Boys soccer: Medina prevails over Brunswick, rain

BRUNSWICK — The Medina boys soccer team beat Brunswick and the weather Tuesday to record an impressive 1-0 Greater Cleveland Conference victory at rain-soaked Brunswick Auto Mart Stadium.An absolute downpour hit Brunswick at 6 p.m. and stayed around for the better part of 45 minutes, but by the time the teams took the field for warmups at 7, it had lessened to a steady rain leading up to the pushed-back 7:35 p.m. starting time. Thunder and lightning delays were not a factor, but at least a light rain fell until the final few minutes.The rain didn't stop the Bees (9-2-3, 6-0) from downing the Blue Devils (8-4-3, 3-3) and setting up a winner-take-all home game against Strongsville next week for the GCC title. Medina is ranked 17th in the state in Division I by MaxPreps, while the Mustangs are fifth. Brunswick is 26th."That will be great," Bees coach Doug Coreno said of the Tuesday game against Strongsville, which still has to play GCC foe Euclid on Saturday. "We're 6-0 and they'll be 6-0, so it will be a true conference championship game. Those don't happen too often, so that's going to be an exciting atmosphere."Medina dominated the action and pushed the pace throughout the first half, finally getting rewarded when Cooper Fuller took a great pass forward from Cooper Korduba and easily beat defenseless Blue Devils keeper Eli Hyde with 1:15 to play before intermission.With the Cooper to Cooper Show headlining, the Bees had a 5-1 edge in shots on goal and a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks over the first 40 minutes, including 3-0 and 4-0, respectively, in the first 13 minutes."In weather like this, you never know if a thunderstorm is going to roll in," Coreno said. "We made it a big point of emphasis that we had to be winning at halftime in case the game got called at that point. We wanted to make sure we got off to a great start, and I thought the boys were fired up from the beginning."Medina's best scoring opportunity prior to Fuller's goal came when Tyler Cobb hit a great centering pass from the left, but a teammate missed wide right.Brunswick, which relied mainly on quick counterattacks, got its lone shot on goal of the first half from Owen Beskid with 19:20 to play.The Blue Devils mounted more of an attack in the second half but still trailed 3-2 in shots on goal and 2-0 in corner kicks over the final 40 minutes. For the game, those numbers were 8-3 and 6-1."They came out with good energy and we came out at 90%," Brunswick coach Ben Dotson said. "With a young team, those are mistakes you can't make."It was swirling (wind conditions), the field was flooded and the ball was skipping. We were looking for an opportunity (to counterattack) behind that. Unfortunately, we didn't get one."The Bees got solid play from the back line of Gavin Williams, Logan Abernathy, Jackson Harvey and Chase Wilbur, as well as midfielders Cobb, Brody Gannon, Xavier Abernathy and Jack Piatak, plus keeper Bennett Werthmuller (3 saves), while Brunswick's Brayden Oleksiw, Kaden Tibbs, Ryan Dick and Marrtin Klenjoski were good in front of Hyde (7 saves)."We were very organized on the back line and we dealt with the conditions as well as we could in the midfield," Coreno said. "We were dangerous up top. I thought all three phases were very good tonight."Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.Medina 1, Brunswick 0MEDINA 1 0 — 1BRUNSWICK 0 0 — 0First M — Cooper Fuller (Cooper Korduba), 1:15.Shots on goal — Medina 8, Brunswick 3. Corner kicks — Medina 6, Brunswick 1. Saves — Bennett Werthmuller (M) 3, Eli Hyde (B) 7. Records — Medina (9-2-3, 6-0), Brunswick (8-4-3, 3-3).