District girls soccer: Buckeye beats Streetsboro in extra time

STREETSBORO — The Buckeye girls soccer team just needed a little extra time Monday night, as the Bucks went on the road and came away with a 1-0 overtime upset of 15th-seeded Streetsboro in the Division III, Northeast 4 District quarterfinals. After playing 80 scoreless minutes, Buckeye (7-8-2) didn't take long to end the game, as senior Ruby Hudak found the back of the net just 3:16 in to send the 25th-seeded Bucks into the district semifinals against No. 7 Beaumont (11-4-3) on Monday. Senior Macey Greer connected with a perfect crossing pass into the box, and Hudak was able to get her yellow shoe on the ball, sailing it past goalkeeper Morgan Novak. "We knew we needed to get in the goal, so we crossed it," Hudak said. "I just knew we had to get something on it to try to get that in, because that's the only chance we had." On the other end, Buckeye freshman goalkeeper Carlie Gunkelman kept a clean sheet, stopping all five shots. "I just had to play my game. I know how I can play," Gunkelman said. "I know that I can save certain shots. I just keep my head in the game and let them take shots. If they want to take shots, I'll save whatever I can." The season has presented challenges for the Bucks, especially with top returning scorers Charlotte DeEgidio and Phoenix Johnson out for the season with ACL injuries. Despite that, Buckeye has kept playing its style of soccer, hoping that in the end it would be enough. "We've gone through a lot," first-year coach Peter Byrnes said. "And we've struggled trying to find goals, but we kept working on our system. We kept working at our style, which is to keep the ball in play, keep it on the ground, keep the ball moving and playing. And that was the strategy tonight, was to just keep the ball moving." That worked for the majority of the first half, but Metro Athletic Conference co-champion Streetsboro (13-4-1) dictated play early in the second before the Bucks finally settled back down over the final 10 minutes of regulation and overtime. "We kind of lost our rhythm and our tempo that we had in the first half," Byrnes said. "But in that last 10 minutes or so in the second half, you could see the momentum shift. You could see our energy coming back up. And I just told the girls before the overtime to just keep the ball moving, find the width and get in the box as much as we can and just attack everything around the 18-yard box." The plan worked to perfection, as it led to the goal by Hudak. Nobody was more thrilled than Gunkelman, who thanked the team afterwards for not making her suffer through the stress of penalty kicks. "I was so happy, so proud (of the team)," Gunkelman said. "As a freshman, I just didn't think I would get this opportunity with this team, and I'm really happy I did. I don't know. I'm, like, shaking. I'm so excited." Byrnes was probably happy the game ended in overtime as well, as his first playoff game had already been stressful enough. For him, the stress was worth it in the end. "For a first playoff game as a head coach, it was definitely dramatic," Byrnes said. "It raised the blood pressure a little bit, but it's everything I ever wanted. It's why I started coaching was for moments like these, where you get to look at all the players in the eye and just know that they're giving everything and they're doing what you ask and they're demanding more out of each other. Everything I could have asked for, they did it tonight." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com. Buckeye 1, Streetsboro 0 (OT) Division III, Northeast 4 District Quarterfinal BUCKEYE&emsp;0 0 1 — 1 STREETSBORO&emsp;0 0 0 — 0 Overtime B — Ruby Hudak, 11:44. Shots on goal — Buckeye 3, Streetsboro 5. Corner kicks — Buckeye 1, Streetsboro 2. Saves — Carlie Gunkelman (B) 5, Morgan Novak (S) 2. Records — Buckeye (7-8-2), Streetsboro (13-4-1).