High school soccer: Cloverleaf girls win MAC title by beating Field

WESTFIELD TWP. — The Cloverleaf girls soccer team brought home new hardware for the trophy case Thursday. The Colts earned the Metro Athletic Conference title with a 2-1 win over Field, their first league championship in seven years. Cloverleaf grabbed the crown outright with some help from Field, which set up the scenario by upsetting Streetsboro 1-0 Tuesday. The Colts walloped Coventry 11-0 and Woodridge 7-0 to get into the title game. "It took a lot of certain things and to keep pushing through this season," Cloverleaf junior midfielder Riley Evans said. "So, we are pretty happy with the outcome." Cloverleaf (14-2) dominated play in the first half yet was still even with the Falcons (6-8-3) in a scoreless half. Missed opportunities plagued the Colts, as two great scoring chances from Evans were stymied by Falcons' keeper Grace Kessler (9 saves). "Obviously mentally it's hard when you keep missing like that in an important game like this," Evans said. "But to keep trying is important." Cloverleaf also had another shot from Kayla Shook that went just wide left with 4:10 left in the opening 40 minutes. "We always get ourselves into great opportunities in the final third," coach Guillermo Porras said. "We have had great success capitalizing most times. Sometimes we lack that finishing touch. We were lacking that finishing touch in the first half, and in the second half we knew we had to come out and finish those chances and they did." When the second half started, the Colts got the wake-up call when Field jumped in front on a goal from midfielder Emma Norman with 33:41 left. Medina County goals leader Evans got things rolling for Cloverleaf when she drove deep into the left side of the box and crossed the ball back into the middle, where Callee Gibson was there to even the score at 1 just 4:11 later. "It felt pretty good," Gibson said of her equalizing goal. "It was an amazing cross by (Evans). Evans again played a pivotal role when she worked a perfect give-and-go with Meghan Cavey at the top of the box and drove home the game-winner with 20:56 remaining. "It was 1-v-1 with the keeper — I had a couple of them today — and their keeper had some really good saves," Evans said. "She came out well, just this time I was able to finish and find the back of the net." Cloverleaf outshot the Falcons 11-3 and held off a strong comeback bid. Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Cloverleaf 2, Field 1 FIELD 0 1 — 1 CLOVERLEAF 0 2 — 2 Second F — Emma Norman, 33:41. C — Callee Gibson (Riley Evans), 29:30. C — Evans (Meghan Cavey), 20:56. Shots on goal — Field 3, Cloverleaf 11. Corner kicks — Field 1, Cloverleaf 1. Saves — Grace Kessler (F) 9, Abbey Myers (C) 2. Records — Cloverleaf (14-2, 7-1), Field (6-8-3, 3-3-2).