on the soccer pitch.
Wyoming had balance all year with five players in double figures in goals (Trenkamp, Vickers, Sinigaglia, Marques and Rutherford) and three in assists.
“From the very beginning of the year, a lot of people wondered what this team was going to look like,” Jones said. “Two years ago, we had two superstars who scored a lot of goals. When they graduated, a lot of people thought what would Wyoming look like. We sat down at the beginning of the year and we said if we’re going to be successful, it’s going to be a selfless group of individuals that doesn’t care about awards and accolades. They bought into that process. When you have a team with talent that really cares about each other, you have a group that is really difficult to beat.”
Source link
