Boys soccer: Highland breaks through to beat Buckeye

YORK TWP. — The dam can only hold for so long before it finally breaks. The relentless offensive pressure of the Highland boys soccer team broke through one last time Saturday, leading to a 2-1 non-league win over Buckeye. The game was tied when the speed of Carson Kwiatkowski, who flexed his wheels more than a few times, led to the game-winning goal with 4:37 left. "I've had it since I was little," Kwiatkowski said of his speed. "In a youth game, I kicked up past someone and got past everybody. I have just grown and trained it to be faster. It's nice to have. It's hard when someone matches that, but it's rare to have somebody as fast as me." The standout sprinter for the Hornets (3-2-1) was without question the fastest player on the field and snuck one by keeper Hunter Uehlien to sew up the victory. "I am reaching out to the other players to help them out because I can see the whole field," Uehlien said. "All the boys know where they need to be and they know what they have to do, but this was just a hard loss. They put it top left and what happened, happened." Uehlien was phenomenal between the posts for Buckeye (2-4-1) once again. The junior captain knocked away 13 shots and kept the Bucks in the game. He made the initial save on Hoyt Pylypiak's early goal when he had a diving stop on a shot by Evangelos that ricocheted to Pylypiak just 3:37 in. "After you go out there and you score one, it builds momentum," Pylypiak said. "If you score that first one, your team is feeling good so you can just keep going out and scoring more." The early goal put Buckeye, which struggles with depth, in catch-up mode early. Despite Highland dominating possession and continuing to test Uehlien, the Bucks got a big effort from junior Dimitri Tenenika. Tenenika battled into the box and drew a foul to get a penalty kick with 7:15 left in the first half. His conversion tied the game and was the Bucks' first shot. "I got a ball from Rhys (Cielma), and I got in the corner," Tenenika said. "Coach (Ivan's Tenenika) has been telling me I need to take it in the box. I took it in the box and beat one of their center backs, and he clipped me from behind and I got the P.K." Buckeye had just one more shot, which was stopped by Highland goalkeeper Conner Dean. Highland continued controlling the ball in the Bucks' end and had nine second-half shots, leading to the game-winner by Kwiatkowski. Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Highland 2, Buckeye 1 HIGHLAND&emsp;1 1 — 2 BUCKEYE&emsp;1 0 — 1 First H — Hoyt Pylypiak, 36:23. B — Dimitri Tenenika (penalty kick), 7:15. Second H — Carson Kwiatkowski, 4:37. Shots on goal — Highland 15, Buckeye 2. Corner kicks — Highland 5, Buckeye 3. Saves — Conner Dean (H) 1, Hunter Uehlien (B) 13. Records — Highland (3-2-1), Buckeye (2-4-1). Junior varsity — Highland 5, Buckeye 1.