Beachwood’s girls’ soccer program is a work in progress and on Thursday the Bison showed just how far they have come. Down 3-1 to Cuyahoga Heights, the Bison scored three unanswered goals to win the game, 4-3.
“It was pretty special,” said Beachwood senior captain Jaime Rotsky. “We’re really hungry to win the conference this year and we knew this was one of our biggest obstacles. We had never beaten them.”
Cuyahoga Heights jumped out to an early 1-0 lead before Rotsky tied the game off a Hannah Kahn direct kick.
“She got a kick about a quarter of the way between the half point line and the end line,” Rotsky said. “She’s really great at direct kicking. It hit the goalie and went off her hands and I just crashed and got this one with my feet. I remember Hannah Cantlie screaming to kick it in the goal. It might have taken two kicks, I don’t know, but I basically just crashed the goal.”
The Redskins scored the next two goals to take a 3-1 lead over the Bison.
Beachwood’s players never gave up.
Lexi Stovsky scored to cut the Heights lead to 3-2 and Kahn tied it off a corner kick.
Macky Davis later scored the game winner off another Kahn direct kick.
“I got fouled in the box but they didn’t give us a penalty kick,” Rotsky said. “Hannah Kahn took a dirct kick and it went off the goalies hands or off the crossbar and deflected to Macky Davis to make it 4-3.”
The Bison fought off a late Cuyahoga Heights attack to seal the big win.
“We were very excited,” Rotsky said. “The last two minutes it was just defending like crazy. It wasn’t the prettiest soccer. It was more about clearing the ball. We didn’t want to give up a goal.”
The Bison protected their lead then celebrated with their fans.
“It was just very amazing to come back from 3-1. In women’s soccer, when you’re near the end of the game the losing team has to have a lot of heart to even stay in the game. To win it, we had a lot of heart and a lot of energy. I couldn’t have been prouder of my team,” Rotsky said. “It came from all 11 girls playing their best and being as focused as we could be. The parents were pumped up too. They were all screaming.”
