Boys sectional soccer: Elyria Catholic can't withstand onslaught of CVCA shots

CUYAHOGA FALLS — Elyria Catholic's defense held strong, but the Panthers couldn't find enough offense to pull an upset. Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy rained down shot after shot against the Panthers' back line, which gave Elyria Catholic a chance to tie things up in the final 10 minutes, but the Royals ultimately held on for a 3-1 win in their Division III sectional final Saturday. No. 7-seeded CVCA (13-2-2) will face No. 20 Kenston (6-6-4) in the district semifinals Thursday. No. 39 Elyria Catholic's season ends at 4-12-2. "The back line last year was a problem, so the hope was that we could shore that up a bit," Elyria Catholic coach Paul Nicol said. "To be honest, our game plan was working. After the first half, it was 1-0, so really anyone's game to win there. They held the ball a lot, but we expected it. This was our game plan and it was close. It was a fun game." CVCA blanked the Panthers 4-0 in their regular-season meeting, but Elyria Catholic showed it was ready to flip that script Saturday. The Royals' first 16 shots, and 10 on goal, were all deflected by Elyria Catholic. CVCA also recorded six corner kicks in the first 38 minutes. But the Royals broke through in the 39th minute when Nick Linaburg found Alex Ott with a cross from the right sideline, giving them a 1-0 lead going into the half. CVCA ultimately outshot the Panthers 29-4 overall and 20-2 on goal for the evening. "We came into this game with a different mentality," said Elyria Catholic senior goalkeeper Zach Gaines, who finished with 17 saves. "We played really nice defense. We had the confidence going into the second half." Linaburg was at the center of all three goals for the Royals as the junior quickly extended the lead less than two minutes into the second half. He corralled the ball at the top of the box, turned and found the left corner of the net. Moments later, CVCA had a corner kick and fired off two solid shots, but both were deflected by Gaines to keep the game from slipping away. Elyria Catholic's strong defense finally led to some offense with 20:52 left. Brayden Van Dyke found Elijah Mvere with a beautiful through ball down the left sideline, and Mvere rifled a cross through two CVCA defenders and found freshman Maximus Murner wide open on the left side of the box for an easy finish. It was just the third shot and second on goal for the Panthers, whose only other shot on goal to that point came at the 25-minute mark of the first half. "It all started with our right back," Murner said. "He pressed up and that allowed us to play Elijah deep. He served it into me, we scored and the energy was high. We tried to get another one, but the result just didn't turn out. It gave us so much energy. You're 2-0 down, you don't have belief, but you score it and you're right into it. That game could have ended 4-0 for CVCA, but we fought until the very end and gave it all we got. We shouldn't be ashamed at all." Murner almost returned the favor to Mvere with 9:14 left. Dominique Stamper placed a through ball to Murner on the left side of the box and Mvere was streaking in on the opposite side to receive the cross. The senior would have had a great opportunity to tie the game, but CVCA's defense cleared the pass before it could find Mvere's foot. The Panthers fed Murner the ball deep in the CVCA box with 7:40 left. While he was quickly double teamed, he kicked it back out to Noah Willett and the junior fired a shot from about 25 yards out that sailed inches above the goal. It was Elyria Catholic's final shot opportunity of the game. Linaburg iced the win with 1:08 left. "I tried to get into their heads a little bit to stay calm after we went down 2-0," Nicol said. "The hope was to crowd the box and as long as they listened to the plan, which they did, it's letting them know stay calm and take a breath. We made it 2-1 and we had a couple of chances after. I'm very proud of these boys. It was a fun game." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. CVCA 3, Elyria Catholic 1 GOALS: (EC) Maximus Murner (60th minute); (C) Alex Ott (39th minute), Nick Linaburg (42nd minute, 79th minute). ASSISTS: (EC) Elijah Mvere; (C) Linaburg. SHOTS: Elyria Catholic 4, CVCA 29 SHOTS ON GOAL: Elyria Catholic 2, CVCA 20 SAVES: (EC) Zach Gaines 17; (C) Elijah Gilbreath 1 FOULS: Elyria Catholic 8, CVCA 12 YELLOW CARDS: Elyria Catholic 1, CVCA 1 CORNER KICKS: Elyria Catholic 1, CVCA 13 FREE KICKS: Elyria Catholic 12, CVCA 8 GOAL KICKS: Elyria Catholic 15, CVCA 3 HALFTIME: CVCA, 1-0