Girls regional soccer: Strongsville gets breaks in win over Medina

STREETSBORO — The Medina girls soccer team struck first in a Division I, Region 1 semifinal on Tuesday night. Strongsville, however, scored the next three goals to take home a 3-1 win and secure a spot in the final against Perrysburg on Saturday. With the game tied 1-1 entering the second half, Strongsville (14-3-3) scored two goals off what looked to be plays that the Bees had stopped. The tiebreaking goal came after Medina (15-1-3) seemingly had staved off a scoring opportunity on a corner kick, but the ball made its way to the foot of Strongsville freshman Sami Schultz, who lofted it nearly 40 yards for a goal to give the Mustangs a 2-1 lead with 22:57 to play. Less than four minutes later, Medina again defended a free kick well, but the ball dropped to the foot of Strongsville senior Evie Coutri, who fired into the net from 21 yards to make it 3-1 with 19:08 remaining. The Bees did not make excuses afterward. "We could have done a lot of things better," senior captain Caitlyn Taylor said. "We shouldn't have given up a corner, we should have stepped quicker, we should have done everything one step faster. It was the right defensive play in the moment, but there was something that could have always been better." While Strongsville scored twice in the second half, Medina had just two shots on goal in the half and never got into a rhythm offensively. "I feel like we were just a little frantic," the Bees' Tallia Masternak said. "We wanted to get something on. We just wanted to get shots. We didn't want it to be over. We wanted to keep going, which made it hard to control ourselves." Masternak started the scoring, though not on a planned shot on goal. The freshman sent a crossing pass toward the goal midway through the first half, but it floated over the head of Strongsville goalkeeper Ava Therrien and into the net with 23:00 left. "I was looking to get something productive into the box, so I kind of hit one in," Masternak said. "It floated a little more than I expected, which eventually I was like, 'Oh, oh, that's in.' "Being a freshman and getting the ball in the back of the net and my team running at me is truly an amazing experience." Her teammates thought that would just be the start of the Bees' scoring. "We were like, 'Let's go, we got this,'" Taylor said. "We were like let's just get another one. And then after that one, let's get another one. But that didn't happen." What did happen was like when the teams played to a 1-1 draw on Oct. 15, as Strongsville answered a 1-0 deficit. Leah Snell sent a corner kick into the box and off the head of Paige Kudla for a goal with 6:26 left in the first half. The loss was the first of the season for the Bees, who were hoping to advance to the state semifinals for the first time since 2019. They needed to beat Strongsville, something the Bees have done just once now in the last 16 matchups, the lone win 3-0 last season. They are now 1-8-7 against Strongsville since 2011. Having the season end at the hands of the Mustangs was a hard pill to swallow. Masternak wanted a win for the upperclassmen who she became so close with during the season. "It's heartbreaking," she said. "Being a freshman, I don't have as much history as some of my seniors and juniors and everyone, and I'm really sad for them going out against Strongsville." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com. Strongsville 3, Medina 1 STRONGSVILLE&emsp;1 2 — 3 MEDINA&emsp;1 0 — 1 First M — Tallia Masternak, 23:00.S — Paige Kudla (Leah Snell), 6:26. Second S — Sami Schulz, 22:57.S — Evie Coutris, 19:08. Shots on goal — Strongsville 9, Medina 3. Corner kicks — Strongsville 4, Medina 2. Saves — Ava Therrien (S) 2, Brianna McCashin (M) 6. Records — Strongsville (14-3-3), Medina (15-1-3)