(These articles, reprinted with permission and featuring the girls and boys soccer teams, appeared in This Week Bexley on November 18, 2009. The photos appeared in the November 24, 2009 issue of the Torch) 12/20/09

State final loss similar to 1999

The Bexley High School girls soccer team wore shirts with an "X" on the back as they prepared for the Division II state championship on an unseasonably sunny and warm day last Saturday in Crew Stadium.

The "X" represented 10 years ago when the Lions reached the state championship for the first time in school history as well as the goal of returning there this season.

Bexley made it back once again. But like 10 years ago, the Lions came up short as they fell to Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown 2-1.

"I remembered the other day when we got blown out of the water by Hamilton Badin 5-1 in the (2005) state semifinals," said Bexley coach Scott Dempsey, whose team lost the 1999 state final to Bay Village Bay 2-1 in overtime. "I thought that was the worst way to lose. It was humiliating. But it was not as painful as (last Saturday). That is the only way to say it -- it was painful."

The Blazers scored the winning goal on a header off a corner kick with 51.9 seconds to play.

The late goal was reminiscent of the 1999 state championship when Bay scored the winner on a breakaway by Judi Aschenbrener, the Division II state Player of the Year, with 25 seconds to play in overtime.

The loss Saturday ended Bexley's season at 20-1-3, a school record for victories.

The 1999 season was the coming-out party for the Bexley program. Won were the first district and regional titles.

Since that time, Bexley has added nine district championships and reached the state tournament seven more times. However, the Lions had not advanced to the final again until last Saturday.

"X" seemed to mark the spot as Bexley even advanced to the state championship in similar fashion as 1999. The Lions won by beating Cincinnati Wyoming 3-2 in a shootout in a state semifinal. In 1999, Bexley beat Cincinnati Roger Bacon 2-1 in a shootout in a semifinal.

"The similarities to 1999 certainly crossed my mind," Dempsey said. "I have to admit that. But in 1999 we were the underdog. We were never ranked in the state, and Bay was clearly one of the best teams in the state. (Last Saturday) I thought we got stronger and stronger and were the better team as the game went on."

The loss to the Blazers came with a bit of controversy. Hathaway Brown's Kylie Kaufman put a corner kick in the box that was headed by Ingrid Zippe. Her shot hit the crossbar and bounced right to Lysette Roman who headed the ball into the goal.

That started a celebration of Blazers players -- and a debate. Several Bexley players, especially goalkeeper Amy Mautz, thought the first shot had bounded off the top of the crossbar -- and not the face of the bar. The top of the crossbar is out of bounds and results in a goal kick.

The referee conferred briefly with a side official, but the goal stood.

"From my point of view, I thought the ball hit the top," Lions midfielder Leah Levey said. "But I guess the side official didn't have the right angle."

Bexley could not have written a better start to the game. Levey took a ball down the sideline and cut past Hathaway Brown defender Jane Domeck to get deep into the box where she crossed the ball in front of the goal. Abby Fagin ran onto it and redirected it for a goal just 53 seconds into the game.

The Lions nearly got two other scores in the opening five minutes. Justine Foster hit a cross by Charlotte Myers that was saved, and Rebecca Carroll had a long shot that was just wide.

The Blazers, which went 17-2-3 in winning their third state championship in six years, settled down and got their first goal at 33 minute, 39 seconds of the first half off of a corner kick by Kaufman.

Bexley had several chances to take the lead in the second half. Its best may have been when Myers took a feed from Levey, got into the goal box, and fired a low shot that hit the post at the 27:45 mark.

Levey also had two corner kicks that created dangerous chances in the last 10 minutes. One at the 8:40 mark led to a shot by Fagin that was cleared away and another resulted in a header by Meredith DeLong that went over the goal with 5:45 to play.

"Leah is a very good player," Blazers coach Dennis Weyn said. "We had to watch her, but we had to be careful not to focus on her too much. Focusing on one player too much can backfire, but I thought our defense did a nice job.

"They have great players. We knew it was going to be a great game today." 

 

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