Girls District Soccer: Gabi Betonte, Addy Schuster lead North Ridgeville into regional

ROCKY RIVER — Two years ago, Gabi Betonte and Addy Schuster were rehabbing their torn anterior cruciate ligaments together. On Saturday, that hard work paid off as North Ridgeville's senior forwards combined to score or assist on every goal. Betonte set up Schuster for the opening score and her teammate returned the favor twice during a 3-0 win against Amherst to clinch the district championship at Rocky River. "We've grown up together and when I tore my ACL she was there for me," Betonte said. "We were there for each other. She pushed me, and I pushed her just to get back on the field. I don't think anyone can compare to our chemistry. It feels amazing just knowing that we literally worked so hard to get to where we are today. At the beginning of the season, we said let's set a standard and we're here to do that." No. 5-seeded North Ridgeville (14-2-2) will face No. 1 Hudson (18-0) in the Region 7 semifinals at Nordonia on Tuesday at 7 p.m. No. 17 Amherst concludes its season at 7-12. "These girls set out for this to be their goal at the beginning of the season," North Ridgeville coach Scot Santa said. "We got to this stage last season and just came up a little short, so you could see it in their eyes that they weren't going to be satisfied with just another game. They were ready to come out here and get the job done. They weren't ready to go home yet and they went out and proved that today." Amherst possessed the ball well in the first 10 minutes, outshooting North Ridgeville 2-1 during that stretch, and almost converted off of a corner kick when Sienna Rebman's header found the back of the net, but she collided into the keeper during the attempt and the shot was waved off. Rebman also set up Olivia Janosik with a nice look a few minutes later, but Rangers keeper Brynn Blakemore made a good save. "We knew in a game like this that you're only going to get a limited amount of chances so you're going to need to finish them off," Amherst coach Gary Gonzalez said. "These girls have been through quite a bit. It's been a tough season, tough schedule, illnesses and injuries. They had a lot of reasons to doubt themselves and they never gave up. I'm really proud of them for that." North Ridgeville countered immediately with Julia Kudrna setting up Betonte down the sideline. She pulled out Amherst's keeper and set up Schuster with a wide-open net on the opposite wing to go up 1-0 at the 27:38 mark. "We were really trying to focus on being super locked in and go super hard from the start," Schuster said. "Being able to put that first goal away really meant a lot. We've been working on types of goals like that — fast breaks and beating the keeper one-on-one — so it was cool to score a goal and see what we've been using in practice work on the field." The Rangers dominated possession for the rest of the game as Amherst only put one more shot on goal late in the second half. North Ridgeville limited the Comets to seven total shots while firing 15. Betonte gave her defense breathing room in the final five minutes of the half off a nice set play. Schuster fed the corner kick to Kai Antonio, who immediately passed it back to Schuster and she found Betonte on the opposite side of the box to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead. Betonte's second goal came in the final eight minutes, cleaning up a rebound from Schuster's shot. "After that first goal we knew it was still a tightrope," Betonte said. "Getting that second one in gave us that extra motivation to keep pushing. This team just really has something to work for. We have each other, our chemistry is so good and getting that extra goal just put us one step closer to secure our spot." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.