Mo Aidja recorded a hat trick and Dave Beattie scored two goals to lead West Geauga to a 7-0 win over visiting Hawken on Thursday.
The win was just the second for the Wolverines over the Hawks in the past 10 seasons.
“Wins over Hawken do not happen too often,” said West Geauga coach Mario Gerhardt. “I watched Hawken play against Chagrin (Falls) and I was impressed by the skill and soccer sense of the younger players; they tried to play soccer. I watched them against Bay Village and they played well in the second half, although they played against players that normally do not get as much playing time. I was worried about Hawken’s restarts and we spent all practice on Wednesday defending free kicks, corner kicks and long throw ins. Our players played well because they knew they had to win to have a chance at the CVC Championship.”
That chance will come on Tuesday when the Wolverines (7-2-1 overall and 5-0 in the Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division) travel to Chagrin Falls (8-1-1, 4-0) with the league title on the line.
“I like our role and chances against the Tigers,” Gerhardt said. “We are the underdog. I am hoping that Chagrin takes us lightly and if and when they do we will attack. Chagrin expects to win the CVC this year. It is our intention to spoil their victory party.”
Beattie opened the scoring off a corner kick in the 28th minute. Aidja made it 2-0 seven minutes later off an assist from Beattie and Antonio Katusic. Beattie returned the favor as he fed Aidja for West Geauga’s third goal with one minute left in the first half.
The Wolverines made it 4-0 seven minutes into the second half when Beattie finished off an Aidja assist and Aidja added his third goal three minutes later off an assist from Nick D’Allesandro.
D’Alessandro and Thade Fedor both found the net later in the second half to close out the scoring. Katusic and Beattie assisted on those goals.
As they have done all year, Beattie and Aidja created most of West Geauga’s offense. They combined for five goals and three assists in the win.
“We would have a good team without Dave and Mo, but it would be an average team, a team that would need to rely mainly on defense to get results and it would also be a young team,” Gerhardt said. “Without Dave and Mo, yesterday’s score would have been 1-0 or 2-1 and I am not picking the winner.”
Sam Onderdonk recorded three saves for West Geauga while Zach Edwards finished with four. Kirby Bischoff blocked six shots for Hawken.
