Girls soccer 2025: Defense powering Avon's state title hopes

AVON — One of the hardest things in soccer is to quantify the success of a defensive unit. Other than goals allowed, there aren't a lot of numbers to display how well a defense performs. A shutout could be the result of a defense that played to perfection or just a goalkeeper making miraculous saves. Or maybe the midfield was so dominant, the opponent didn't have many chances to mount offensive attacks. At Avon, the defense solves that problem by focusing on the three C's — communication, confidence and chemistry. Whatever the Eagles' measure for success is, it's working. After only allowing 22 goals last year during a Division II state tournament run, Avon started this season by only surrendering four goal over its first five games. "Last year made us more confident," said Sierra Kobak, who is the only senior among Avon's starting defenders. "We know if we can go that far we can obviously do it again. We got so close last year, it gets us excited and ready to go thinking about that."Avon coach Attila Cssizar had to move some players to new roles and get three sophomores — Peyton Geddins, Campbell O'Malley and goalkeeper Haylee Ostrander — ready to face the gauntlet of the schedule. Through all of it, he never took the focus off what he believes is the biggest C, communication. "It all stems from communication," Csiszar said. "They understand each other and they communicate well. Everyone is on the same page. Every single player is playing for each other and not for themselves. It's so nice to see."In Ostrander's first start of the season, she shut out defending Division III state champion Bay. After five matches, she has a goals against average of 0.80. "Our defense is our strongest suit," Ostrander said. "We always cover for each other and have each other's back. As a goalkeeper, that's a very good thing for me, and it makes me feel a lot more confident with the ball at my feet, knowing I have defenders who can help distribute the ball."Despite the fact the defense is playing together for the first time this season, O'Malley said the chemistry was there from Day 1 of training camp."Our defense is really strong and we have a lot of team chemistry," O'Malley said. "We pass the ball really well and we work well together. We've grown a lot as a team. The older girls, especially Sierra and Olivia, really helped us younger girls."Gettings explained why communication is so vital, especially on a team that came into the year with such high expectations. "Communication is really important," Gettings said. "The defense sees everything and you need to be able to tell people in front of you what to do. When you're defending, you need to be on the same page with your teammates."Fans and Southwestern Conference rivals see how the Eagles' defenders play as a unit. Watching the team in training or how they interact off the field, gives a glimpse into why they play so well together."We have a bond, it just clicked for us. We didn't have to work on it a lot. We just knew how to play together. It feel like we have a special connection," Kobak said. "We don't think about who is a senior or who is a sophomore. It doesn't matter how old you are, you can still be great." Everything the Eagles have done, on and off the field, will be tested over the next six weeks, as they still have to face SWC powers Avon Lake and Amherst, and have non-league games against Anthony Wayne, Hudson and Strongsville, all teams which are currently undefeated. "It's a culture here at Avon," Csiszar said. "They know every time we come out they are going to battle. We had 58 kids try out. We have three teams. Soccer just keeps getting bigger in Avon. Building a culture is what sets us apart."Last season, Avon only allowed three goals in five postseason games, the final one coming in a 1-0 state semifinal loss to Bishop Watterson. It's a loss that pushed the Eagles to come back with an even stronger defense in 2025. "We don't want our season to end like it did last year. We're coming out hungry this year to go even further than we did last year," junior Olivia Sabo-Alexander said. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.