OHSAA boys soccer: New Albany, St. Charles, Watterson win regional semifinals
Wednesday night's boys soccer regional semifinals included New Albany, St. Charles and Watterson winning one-goal nail-biters. Here's a recap of the action involving central Ohio teams in all three divisions.
Division I
New Albany 1, Dublin Jerome 0 (OT)
Kaden Kist’s goal in the opening minute of overtime lifted New Albany past Jerome at Hilliard Bradley. Adam Hoy sent a short corner kick to Austin Young, who delivered the ball back to Hoy. Hoy then sent a crossing pass to the far post to Kist, who deflected the shot past Jerome goalie J.J. Simmons. “We’ve been working on (that play) in the training ground and we ran it to perfection,” Kist said. “That’s what happened. It feels great. They’ve been our rivals. We’ve been pushing them hard. They’ve been pushing us for the past couple of years.”
New Albany won regular-season meetings against Jerome in 2021, 2022 and this season, but Jerome won 1-0 in a regional final in 2021 and 2-1 on penalty kicks in a district semifinal in 2018. “Jerome was probably the better team today and deserved to have won,” New Albany coach Johnny Ulry said. “However, they beat us when we should have beat them in 2018 and 2021. There’s a lot of ghosts who are happy right now. Hats off to them. We knew it was going to be a hard match.”
After a 1-4 start, New Albany (16-4-2) is unbeaten in its last 17 games (15-0-2). “No one thought we would get here, so this is pretty huge for us,” Hoy said. “We started off the season 1-4 and then going 17 games unbeaten is pretty crazy. This is a really good one for us.”
Both coaches praised their goalies. Jerome (12-4-5) controlled play for most of the second half, but couldn’t solve goalie Wyatt Butler. “I feel really bad for the guys,” Jerome coach Nate Maust said. “We battled for 80 minutes and went into overtime. We gave up a good corner-kick goal. We didn’t get a chance to get one offensive play. It’s just how it goes when you go into overtime.”
New Albany will play St. Charles in the regional final Saturday at Big Walnut. “Now we have to get focused and get ready for my good friend (coach Chris Vonau) at St. Charles,” Ulry said. “I love him to death. It’s going to be a real fun game.”
—Frank DiRenna
St. Charles 1, Olentangy 0
A flurry of set pieces paid off late in the second half for the underdog Cardinals, and afterward coach Chris Vonau found his memory somewhat blurry in trying to recall what ended up as the biggest play of a regional semifinal at Westerville Central. Sophomore midfielder Ryan O’Sullivan took a throw-in from Graham Brokaw, worked through Olentangy defenders and netted the game’s only goal with 9:02 to go as St. Charles (10-7-2), seeded just 13th in the district tournament, advanced to Saturday’s regional final. “We always pride ourselves on our set piece work, (but) I can’t even think right now,” Vonau said. “This group’s resolve is something I haven’t seen in my entire career. Their determination, their grit, toughness and ability to make plays happen when they shouldn’t is unmatched.”
O’Sullivan found himself in the right place at the right time amid traffic in front of the net, getting a fortuitous bounce to help prolong the team’s postseason run in its first regional appearance since 2019. “We got all those great chances inside and then the last one just fell to me right inside the box,” O’Sullivan said. “(Brokaw) threw it in, their defender tried to clear it to the middle and I was right there and just hit it. Sometimes, it just takes one deflection, one shot on goal.” Cardinals goalie Aidan Rice made eight saves. Olentangy’s Liam McClen had two.
Olentangy (16-2-2) controlled the early portion of the second half before St. Charles wrestled away momentum, then put together several quality chances down the stretch. The Braves got one last chance with 3.3 seconds left when senior forward Luke Hanlon drew a foul, but his kick sailed high as time expired. “We had opportunities we just didn’t capitalize on … and they hit the net and we didn’t,” said Braves coach Kyle Hamrick, whose team was the top seed in the district and in its first regional since 2006. “They defend very well and when they win the ball, they make you pay by sending the ball 50 yards down the field as fast as they can. They’re a very direct team. If you don’t take advantage of your opportunities, then you have to recover for 50 yards, deal with fast forwards who are coming to press you, then get back out.”
—Dave Purpura
Division II
Watterson 2, Warsaw River View 1
Watterson's Jordan Vais converted a free kick for the go-ahead goal with 30:35 remaining, and the Eagles (12-5-4) held on to beat River View at Zanesville West Muskingum. Alex Das scored with 12:51 left in the first half to give Watterson the lead, and River View (18-3) tied it early in the second half when Hayden Walters beat Eagles goalie Mike Antry. River View's Laired Williamson just missed the potential tying goal with 10 minutes left. Watterson advanced to face Fairfield Union, a 2-1 winner over Marietta, in the regional final Saturday at Bloom-Carroll.
—Brandon Hannahs, Zanesville Times Recorder
Making its first regional appearance, Jonathan Alder (11-4-3) fell 5-0 to Tipp City Tippecanoe (19-1-1) at Springfield. The Pioneers came in riding a six-game winning streak, including a late surge in Saturday’s district final to knock off Bloom-Carroll 3-2.
—Dave Purpura
Division III
Worthington Christian had no problems with Berlin Hiland, rolling to a 7-0 victory at Heath. Max Glick and Caleb Von Dop each scored twice and Ben Jende, Nolan Palmer and Sammy Sarfo added a goal each as the Warriors (16-2-3) advanced to a regional final Saturday at Logan against South Webster (16-3-2).
At Bellbrook, Tree of Life had a 1-0 halftime lead but Waynesville responded with three second-half goals and downed the Trojans 3-2, handing them their first loss of the season (19-1-1).
—Dave Purpura
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: New Albany, St. Charles, Watterson win boys soccer regional semis
