Girls Soccer: Avon makes opening statement with 1-0 win over defending state champion Bay

AVON — The schedule said opening night but there was a playoff feeling in the air Friday as Avon started the season against defending Division III state champion Bay. It didn't take long for Eagles sophomore sensation Sydney Thomas to make something happen. Thomas gathered a loose ball in her defensive end and dribbled through at least three Bay defenders before firing a shot into the far left corner of the net to give Avon the only goal it would need in a 1-0 win. "You have to see the space and where it's open," Thomas said. "I knew if I took a touch to the middle the defender would fake to the one side and I would have the other side completely open." It was the 13th goal of Thomas' young career and proved to be the only one of the night. Bay outshot the Eagles 8-6 and had a handful of good scoring opportunities, beginning with an Alex Linsenmeyer free kick that hit the crossbar in the first half. Issi Bruno on a breakaway sent a shot that went wide of the mark in the second half. Sophomore goalkeeper Haylee Ostrander was on her game every time the Eagles needed a big save. "Before the game and during the game I was really hyped up," Ostrander said. "I feel like I lead the team, I just wanted to push my team to push themselves and play together. "There's times we were all covering for each other a lot but we were able to pull through and get the win." After a few lapses in the midfield early in the match, Avon played better as the game wore on. Although Bay had a couple of late scoring chances, including one in the final 30 seconds, Avon controlled the run of play for much of the second half. "Bay is always very competitive, it's a great soccer community," Avon coach Attila Csiszar said. "For an opening game this was good for us. The girls were running on adrenaline tonight. Could we have played better? Yeah, but we usually find our pace around the middle of the season." Csiszar was exceptionally impressed by the performative of Ostrander. "Haylee's awesome, she's a brute," Csiszar said. "She's definitely an impact player. She puts in 110 percent so, yeah, I'm excited to see what she can do." Bay coach Scott Simpson was pleased with how his young team performed against last year's Division II state semifinalist. "I thought we did well, we've got a lot of players who are playing their first varsity games and I think you saw some of that," Simpson said. "How would we respond going down 1-0 was something we needed to see and we did well. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely, but to create eight or nine pretty good chances against Avon was awesome." With games against Chagrin Falls, Rocky River and Magnificat coming up before Southwestern Conference play begins, Thomas said the win will give Avon much needed momentum. "This win lifted our spirits and showed us we can do this," she said. "Our goal is to get to state and now we know we can do that because we beat the defending state champions." Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Avon 1, Bay 0 Goals: A — Sydney Thomas (15th minute), Goalkeepers: B — Olivia Ruma (5 saves); A — Haylee Ostrander (8 saves) Shots on goal: B — 8; A — 6 Fouls: B — 5; A — 4 Corner kicks: B — 3; A — 2 Offside: A — 1 Halftime: Avon, 1-0