Photos by Scott Halasz | Greene County News
Beavercreek soccer captains (L-R) Josiah Rodriguez, Carson McGovern, and Jonathon Guiliano hold the district championship trophy after beating Lakota East, 2-1, in the district final at Centerville.
The district champion Beavercreek Beavers.
CENTERVILLE — After being thwarted earlier by a brick wall posing as a goalkeeper, Noah Trimmer had a plan if he had a another chance to score.
Instead of going high, where Lakota East goalkeeper Ryan Warm was on fire all night, the Beavercreek junior kept his composure and kept the ball low, poking a through ball from junior Gage Walling into the net with 2:16 left, giving the Beavers a 2-1 lead and win in a Division I district final at Centerville on Saturday.
“It went fast,” Trimmer said of the scoring sequence. “I just saw my teammate Gage Walling coming in close. I knew he saw me so I just made that run. I put everything I had into getting that ball. I had an opportunity later in the second half where I tried to shoot it high and it got blocked so I decided to go low because he’s been making incredible saves. I toe-poked it through the goalie’s legs. Sometimes that’s how you’ve got to do it.”
The Beavers (15-0-4) were able to keep the Thunderhawks out of the net in the final minutes to win their first district title since winning the state championship in 2017.
“It feels great,” Beaver head coach Jason Guiliano said. “Obviously, it’s the expectation of our program to win a GWOC title every year and to hopefully win a district title every year. We know it’s not easy. When you get a good group of guys like this, honestly you just want to keep rolling.”
Lakota East (11-5-3) did the rolling early.
Seven minutes into the match, James Schnelle found and unmarked Shawn Dickerson, who shot it by ‘Creek keeper Isaac Kolaczkowski, who was otherwise stellar in goal when tested.
“I think that they kind of snuck in behind us on the left-hand side and played a little one-two,” coach Guiliano said. “Their front two and three guys are really dynamic and I think we just kind of lost somebody.”
Beavercreek was close to tying it five minutes later when senior Jonathon Guiliano drove a loose ball into the box and fired a rocket shot on net, but Warm was there for a diving save. On the ensuing corner kick, senior Carson McGovern nearly headed the ball in, but Warm and his teammates kept the net clean.
About three minutes later the Beavers were awarded a penalty kick after a hand ball in the box. Warm again made a diving save, knocking a shot by Jonathon Guiliano shot away.
The Beavers finally scored the equalizer about a minute later when Walling found Jonathon Guiliano with a through ball. He powered it by Warm to tie it at 1-1.
“We’ve been good at that all year,” Trimmer said. “We’ve been going down 1-0 and within five, 10 minutes we always get that next goal. That’s what’s been most special to our team. And what’s been different from our team to other teams.”
The Beavers had one last chance in the first half as Walling, McGovern, and sophomore Austin Moody teamed up on a nice play but Warm kicked away Moody’s point-blank shot.
Beavercreek continued to pepper the goal in the second half and appeared to score with 6:37 left when junior Austin Brenner headed in a corner, but it was waved off for a push. Aside from that, Warm showed why he’s one of the top goalkeepers in the district.
“He was absolutely the man of the match for both teams,” coach Guiliano said. “I haven’t seen a performance like that in a couple years. He was outstanding.”
Warm finished with six saves, while Kolaczkowski was credited with five.
“Isaac’s good,” coach Guiliano said. “Really good, just organizing. Whenever he’s called to make a big save he’s there to make a big save and he did it tonight.”
Kolaczkowski, a junior, has allowed just four goals in 15 games played and was part of five straight shutouts prior to Saturday.
Reach Scott Halasz at 937-502-4507.
