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This Week in Sports: Beaumont Soccer Meets Its Match in Molina and More

Blue Streaks lose to Pirates after holding a 2-0 lead, and highlights from other local teams

While s home soccer match against Rocky River on Saturday was billed as a matchup between the Blue Streaks’ speed and the Pirates’ size, the visiting team’s greatest attribute could be measured by one player.

Sarah Molina, considered one of the best young players in the nation, demonstrated her prowess with her head and her powerful feet as the Pirates raced back from a two-goal deficit with five unanswered scores for a 5-2 win in a matchup between two of the area’s best teams.

After teammate Stephanie Davis scored, Molina curled a long free kick around Blue Streaks goalie Megan Nemecek and into the net to tie the game. Molina then smashed in a header to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

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Beaumont coach Scott Dennis felt his team could have sharpened up its attack just a little more to handle the pressure the Pirates placed on the team.

“It was a good game both ways. The game could have gone either way, but Rocky River did a great job finishing their chances and we did not. Both teams are very good and can do big things come playoff time,” Dennis said.

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Jessica Fox opened the scoring and Zosia Zippert followed with a breakaway to put Beaumont up early.

Morgan Berg and Eva Schneider also scored for Rocky River.

Heading into the games, Rocky River was ranked No. 2 and Beaumont No. 3 in the Greater Cleveland coaches’ poll for Division II.

The Blue Streaks began the week with two home wins defeating Mayfield, 4-1, on Tuesday and Notre Dame Cathedral Latin, 1-0, on Wednesday.

Zippert had a hat trick and Chelsea Day had the other goal against Mayfield. Megan Nemecek had four saves.

Day scored the lone goal of the game against NDCL with an assist from Alexis Bovell. Nemecek posted five saves.

This week, the Blue Streaks host Holy Name on Wednesday (5 p.m.) and Chagrin Falls on Saturday (3 p.m.)

Girls’ Golf

The Blue Streaks came close to getting a victory against Lake Catholic at Highland Park Golf Club on Monday but fell a stoke short, 208-209.

Sister Erin Zubal, head golf coach, sees this as a big improvement over last week after finishing last in a pair of events and several more strokes out of the running.

“It’s good. We’re looking forward to the rest of the season. We’re hoping on improving our standing from where we are today. We’ll see how the rest of the season plays out,” Zubal said.

The Blue Streaks face off against Hawken and Padua at Punderson State Golf Course on Tuesday (4 p.m.) and against St. Joseph’s Academy at Mallard Creek Golf Club on Wednesday (3:45 p.m.)

Volleyball

The Blue Streaks lost a tight match at Holy Name on Thursday, 3-2, to open the season. The game scores were 25-19, 20-25, 11-25, 25-21, 15-8.

"We’ve got some things to work on. We’re really young,” head coach Patrick Royer said. “I had five sophomores on the floor.  … It’s a process.”

The Blue Streaks host Magnificat (7:30 p.m.) on Wednesday and Notre Dame Cathedral Latin (7:30 p.m.) on Thursday.

Girls’ Tennis

Top singles player Caitlin Lawless led Beaumont over host Mentor, 3-2, on Thursday afternoon and boosted the team’s record to 2-5 overall.

Beaumont’s No. 1 doubles team of Eva Szabados and Sarah Militello earned the Blue Streaks their first doubles win on the season against Mentor.

Lawless, who was a state qualifier with her sister, Erin, in Division I doubles last year, has a 6-1 singles record overall as a senior. She defeated Mentor’s top singles player Natalie Weaver, who was undefeated until Lawless beat her. She’s also defeated Mayfield’s Mitsuki Fukamachi this season, another one of area’s top players.

“She will almost assuredly be playing singles in sectionals, district and state,” Beaumont tennis coach Al Slawson said. “We have hopes of her being a state qualifier.”

The Blue Streaks are on the road all next week against Walsh Jesuit on Tuesday, Hudson on Thursday and Cleveland Heights on Friday. All matches begin at 4 p.m.

Cross Country

Senior Rachel Slingluff took first place individually and led the Blue Streaks to first place in the Avon Lake Earlybird Cross Country Invitational held at Lorain County Community College on Saturday.

Slingluff finished with a time of 20:58.3 in the 5K run of the Gold Girls Varsity grouping.

Slingluff was followed by Sam Graf in fifth (22:49.4), Jessie Slingluff in seventh (22:57.6), Maura O'Connor in eighth (23:01.9), Rachel Graf in 10th (23:08.6), Allison May in 11th (23:20.2) and Nicki Woodcraft in 19th (24:30.4).

Beaumont will next race Saturday in the Tiffin Invitational at Hedges Boyer Park in Tiffin.

LUTHERAN EAST

Football

The Falcons endured another tough week at home, falling to Richmond Heights, 40-20, on Saturday afternoon as the team surrendered the ball nine times on fumbled snaps and one player sustained a serious injury.

Landon Scott suffered a neck injury that required him to be carted off the field and hospitalized. Dawson said he should know more today.

The team was without usual starting quarterback Daijon Olds, who was injured in last week’s 56-0 loss to Oberlin in the season opener at home.

"Turnovers plagued us once again,” coach Donald Dawson said. “With our starting quarterback being out with a concussion, we had two backup quarterbacks in the game.”

Thomas Jackson and Don Rashad took over for Olds, who is expected to return for Friday’s game.

On the bright side, freshman Robert Drake had a 60-yard interception return for a touchdown, and Jackson threw a 15-yard slant to Matthew Hardnick for a touchdown.

Also, Dawson cited Duray Hall, Chawnte Johnson and Austin Woodall as having good games on defense.

Lutheran East will play its first away game of the season at Waterloo on Friday. Game time is 7 p.m.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS

Girls’ Tennis

No. 3 singles players Celia Van Den Bogert won all three of her matches as the team went 1-2 on the week in matches held at .

The Tigers lost to Westlake, 4-1, on Tuesday, beat Lorain City, 5-0, on Wednesday and lost to Orange, 3-2, on Thursday.

Muller said Van Den Bogert’s game is not unlike No. 1 pro tennis player Caroline Wozniacki who’s not known for her power but wins with steady play.

“(She’s) just really, really consistent,” Heights tennis coach Kalee Muller said. “She returns everything.”

The Tigers have a busy schedule this week as they host Edgewood (Tuesday) at Cain Park and then travel to Shaker Heights (Wednesday) and Lake Catholic (Thursday) but host Beaumont (Friday). All matches begin at 4 p.m.

Cross Country

Isaac Korb posted the best time for and finished in 62nd place with a time of 20 minutes, 20.44 seconds in the Mentor Invitational at Garfield Park on Saturday. For the girls’ team, Rebecca Friedberg had the highest mark (24:31.51) in the first event of the season.

Both teams didn’t field enough runners to qualify for a team ranking at the invitational, but Tigers coach Nick Continenza says more runners will be joining the team soon. Various obligations prevented them from competing in Saturday’s event.

With such high temperatures throughout Saturday, perhaps it was best they didn’t compete.

“They were real good through the first mile. In the second mile, everyone in the whole race was looking ragged,” Continenza said. “They had to run through a field with no shade.”

The Tigers will compete in the Bruce Lerch Invitational at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School on Saturday.

Boys’ Golf

The Tigers lost a tight match against Bedford at the Highland Park Golf Club on Wednesday, falling 90-92.

Cleveland Heights’ No. 1 player Jameel Jackson shot 41, while No. 2 Sheldon White shot 51 from the red course’s front nine. The Tigers were only able to field two players for the match due to other  commitments and injuries.

Nonetheless, Tigers coach Kevin Dixon sees great progress in Jackson despite the team’s record falling to 2-7 overall.

“Jameel Jackson’s bringing his score down. He’s trying to get to a 36,” Dixon said. “He’s trying to get down for the whole month of September. That’ll put him in good contention for the sectionals and the LEL.”

The Tigers host Shaker Heights on Tuesday (3 p.m.) at Highland Park Golf Club and travel to Euclid on Thursday (3:15 p.m.) at the Briardale Greens Golf Course.

Field Hockey

Considering the Tigers 2011 team features a mere two returning players and a first-year head coach, perhaps it’s not surprising they were shut out in their first two games of the season.

Western Reserve Academy won, 10-0, on Tuesday and Hathaway Brown rolled, 6-0, on Thursday with both games held at Denison Park.

Tigers head coach Brittany Ross, 22, a graduate of Orange, and assistant coach Melissa Logan, also 22 and a Cleveland Heights graduate, clearly have their work cut out for them. Ross said she will keep the team’s spirits up and shepherd them along the way.

“I’m going to be patient with them and try and work on stick skills,” Ross said. “The team understands we’re not going to be scoring a lot of goals. It’s just a rebuilding year so that in the future, we can have a very successful field hockey team.”

The Tigers will host Hawken on Tuesday (4:30 p.m.) at .

Boys’ Soccer

Zander Perelman scored three goals to lead the Tigers to a 5-2 victory over visiting Parma on Saturday afternoon in blazing heat. Ashton Bernard and Desi Pelligree each had a goal for Cleveland Heights to help the team’s record to 2-1-1.

“They played as hard as they could under difficult conditions,” Tigers coach Sean Sullivan said.

Parma scored the first goal, but the team rallied to win the first half, 3-1, in goals scored and took control of the game.

This week, Cleveland Heights hosts Euclid on Wednesday (7 p.m.)

Girls’ Soccer

The Tigers were shutout at Mentor on Thursday falling, 7-0, for their second loss of the week. The Tigers are 0-4 on the season.

The Tigers opened the week losing, 5-3, to West Geauga at home as Kalah Saunders scored twice and Meg Lentz scored once on Monday.

This week, the Tigers travel to Euclid on Wednesday (4:30 p.m.) and to Laurel on Saturday (2 p.m.)

Volleyball

The Tigers opened the season with a pair of road loses to Laurel, 3-0, on Monday and Maple Heights, 3-1, on Tuesday.

Against Laurel, the Tigers yielded games of 25-21, 25-14, 25-15 and against Maple Heights, 25-7, 25-7, 25-26, 25-22.

The Tigers are slotted to face Lorain on the road Tuesday (7:30 p.m.), host Shaw on Thursday (7:30 p.m.) and play in the Avon Invitational on Saturday. 

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