Girls soccer: Cloverleaf, Wadsworth battle to 1-1 tie

WADSWORTH — Neither team was thrilled, but at the same time neither was crushed. In a defensive battle that featured a combined seven shots on goal, the Cloverleaf and Wadsworth girls soccer teams battled to a 1-1 tie in non-league play on a scorching hot Monday night at Art Wright Memorial Stadium. "I'm not happy with it at all," Grizzlies senior Cece Craig said. "We came into this game very confident. We might have been a little too confident." The Colts (2-0-1), who lost decisively to Wadsworth when the teams last met two years ago, were in a bit better frame of mind, depending on who was asked. "I felt like we should have won," junior Hannah Hopek said. "I felt like we worked harder for it." Despite tying bigger Medina County rival Wadsworth (1-1-1), defender Anastasia Baughman was happy with the result. "It feels great because last time we played them, they beat us pretty bad," the senior said. "It feels great that we competed against them." The first half, which was played mostly on Wadsworth's offensive end, was scoreless. The Grizzlies outshot the Colts by a meager 2-0, with the closest thing to a goal coming near the 12-minute mark when Wadsworth nearly knocked the ball into its own net. The Cloverleaf back line of Baughman, Presley McConnell, Kiersyn Bailey and Lainey Manns was stellar in limiting the Grizzlies to five shots, four of which were saved by keeper Stella Bennett. The problem was, the Wadsworth back row of Reese Hassinger, Lilly Haller, Ansley Batey and Leah Gambaccini was just as good in holding the Colts to two shots, the first of which was a penalty kick by Hopek after a clear handball in the box. That came with 25:38 to play, with the left-footed Hopek drilling a shot into the lower right corner of the net. Problem was, a Cloverleaf player moved too soon, so she had to shoot it again. Hopek took the exact same shot and got the exact same result. "I felt if I went the same way it would be better," she said. "I felt I'd trick the keeper because she'd think I'd go the other way." The Grizzlies tied the game when Korrine Braunlich struck a 35-yard free kick perfectly over the outstretched arms of Bennett. "At first I thought I was going to miss it," Braunlich said. "I just hit it and it went upper 90." Wadsworth keeper Morgan Parsons made just one save on the night, but she was stellar when it came to venturing well off her line to send the ball in the other direction. After each team scored, the nearest thing to a goal came when Craig was running in the box and went down with 53 seconds to play, but no call was made. "The same thing happened my freshman year and I got the PK," she said. "I really thought I was going to relive that, but no." The Colts adopted a defensive mindset for most of the first half, other than a few quick counterattacks. They picked up their pace until Hopek scored, then went back to concentrating on defense until the Grizzlies tied the game. "We haven't had strong competition like this," Baughman said. "It took us awhile to understand how to perform up to their level. "Sometimes we're thinking too fast and we don't think smart enough." All in all, Wadsworth's Braunlich was philosophical when it came to the result, with one qualifier. "It's not a loss and it's not a win," she said. "We definitely could have done better. We didn't put it all on the field." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X. Cloverleaf 1, Wadsworth 1 CLOVERLEAF 0 1 — 1 WADSWORTH 0 1 — 1 Second C — Hannah Hopek (penalty kick), 25:38. W — Korrine Braunlich, 15:28. Shots on goal — Cloverleaf 2, Wadsworth 5. Corner kicks — Cloverleaf 3, Wadsworth 4. Saves — Stella Bennett (C) 4, Morgan Parsons (W) 1. Records — Cloverleaf (2-0-1), Wadsworth (1-1-1). Junior varsity — Wadsworth 5, Cloverleaf 0.