MADISON– Kirtland and host Madison battled to a 1-1 draw in a Chagrin Valley Conference crossover match on Thursday, with both goals coming in the second half.
In a game where the first score felt like it could decide the outcome, Madison struck first before Kirtland’s young players answered back with 15 minutes to play.
“The mentality of our program is, ‘We don’t care what grade you’re in. Whether you’ve played one game or a ton of games,’” said Kirtland head coach John Valentic. “It’s about who’s performing, who’s willing to take on that pressure, and so it speaks to their character and their willingness. We’re letting them figure it out on the fly, and I look forward to the future.”
The Blue Streaks broke the deadlock when Josh Pekar buried a breakaway strike into the top-left corner. At the time, it looked like the decisive moment.
“We got the goal, and we were looking good,” Pekar said. “We were trying to hold the ball, prevent (Kirtland) from scoring. He got baseline, found his guy open for the cross, and they scored. It happens. We just have to be more mentally strong in that scenario and be able to clear it.”
Kirtland’s equalizer came off a perfect setup from Karlo Cubela, who fed a cross to Blake Rupert. Rupert finished on his birthday to secure the draw.
“I knew we had to put our team in a position to at least have a chance to keep us in this game,” Rupert said. “Karlo made an amazing play on the left side, putting it right through to me, and I knew I had to make the play. I stepped up and put it in.”
The Hornets remain in the hunt for the Valley Division crown, with a crucial matchup against league-leading Chagrin Falls looming on Oct. 9.
“We want these younger guys and guys who haven’t been starters to get minutes and repetition to be comfortable because we’re going to need everybody,” Valentic said. “Hopefully, we get some guys back healthy, but we have to go one game at a time. We can celebrate this now, but we have to forget it and move on.”
Kirtland’s defense held strong despite trailing to Division III Madison, with goalkeeper Tage Crisci making 13 saves to keep the Hornets in it.
“We try to stick with our identity and that is to play no matter what,” Valentic said. “We’ve been down multiple goals to other teams, and we still battle. I’m really proud of their efforts and their mentality of playing until the end, regardless of the result. I think that showed tonight, especially with being down just 1-0. We were still in the game.”
For Madison, the draw came with little consequence as the Blue Streaks have already clinched the Lake Division title. The focus now is on sharpening their play before the postseason.
“Our focus now is our bench players and having them connect through the center of the field,” said Madison head coach Steve Swinarski. “If we can get our two center backs, midfielders, and forwards connected, with our two wide midfielders wide, then we’ll have something. The whole goal starting today was to work on our wide play. Next time, we’ll focus on our two midfielders, and after that, we can focus on our two forwards. Then, when we get all those people linked up together, we should do well in the playoffs.”
Clinching the division title with three games still to play is an added bonus.
“It’s a luxury that we will take full advantage of,” Swinarski said. “With this, come next year, we’re going to be more dangerous than we are this year. We have a very young team; more than half the team is underclassmen. We have created a lot of chances for ourselves (to get better), and we’re going to continue to do that. I think next year we’ll be a team that’s a challenge to beat every game.”
Madison goalkeeper Owen Hull finished with 10 saves.
Both teams return to action on Sept. 30, with Madison visiting Harvey and Kirtland hosting Beachwood.
