Shoremen Boys Travel To Westlake And Top Demons 2-0

On an evening that looked threatened by rain, the Avon Lake boys soccer team finished the threat, defeating host Westlake 2-0. It was an important SWC tussle matching a Westlake team at 1-1-1 and 1-1 in conference against the Shoremen who entered at 1-2, also 1-1 in conference.

Avon Lake struck first in the 7th minute of the game off a nice offensive sequence. Junior Spencer Chippi picked up a ball from his position on the left wing and carried it central before switching across to senior right back Joey Caputo.

Caputo hit a pretty long ball back across the box to fellow senior Edison Lemanowicz who had shaken free of his defender. Lemanowicz then deadened the ball right into the path of junior captain Drew Del Giudice who put it away for a 1-0 lead.

Five minutes later the Shoremen were dangerous again as junior Danny Lambert had a step on his defender and was sprinting in from the right side before being taken down just outside the box. The ensuing Avon Lake free kick was met at the back post by it could not be turned on net.

Later in the half Chippi earned a corner kick and the Shoremen corner went over the goalie who came out in attempt to corral it. But senior Kristof Nieschwitz could not get much on his shot and the goalie managed to recover enough to block it and have a defender clear.

Early in the second half Westlake had a decent chance to pull a goal back after a foul outside the Avon Lake box resulted in a direct kick, but the ensuing kick went straight into the wall and was cleared.

It was back and forth for much of the second half, with each team having some opportunities but neither team taking control.

Finally, with 2 minutes left to play the Shoremen broke through again to put the game away. Lemanowicz dribbled the ball from right to left just inside the 18 before freezing his primary defender long enough to get off a shot, which deflected off a second defender and and arced over the goalie and in for the final 2-0 margin.

“Sometimes you have to be able to win a tough game when you aren’t quite at your best,” said head coach Pete Klepek. “We needed to get this SWC win to get back on track and we came on the road and handled our business.”

With the win Avon Lake goes to 2-2 overall, 2-1 SWC. In the JV game the Shoremen also emerged victorious, 3-1, off goals by sophomores Jon Brausch, Zach Ramsey and Liam Reutter.

Avon Lake boys soccer is back in action on Saturday September 1st at home against St Ed’s, games at 5 and 7.