Copley, Manchester advance to girls soccer state tournament; Medina boys march on

GIRLS SOCCER

Division III, Region 9

Manchester 1, Poland Seminary 0 (OT)

Junior Gina Tipton scored a goal three minutes into overtime at Warren Howland’s Lombardo Field to propel Manchester (21-1) to a regional title and a state semifinal appearance for the first time in girls soccer.

Junior Katie Norris assisted on Tipton’s goal, which gave Manchester its 19th win in a row. Poland finished the season 18-4.

Panthers junior goalkeeper Madi Cox recorded a shutout.

Neither team was able to score in regulation, but Manchester generated more legitimate scoring opportunities on an extremely windy day in Northeast Ohio.

Tipton's goal in overtime came as Manchester's players faced the wind.

Manchester will play Ottawa-Glandorf in a state semifinal at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Mansfield Madison Comprehensive High School.

Division II, Region 6

Copley 4, St. Mary's Memorial 1

Copley (20-0-1) bided its time and waited to play with the wind in the second half and it paid off with the school's first trip to the state semifinal in school history.

Down 1-0 — and trailing for the first time this season — Copley didn't let a first-half goal by Ariel Fast rattle them. Instead, they came out in the second half and peppered the Roughriders (19-3-1) and goalie Ella Jacobs with 17 shots on goal.

Emma Stransky tied it with 30:24 left and Colleen Bauer put Copley ahead with 28:05 on a penalty kick.

Stransky and Kate Young added goals in the final 10 minutes and Copley reached the state final four, where it will play Bay (17-3). The Rockets knocked off Canfield 2-0.

"This has been our goal forever," Stransky said. "For it to finally happen, it's unreal. I haven't absorbed it all yet. Making history is the best thing we could have done. Everyone's excited. It's just an indescribable feeling."

Copley will play Bay Village Bay in a state semifinal at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Nordonia High School's Boliantz Stadium.

Division I, Region 1

Strongsville 1, Walsh Jesuit 0

Macy Felton scored a goal on a penalty kick with 52 seconds remaining in the second half to lift the Mustangs (15-1-3) to a regional final victory over the Warriors (16-3-2) at Nordonia's Boliantz Stadium.

Strongsville will meet Rocky River Magnificat in a state semifinal at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Brunswick Auto Mart Stadium.

BOYS SOCCER

Division I, Region 1

Medina 2, Hudson 1 (OT)

Junior Ian Kaczmarek and senior Jacob Hutz scored goals to lead Medina (15-3-3) to a victory over Hudson (19-2-1) in a regional final at Nordonia’s High School’s Boliantz Stadium.

Hudson senior Tyler Travis scored the first goal of the match in the 13th minute of the first half.

Kaczmarek scored his goal in the 15th minute of the second half off a pass by junior Cole Turchyn.

“The second half, we came out and we were like, ‘We’re a goal down and we have the wind to our advantage,’” Kaczmarek said. “We were driving on them more and I saw an opening, cut across and Turchyn played a beautiful ball through and I swung my leg at it and it was 1-1.”

Hutz delivered the final goal eight minutes into overtime.

“This is unreal,” Hutz said of his goal. “I have never done anything like this or scored a goal as important as this. We lost to them at home and to come back and beat them feels amazing.”

Medina will play Cleveland St. Ignatius in a state semifinal at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Brunswick Auto Mart Stadium.

“They are a very good team,” Turchyn said of Hudson. “We kept battling with them back and forth. I think when we realized that this could be our senior teammates' last game, we kind of put that into perspective and we started driving on them more. We wanted to win so bad just to prove a point from the [3-2] loss earlier this year [to Hudson]. Hutz put it away, and we are all proud of him for doing it.”

This will be the seventh year in a row Medina and Ignatius have met in the tournament. Ignatius won in 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Medina won in 2017 and 2018.

Every matchup except for last year's regional final has been in a state semifinal.

Division II, Region 8

Shawnee 3, Revere 2

Shawnee (19-1-1) ended the season of the top-ranked Minutemen (18-2-1) in heartbreaking fashion.

It came when Matteo Fusillo fed Luca Fusillo with two minutes left at Bowling Green High School.

Shawnee will play Howland (18-1-2) in a state semifinal Wednesday at Clear Fork.

The goal ruined a great effort by Revere, which had goals from Desmond Johnston and A.J. Catlett and two assists by Shay Makkar. It was the second straight regional final appearance for the Minutemen and third consecutive time Revere has reached the round of 16 or better.

Division II, Region 5

Warren Howland 2, CVCA 1

Jak Kenney scored two goals to power Howland (18-1-2) to a regional final win over CVCA (17-3-0) at Twinsburg Tiger Stadium.

Kenney scored his first goal in the 14th minute and his second goal in the 61st minute.

CVCA’s Carson Reske netted a goal in the 51st minute.

— Compiled by Michael Beaven and Brad Bournival

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Manchester and Copley girls join Medina boys in state semifinals