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Chagrin Falls finished their final season as a member of the Chagrin Valley Conference with a 7-0-1 record. That seventh and final win was a conference-clinching victory over West Geauga, 4-2, last Tuesday at Harris Stadium.
The Tigers (9-2-5) have finished the last two seasons with a 12-3-1 record against CVC foes. The Tigers haven’t lost to West Geauga since September 2004, compiling a 7-0-3 record since 2005.
The Tigers used two second half goals by senior Ben Stapulionis and junior Mac Mazzola. Mazzola finished the game with a hat trick; he leads the Tigers in goals (16) and is second in points (36).
Mazzola started off the scoring with 20 minutes remaining in the first half to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. The Wolverines then countered with two goals from senior captain Jacob Clark. The Wolverines took a 2-1 lead into halftime.
Mazzola was complimentary of his teammates in scoring the hat trick. “Without them I couldn’t have done it,” he said. “They push me to be the best I can.”
Mazzola said the Tigers are confident heading into the postseason.
“We have faith in our back line,” he said. “We know they’re going to be there for us, starting with the goalkeeper. The four backs we have trust in them that they’re going to do their job and do what they’re supposed to.”
The Tigers would tie the game only 2:08 into the second half on a Stapulionis goal. Mazzola would then put the Tigers ahead for good with his third goal; he would be assisted on the goal by senior captain Christian Keiper, who finished the game with three assists and is also the leading point scorer for the Tigers.
Keiper said, “It’s a tough game every time we play West Geauga. They gave us a match. They outplayed us in the first half, they had the advantage in the middle, and we couldn’t get any rhythm with our passing. At halftime, Rizz (Anthony Rizzo) and I, the two captains, pulled everyone together. This is the half that defines our senior season. This is to win the CVC; we didn’t win it in our previous three seasons.”
Fellow senior captain Anthony Rizzo finished the game with five saves and held the Wolverines scoreless over the final 46 minutes of the game. Rizzo has played in the integral role in the Tigers, finishing their final six games, 4-0-2, only allowing eight goals during the stretch.
Chagrin Falls has been without the services of senior captain Andrew Passalacqua, who was lost for the season with a torn ACL in September. He still has remained the third leading point scorer.
There has been much to celebrate this year around the Tigers program despite the injury to their senior. On September 30 against Kenston, the only head coach in the history of Chagrin Falls boys soccer, Mario Gerhardt, added another milestone to his career accomplishments with his 500th win. He now holds a 502-247-105 career record over 45 years.
Gerhardt, the winningest coach in Ohio soccer history, has also been inducted into the Ohio High School Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
This day, he was more interested in talking about the present day than his 500th win said.
“We always have close games against West Geauga,” he said, “and it’s too bad the CVC is ending because of a couple of good teams.”
On the postseason push, Gerhardt said, “The team has picked it up since losing Passalacqua.” He was also complimentary of how much Keiper has picked up his play since the injury.
Putting it simply in the end, he added, “Any team that has a keeper and good goal scorer can win games.”
The Wolverines dropped to 4-8-2 on the season and will begin postseason play October 18 against Lake Catholic.
Chagrin Falls will host Conneaut October 14. The Tigers enter the sectional tournament as the second seed; University School, whom the Tigers played to a 3-3 tie in September, garnered the number one seed.
The Tigers fell to the Preppers last season in the district final, 3-0.
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