Girls district soccer: Buckeye comes up short against Beaumont

CLEVELAND HTS. — The 25th-seeded Buckeye girls soccer team gave everything it had Monday night in a Division III, Northeast 4 District semifinal at Denison Park, but ultimately fell 1-0 to No. 7 seed Beaumont. It looked like it might be the second overtime game in a row for the Bucks — they defeated Streetsboro 1-0 in the quarterfinals on Oct. 14 — as the teams were scoreless more than midway through the second half. Beaumont finally broke through when Alaina Longmeier found Taryn Kozak on a pass in the box, and Kozak fired past goalkeeper Carlie Gunkelman with 10:25 left. Buckeye (7-9-2) tried to turn up the offensive pressure over the final minutes but could not get a shot on keeper Lucy Thomas, who was forced to make just one save in the game. The Bucks were the aggressors early but could not get a break. "We thought there may be just a little bit of complacency for them (with us) coming in as the 25 seed, and I don't think they expected us to come at them," first-year Buckeye coach Peter Byrnes said. "I think they expected us to sit. When we had the (opening) kick I was like, 'Let's go.' I didn't want to sit and wait for them to come to us. "We had a couple early chances, but we just didn't get our shot off that we wanted. But that was the game plan." Gunkelman, a freshman, did everything she could to extend Buckeye's season, making eight saves. That included a kick save with 18:50 left in the first half when Beaumont's Cassidy McDonald had a chance against her one-on-one. Gunkelman had another one-on-one save later in the first half against Kozak. "She's unbelievable. She's such a good player," Byrnes said of Gunkelman. "It's not something you see out of freshman goalkeepers. Frankly put, she's one of the best keepers in the area already. By the end of the four years, we'll see just how far she goes. As long as she keeps working hard, I think she'll be one of the best in the area for the next three years. She's very good and she can do it all." While the season ended for the Bucks, the past two weeks have provided experience for a relatively young team, with seven starters slated to return next season. Juniors Julia King, Katie Rupanovic, Kalee Limbert and Kylee Kash, sophomores Grace Pronik, Isabelle Krakowksi and Morgan Penny and freshman Gunkelman all got to start two postseason games. "For this group, I think, especially this season, having to fight through the whole regular season, earning that win at Streetsboro, then having to come here and play against a pretty good team and then still be in a game that you know we had our chances to win, I think it's massive," Byrnes said. The Bucks also will have back junior Charlotte DiEgidio, who missed this season after tearing her ACL during club soccer. DiEgidio, along with senior Phoenix Johnson, were part of the injury woes Buckeye had to battle through this season. "I just think after everything that we've been through, injury-wise and schedule-wise, that we have made it hard on teams, like we did tonight, to get a win," Byrnes said. "I just think it's massive for the mentality of the underclassmen and just the returning players to see what we can accomplish." Byrnes also expects the Bucks to come back hungrier next season and knows they will be playing for one another. It was something he noticed when he watched film on the team as he went through the interview process for the job he currently holds. "We're a group of fighters. There's no other way to put it," he said. "There is a lot more to come, I think, from this team and from this program. After everything we've been through, I think it just shows the resiliency and the effort that they put in and how they play for each other. That was one of the things that I said I noticed during the interview process. They play for each other, and they do everything they possibly can for each other." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com. Beaumont 1, Buckeye 0 Division III, Northeast 4 District Semifinal BUCKEYE&emsp;0 0 — 0 BEAUMONT&emsp;0 1 — 0 Second Be — Taryn Kozak, 10:25. Shots on goal — Buckeye 1, Beaumont 9. Corner kicks — Buckeye 1, Beaumont 6. Saves — Carlie Gunkelman (Bu) 8, Lucy Thomas (Be) 1. Records — Buckeye (7-9-2), Beaumont (14-4-1).