High school soccer: Medina boys season ends once again at hands of St. Ignatius

BRUNSWICK — The Medina boys soccer team did not get the bounces it needed Wednesday night, and the season ended with a 1-0 loss to St. Ignatius in a Division I state semifinal at Brunswick Auto Mart Stadium. The Wildcats (20-2) ended an eight-game winning streak for Medina (15-4-3) thanks to a goal by senior Carter Snyder off a corner kick by sophomore Marty McLaughlin, paired with a strong defensive effort that capitalized on the Bees attack being just a few inches off in key moments. "They are a good team — tough to score on — and if you throw people at them, their counterattack is so fast," Medina keeper Donny Taylor said. "You always have to respect them, and there's a reason that so many of them are committed to really big schools." St. Ignatius, which has not lost to an Ohio-based team since Medina defeated it 1-0 in the 2018 state semifinals en route to the Bees' only state championship, advanced to its fourth straight championship game. The Wildcats, ranked first in the state by the Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association, will attempt to win a fourth straight title and 12th overall when they face fourth-ranked New Albany at Lower.com Field in Columbus on Saturday. The Eagles defeated Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller 2-1 in double overtime in the other semifinal. This is the fourth straight year that St. Ignatius has ended the Bees' season, including the third time in the state semifinals. It was the closest loss of the four. "I'm so proud of the effort that these guys put out," Medina coach Doug Coreno said. "We did not back down for one second. We said we weren't coming out to play defensive and get lucky, we were going to come after them. "We had good chances and with a couple different bounces of the ball, things could have been different." Trailing after Snyder's goal with 21:07 left in the first half, the Bees looked like they had found the equalizer when senior Nate Werthmuller hit junior Owen Alber from the left corner of the field. The forward tucked it past Ohio State-bound keeper Patrick McLaughlin with 13:19 left, but the play was blown dead when the assistant referee said that the pass from junior Cole Turchyn to Werthmuller had carried him over the end line. "Turchyn saw me making a run and he played a beautiful ball down to the end line," Werthmuller said. "I got down to it and played it across, but unfortunately they called it out." Moments earlier, Alber had fired a shot to the lower left corner of the goal, but McLaughlin made a fantastic diving save. With nine seconds left in the game, senior Chris Conrique got a feed from Turchyn to the left side of the field and had a look at the goal, but his shot sailed wide left. The flurry of offensive action came after it took the Bees 33:41 of the first half before Werthmuller got Medina's first shot on frame. "We didn't want to come to Brunswick and get blown out," Turchyn said. "We wanted to prove we could stick with Iggy, and we did. "It was hard for us to do the things that we usually do against other teams (offensively) because they knew us so well." The Wildcats' goal came on the second of back-to-back corner kicks midway through the first half. Medina defended the first well but deflected the ball out to set up the second. Following the goal, Taylor and the back line of Danny McCashin and Lincoln Horton on the outside and Ian White and Dylan Eckert in the center was able to fend off the St. Ignatius attack. "We respected them, but we were willing to man-mark them and weren't afraid of what those guys can do," Taylor said. "Zsombor (Onodi) is fast, Owen (Sullivan) is fast and they can shoot from anywhere. They are a phenomenal team and we respected them, but we didn't play scared." Medina graduates three starters in the midfield in Werthmuller, Landon Daum and Jacob Hutz. The Bees also graduate frequently used reserve forward Tyler Jeppe and backup keeper Alex Miller. "We had a great group of seniors," Coreno said. "They really turned it on in the playoffs, especially (Werthmuller and Hutz). They really upped their games like you expect good leaders to do." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. St. Ignatius 1, Medina 0 Division I State Semifinal ST. IGNATIUS 1 0 — 1 MEDINA 0 0 — 0 First S — Carter Snyder (Marty McLaughlin), 21:07. Shots on goal — St. Ignatius 7, Medina 2. Corner kicks — St. Ignatius 6, Medina 4. Saves — Patrick McLaughlin (S) 2, Donny Taylor (M) 6. Records — St. Ignatius (20-2), Medina (15-4-3).