CUYAHOGA HEIGHTS—A battle of the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division’s top teams ended in a 2-2 draw on Thursday.
Berkshire, the defending CVC Valley champion, trailed 2-1 at halftime but freshman Summer Larch’s second goal of the night extended the Badgers’ regular season unbeaten streak to 23 straight games.
“We came out extremely slow, probably the worst half we’ve had all year thus far,” said Berkshire coach Ian Patton. “We were lucky to only be down 2-1 at the half with how many quality looks they had. I was happy to see my girls answered in the second half. They put up a shutout half against a potent offense and gave us a chance to tie the game with less than 10 minutes to play.”
Larch had an opportunity to score the game-winner with less than two minutes remaining but Cuyahoga Heights goalkeeper Megan Ellis made the save to preserve the draw.
Julia Frank and Lexi Boyk both assisted on goals for the Badgers, who are 6-0-1 on the year.
“This is a game coming into that we thought we should’ve won, however, with the lousy first half play, I was happy to get out of their with a tie,” Patterson said.
Freshman Reagan Sturgill scored both Cuyahoga Heights goals off of assists from senior Brooke Wilson. Ellis finished with six saves.
“Berkshire won the conference last year so we were determined this year to improve our game against them,” said Cuyahoga Heights coach Christy Zawadzki. “I think we did that with determination and hard work on the field. They are a great team, so it felt good to be able to compete with them.”
Berkshire hosts Wickliffe (7-1) on Thursday while Cuyahoga Heights entertains Kirtland (8-0) on Monday.
