Copley's Kate Young, Revere's Kayla Smith shine in goal scoring roles in rivalry match
COPLEY — Two of the best goal scorers in girls soccer in the Greater Akron area flashed their skills Wednesday night in a Suburban League American Conference matchup.
Copley senior Kate Young and Revere senior Kayla Smith each gave her respective team a lead and also knotted the score.
The difference was Young gave Copley a lead twice and finished with three goals in a 3-2 win over rival Revere.
Smith finished with two goals and nearly had two more, but Copley senior goalkeeper Kami Ayoup made the saves.
Young has 16 goals this season to pace Copley (11-3-2, 5-1-0), the reigning Division II state champion.
"It is a great feeling to get a hat trick, especially with all of my teammates around me," Young said. "We work hard. Last year was obviously a great season and we wanted to bring that energy into this season. Being able to keep our energy up and our momentum going is good."
Smith has 19 goals this season to lead Revere (9-3-1, 4-2-0).
"It really means a lot when I know that I can score goals for my team, and especially when we were down 0-1," Smith said. "Coming back and being able to score those two goals to put us up 2-1 really means a lot. It stinks we didn't get the result, but I thought we had a really good team effort and played well in the second half."
Coaches across Northeast Ohio are aware of Young and Smith's scoring abilities as the postseason nears.
"We knew what Kayla offered," Copley coach Wally Senk said. "She is a strong kid who likes to strike the ball with both feet. Pretty clinical finisher. The goal was to stand her up. Regardless, you can train it all day, but she is still an athlete who is capable of breaking players down. I thought we did a decent job on her and she obviously got her chances. I like her as a player, and I thought she made good decisions.
"With Kate, we told her due to our light bench and battling some injuries in the first 11 that she had to take on a bigger role. I think Kate was a little critical of her performance last match [in a 4-2 win over Buckeye] and kind of came out here with a little chip on her shoulder. You are going to get the same thing every night from Kate.
"We know she is going to work hard, she is always one of the top players on the field and she is one of the most technical players. She loves to share the ball, but tonight she had to be a little more selfish, and obviously the three goals were pretty impressive."
State champion Copley hopes to get healthy ahead of tournament
Copley played Wednesday without senior defender Colleen Bauer and junior midfielder Emma Niemczura, both regular starters. Senk said "they both should be good by the playoffs."
Senk also expects sophomore goalkeeper Maddie Franchetti to return to the lineup, which gives Senk the option to play Ayoup in the midfield.
"Kami is our third leading scorer and she has only played out in the field in five matches," Senk said. "That gives us a different dynamic."
What Copley did have going for it was five returning starters with extensive experience from last year's state title run: Young, Ayoup, senior Emily Kerekes, senior Sydney Leach and sophomore Sophie Arnold.
"We started sophomores Carina Frank, Maren Hider and Zoey Van Voorhis, junior Hailey Himmelreich, senior Alli Pittman and freshman Lila Niemczura tonight to go with the five returnees," Senk said.
"I love the resilience in our players. It has been a difficult season as far as numbers. We have 23 players and we are trying to organize two teams. We are not real deep, we have a lot of youth and we are dealing with some injuries. It sounds funny saying we have a lot of youth with six seniors, but we have a lot of inexperienced players that for the most part are getting experience at the varsity level."
Revere moves forward after close loss
Revere coach Dave Howson was happy with his players' effort, but was not totally pleased with a few officiating decisions Wednesday.
"The big moments were when they got a penalty [kick] and we didn't in the first half," Howson said. "Those were big moments. I thought our girls were outstanding tonight.
"... I thought we responded well to being down 1-0 at halftime. Our girls channeled their aggression really well and got back into it to take a 2-1 lead. We looked like we were going to score again rather than conceding a goal, but they scored a second goal and went on to score a third goal. They are a good team. Wally is a good coach and they are a good team, so it is always a tough game. This leaves a bitter taste in the mouth when we feel that some of the decisions didn't go our way."
Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Copley's Kate Young, Revere's Kayla Smith score goals in rivalry match
