Boys Regional Soccer: Avon Lake rallies, beats Kenston in overtime

MACEDONIA — Avon Lake didn't let one unlucky play ruin its evening. The Shoremen rallied with two unanswered goals after halftime for a 2-1 overtime win against Kenston in their Division III, Region 11 semifinal at Nordonia on Wednesday. "It feels awesome," said Avon Lake senior Alex Soloff, who scored the winning goal 1:05 into overtime. "That's my goal, to just try and impact the game any way that I can. Whether that's an assist or running for the goal, any way to win that's what I'm trying to do and that's what I did. It took some time for us to get going after the first half, but we were mad that we were down 1-0. We came out strong in the second half." Avon Lake (16-2-3) will face Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (17-1-2) in the championship at Brooklyn on Sunday at 5 p.m. Kenston concludes its season at 14-5-2. "We talk about it all year, we're resilient," Avon Lake coach Pete Klepek said. "That's the making of a champion. They've been resilient all year. We were down against Mentor and Amherst and came back to win those games. We play the top teams in our area and we battled. At the end of the season, our boys are prepared." Not much went right for Avon Lake in the first half. Kenston only got off two shots on goal, but a shot that was just off the mark had the potential to give the Bombers an early lead. Ryan Flynn was set up with a nice cross and an opening, but his shot deflected off the crossbar before it could find the net. Kenston, however, took a 1-0 lead seven minutes later when a 50-yard free kick found its way into the box. Avon Lake goalkeeper Ben Mars caught the ball, but it was slick from the pouring rain and popped out of his hands. Flynn was right there to clean it up. "We played one of our worst first halves and we were still in the game," Klepek said. "A simple mistake by our keeper, won't happen again. He's been great all year. Can't blame him because he made big saves, so the team picked him up today. We got that next goal, and finished it off in overtime." Avon Lake came out of halftime refocused and Kenston did not get another shot off for the duration of the game, finishing with five total and two on goal. The Shoremen got the equalizer less than 10 minutes in when Raymond (Joey) Prins placed a long free kick in prime position for Steven Reisinger, who banked the goal. While the Shoremen produced nine shots, four on goal, in the second half, Kenston held strong to force overtime. But Prins helped end the game quickly when he fed Soloff down the left sideline on a through ball that set up a wide-open net for the senior to tap in for the walk-off. "That's Joey Prins and he is the man," Soloff said. "He just finds a way to get his head on the ball. Anything Coach asks him to do, he'll do it." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.