Girls district soccer: Amherst spoils lead in loss to Mayfield

ROCKY RIVER — Mayfield pulled off a heist Nicolas Cage would be proud of. Amherst's lead was gone in just over 60 seconds as the Wildcats scored their first two goals in a 1:02 span before adding one for good measure to clinch a 3-2 win in the Division II, Northeast 4 district final championship at Rocky River High School on Saturday afternoon. "Credit to Amherst, they're a phenomenal team," Mayfield coach Ivica Miljak said. "We saw them in the regular season and it was even, 0-0. So I think what it came to is what we changed, we just went back to our basics. We made sure we calmed the ball down a little bit, we were playing tight in the first half." For the first 60 minutes, it looked as if Amherst (11-5-3) was going to hold onto a 1-0 lead for its second-straight district championship. Its lone goal came with 16 seconds left in the first half when Isabelle McGee launched a free kick from 45 yards. Mayfield goalkeeper Madelyn Spencer broke too early and the ball got behind her, allowing the Comets to break through. Amherst outshot Mayfield 6-2 overall and 5-2 on goal in the first half. "It really fired us up," McGee said of her goal. "It gave us the confidence and the energy boost to push into the next half." But in the final 20 minutes, Mayfield (14-2-3) started to gain more opportunities. The shot selection flipped significantly with the Wildcats producing 10 overall and nine on goal while the Comets rattled off just three, placing two on goal. Amherst had limited Mayfield's set play opportunities in the first half to just three free kicks, however in the second the Wildcats strung together nine free kicks and their first two corner kicks. They broke through on their second corner kick, which produced back-to-back point blank shots before Addison Carroll corralled the rebound and tied the game with 12:19 to play. Before the Comets could recover, Mayfield struck again at the 11:17 mark when Brooke Tirabassi launched a 30-yard shot. The Wildcats final goal came with 5:12 left when Janelle Bihary forced a turnover in the box. That cushion came in handy as Amherst scored on a scrum in front of the net with 1:31 left, but the Wildcats never let the Comets get back into their offense for the remainder of the game. "One of the emphasis items we wanted to come into today was limiting their corners and their free kicks, and obviously that's what led to their tying goal," Amherst coach Gary Gonzalez said. "We just had to do a better job on things like that. A little breakdown led to that third goal, which was absolutely killer." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Mayfield 3, Amherst 2GOALS: (M) Addison Carroll (68th minute), Brooke Tirabassi (69th minute), Janelle Bihary (75th minute). (A) Isabelle McGee (40th minute), Gabby Vasquez (79th minute).ASSISTS: (A) Paige Miller.SHOTS: Mayfield 10, Amherst 9.SHOTS ON GOAL: Mayfield 9, Amherst 7.SAVES: (M) Madelyn Spencer 6. (A) Haydn Beischlag 6FOULS: Mayfield 13, Amherst 12CORNER KICKS: Mayfield 2, Amherst 6FREE KICKS: Mayfield 12, Amherst 13GOAL KICKS: Mayfield 9, Amherst 2HALFTIME: Amherst, 1-0.