Road Warriors: Through the rain, Walsh wins 'away game' in boys soccer district semifinal
CUYAHOGA FALLS — In the OHSAA soccer postseason, the higher seed has the right to host games through the district semifinal.
Thus, sixth-seeded Walsh Jesuit hosted seventh-seeded Painesville Riverside on Wednesday in a Division I district semifinal. Thanks to Mother Nature, however, home-field advantage proved to be misnomer. With portions of Kissner Field underwater due to rain, the game moved up the hill to Conway Memorial Stadium.
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Although that is still on Walsh's campus, Warriors senior Xavier Munro said the move was a curveball.
"We only found out this afternoon we were playing here," he said after the Warriors' 2-0 victory. "We're used to playing on grass. Playing on the turf up here, it felt like an away game."
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Worse yet, misty rain and heavy wins buffeted Memorial Stadium throughout the game. Such conditions are a recipe for slick balls and unpredictable bounces on turf.
The late switch, lousy weather and scope of the district tournament had Walsh coach Tony Catanzarite guiding his team before kickoff.
"With as young a team as we are, we were really concerned about nerves," he said. "We didn't want the moment to be too big for them. During warmups, we told the guys, 'Smile, have fun and just be yourselves. This is just another game.'"
After some early jitters, Walsh (14-4-2) adjusted better to the moment than Riverside and advanced to play University School, a 6-0 winner over Green on Wednesday, in the district championship game at 2 p.m. Saturday at Solon. A win would give the Warriors their first district title of the Catanzarite era.
Catanzarite acknowledged the field change and weather forced Walsh to switch tactics, particularly in the second half.
"The second half was much more direct than we like to play," he said. "We did what we had to do."
"It was really slick, which makes the ball hard to control," Munro said. "It was hard to play possession all game long."
Although the Warriors had to shift gears on offense, their defense held the Beavers to having no clear-cut scoring chances, despite Riverside finishing with 10 corner kicks.
Catanzarite said he needed his team to focus on Beavers senior Skylar Landgraf, who was marked throughout the game. The coached singled out Andrew Conti and Chase Merrill for keeping Landgraf quiet.
The Warriors finished with an 8-1 edge in shots on goal and broke through on its first major scoring chance, which Munro both started and finished.
Following a diagonal pass through the Beavers defense, Walsh's Carter Madden was denied at close range by Riverside goalie Owen Silva. Munro crashed the net, corralled the rebound and put it in.
"We knew we had to shoot low and make their goaltender make some saves," Munro said. "I just followed the ball and got to it."
Munro put the game away in the 72nd minute.
After forward Brady Catanzarite spurned a couple of breakaway chances earlier in the half, the coach's son atoned with a perfect through ball to send Munro sprinting behind the defense.
Munro rounded the keeper and slid the ball home for his second goal of the game and 19th of the season.
Coach Catanzarire called goalie Quinn Anderson his man of the match after the freshman earned his 11th shutout.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Walsh Jesuit adjusts to new home field to advance in district
