The Berkshire Badgers continued to make history on Monday night, defeating Independence in the school’s second tournament victory, 2-1. The team is now 18-0.
Berkshire, ranked No. 2 in Divsion III Gates Mills district, plays today against No. 1-ranked Kirtland in the district finals at Cuyahoga Heights High School.
The Badgers have not played the Hornets this season because Kirtland moved up to the Chagrin Valley Conference’s Chagrin Division in the offseason.
“You can’t play pretty soccer in that,” Berkshire head coach Rick Nerone said Monday night’s blowing rain that made for a sloppy soccer match. “Good teams win ugly games sometimes.”
The Badgers were paced in the first half by Lexi Boyk and Julia Frank, who each had a goal in the win.
Independence started the second half with a goal, and Nerone said his Badgers panicked a little bit. The Blue Devils had a 15-minute barrage that required goalkeeper Cat Lillibridge to make six saves in perserving the victory.
On Oct. 19, the Badgers beat a 14-win Cornerstone Christian Academy Patriots 3-2.
Berkshire dominated the first half, more specifically, the first 10 minutes but were unable to score.
“It was a little frustrating to start,” Nerone said of that game. “In the playoffs you want to get that first goal. The longer you keep a team in the game the more their confidence grows.”
The Badgers broke through on a beautifully taken corner kick from Boyk that found the head of Amber Taraska who placed the header back post.
“We are finally starting to score on set pieces and it’s very nice to see,” the coach said. “We probably spend more time working on set pieces at practice than anything else. They are such an important part of the game.”
Sophomore Clara Agawa stepped up and buried a perfectly placed upper 90 penalty kick goal for her 9th goal of the season.
“Clara absolutely hates taking PKs, but she is also by far our best PK taker on the team,” Nerone said. “When we were awarded the PK, the girls kept saying this girl, that girl. I said no, Clara is going to take it and she is going to bury it and we will be up 2-0, just watch.”
With 18 minutes left, star Senior Captain Sell stepped up for a free kick from 25 yards out and buried a beautiful back post shot.