District girls soccer: Brunswick finishes strong, stays undefeated at home

BRUNSWICK — The fifth-seeded Brunswick girls soccer team wasn't about to take its first loss at Brunswick Auto Mart Stadium in the final home game of the season. The Blue Devils rallied in the second half to defeat Berea-Midpark 3-1 in a Division I, Northeast 2 District semifinal on Tuesday to keep their season alive. "This team definitely deserves this win, especially coming off a long season," senior Katie Callahan said. "We've been putting in the work all season. The leadership that we have from freshmen to seniors, everyone is putting in the work and playing a role. "When we communicate and do all the little things we're supposed to do, it's going to come out in the end." Callahan put Brunswick (12-3-2) ahead for good with a frozen rope from the left sideline, just in front of the Blue Devils bench with 23:59 remaining. Brunswick advanced to face fourth-seeded Magnificat (11-5-1), an 8-0 winner over No. 14 Elyria, in the district final at Twinsburg on Saturday. It is the Blue Devils' second straight district final. "We're all really excited (to face Magnificat)," junior Kate Hubbell said. "This was a good win to get our confidence up and get ready for that. We're going to keep working at practice this week and get ourselves prepared for that." Just 10 minutes prior to Callahan's go-ahead goal, things felt very different for Brunswick when junior Kelsey Watkins pocketed a feed from Emma Arnold to put the Titans (11-6-1) ahead 1-0. The Blue Devils refused to hang their heads and went straight back to work. Hubbell capped a crazy play off a corner kick when Brunswick's first two headers were saved by Aly Chrysanthus (9 saves) before Hubbell put the third attempt in high to tie the game. "I feel like after that first goal, we knew we had so much time left," Hubbell said. "We knew that the goals would start coming and, in that moment of chaos, we all had a part in finishing that goal." That resilience has been a calling card for the Blue Devils, who have won four of their last five games. "We started off the first half not playing like the team we usually play like," captain Rylan Sheets said. "In the second half, we realized how much we truly wanted it. "If we had lost, it would have been, 'Wow, that was my last game playing with my favorite people'. Especially the seniors, we did not want that to be our last game." Sheets put away the final goal, an insurance score with 6:56 remaining, on a ball that hit the near post but had enough backspin to turn across the line as it neared the far post. After that slow start, Brunswick found its rhythm over the final 30 minutes and showed what it has been capable of most of. The Blue Devils' three losses have been to the second-ranked team in D-I (Walsh Jesuit, 14-2-1), Greater Cleveland Conference champion Strongsville (10-3-3), the 13th-ranked team in D-I, and Greater Cleveland Conference runner-up Mentor (10-4-3). "We wanted to keep our composure. That was the No. 1 thing," Sheets said. "We were having some fouls we shouldn't have been making. We made sure we were communicating, making sure we were making the right runs. "Our team is very good at combination play and, once we talked about it, we realized that's how we're going to win." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Brunswick 3, Berea-Midpark 1 Division I, Northeast 2 District Semifinal BEREA-MIDPARK 0 1 — 1 BRUNSWICK 0 3 — 3 Second B-M — Kelsey Watkins (Emma Arnold), 34:43. B — Kate Hubbell, 28:34. B — Katie Callahan, 23:59. B — Rylan Sheets, 6:56. Shots on goal — Berea-Midpark 4, Brunswick 12. Corner kicks — Berea-Midpark 3, Brunswick 5. Saves — Ali Chrysanthus (B-M) 9, Abbie Burgess (B) 3, Megan Sidley (B) 0. Records — Berea-Midpark (11-6-1), Brunswick (12-3-2).