Girls Soccer: Avon Lake scores twice late to get past Elyria

AVON LAKE — After knocking on the door the whole game, the Shoregals broke through when it mattered most. Despite dominating possession, Avon Lake trailed Elyria heading into the final 10 minutes of the match, then scored two goals down the stretch for a 2-1 Southwestern Conference win Wednesday evening. Sophomore Kaitlyn Warner scored the winning goal on an assist from Mia Brunetti with 2:31 remaining. "I just saw the ball coming and ran as fast as I could," Warner said. "It was really nice to win, but I feel like we should have played a lot better. We got the win, so that's all that really matters, but we have to work on finishing." Statistically, Avon Lake (2-3-1, 1-0) controlled the match. The Shoregals outshot the Pioneers 13-3 overall, putting 10 on goal to Elyria's three. They also had seven corner kicks while Elyria had none. But it was Elyria (3-3, 0-1) that broke through with 22:31 left when Elania Martinez took advantage of an Avon Lake mishit into the box and finished the point-blank attempt. The goal was ultimately Elyria's only shot of the second half. Elyria goalkeeper Geylian Del Valle Merced played outstanding. She shut out the Shoregals in the first half despite Avon Lake virtually living in the Pioneers' half of the field. Even though Avon Lake only got off three shots on goal in the first 40 minutes, there were plenty of attempts that Del Valle Merced and the defense prevented. The biggest came with 16 minutes left in the half, as a bad bounce got past Del Valle Merced and was heading toward a wide-open net, but the junior ran it down and batted it just in time to save the goal. "This was a million percent my goalkeeper's best game today," Elyria coach Hannah McCray said. "One of my favorite moments was when the ball bounced over her head. Most other goalkeepers would have let that go in, but for her to respond immediately and recover that save says a lot about where her mindset was tonight. She had an absolutely outstanding game and I'm so proud of how hard she's been working on things." The Pioneers surrendered their first goal with 8:48 to play on an unlucky handball in the box that resulted in a penalty kick. Avon Lake's Francesca Persia banked the attempt to even the score. The Shoregals escaped with the win when senior Brunetti made a beautiful midfield feed to Warner, who took advantage of the wide-open field in front of her to create a one-on-one attempt and give Avon Lake its first lead with 2:31 left. The defense held strong to keep Elyria at bay. "A win's a win," Avon Lake coach Doug Buczak said. "It's good to see the girls be resilient in ways that they can fight back. Nobody gave up and I'm proud of them for it. "It's a game of opportunities. It's not just how many you can create, but how many you can put away. Elyria did it first and it shook us, it woke us up. Hopefully this is what we need to continue scoring goals because we need more goals." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.