BEACHWOOD—Romi Roth’s goal with less than five minutes remaining in the game led Beachwood to a 2-1 upset over visiting Independence in a key Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division game on Thursday.
With the win, the Bison spoiled Independence’s chances of winning the league title.
“We knew it coming in that a win for them wins it outright and a tie would give them a three-way tie for the conference,” said Beachwood coach Jonathan Kostoff. “We knew we had to defend our home field. You don’t want to come out at the end of the game after 80 minutes and they win or tie and celebrate on your home field.”
Molly Dougherty scored on a free kick in the ninth minute to give the Blue Devils an early 1-0 lead.
Sunny Wang tied it in the 35th minute when she finished off a Roth corner kick.
“It came right up to her right at the 18 and she just lofted a ball,” Kostoff said. “We’ve been talking about getting balls up and making goalies have to work instead of just right to their hands. Put it over their head and that’s what she did.”
Independence had opportunities in the second half but Madison Prince made several key saves to keep the game tied until Roth’s decisive goal with 4:55 remaining in the game.
Roth’s left-footed strike bounced off the backside post and in. A half an inch to the outside and Independence would have celebrated its first conference title in school history.
“It was an unfortunate ending,” said Independence coach Bryan Less. “We left that girl from Beachwood open. She’s a nice player and she scored. We had some chances. We could have put it away but we didn’t. We have had a problem finishing and that’s been hurting us.”
Beachwood improved to 10-3 overall and 3-3 in league play. Even more importantly, the Bison won their sixth home game in seven tries.
“We had the motto all year to defend our home and win as many games as possible at home and make this a tough place for people to come here and play and that’s what we did tonight,” Kostoff said. “We finished timely opportunities and played great defense. Defensively, we were outstanding. Other than an early free kick, we locked it up. That’s a testament to the girls. They’ve worked hard all year.”
The win also was the first signature conference win for the Bison in several years.
“They wanted a big conference win,” Kostoff said. “We lost to Berkshire by a goal, lost to Cuyahoga Heights by two after being within one with eight to go and we lost with a minute to go to Wickliffe. We’ve been right there, we just haven’t busted through the door and tonight we did that.”
Independence dropped to 8-5-1 overall and 4-2 in conference play.
With the loss, Cuyahoga Heights and Wickliffe tied for first place in the league with identical 4-1-1 records. Cuyahoga Heights won the league by virtue of a head-to-head win over Wickliffe.
“The thing is, I told them if they played hard and they played smart and passed the ball we’d win,” Less said. “They played hard and at halftime, I told them they needed to be more aggressive and they were very aggressive in the second half. The problem was we just didn’t pass the ball. It was too much kickball. We had some stretches, five minutes here and there, where we did control the ball but that was the problem.”
Reni Kaiser recorded six saves for Independence while Prince finished with 12 for the Bison.
