Photos by Steven Wright | Greene County News
Cincinnati Moeller players stormed the field and celebrated together after prevailing in penalty kicks 5-4 to defeat Beavercreek in the Division I Regional Final on Sunday at Centerville High School.
CENTERVILLE — The sinking feeling in the stomach of Beavercreek players was evident. Realization was setting in its unbeaten run was over, and the season along with it.
The Division I Regional Final between Cincinnati Moeller and Beavercreek needed penalty kicks to decide a winner after 110 scoreless minutes. It was there the Crusaders did not miss any of its five attempts to win a third straight regional title and give Beavercreek its only loss of the season.
Beavercreek’s 16th clean sheet of the season was not enough as its attack failed to score a goal in regulation for only the second time in 21 matches.
Both sides connected on their first four shots of the penalty kick session. Isaac Kolaczkowski was the only keeper to touch any of the attempts, getting his hand of the third shot made by Moeller’s Tad Woolfe. The ball skidded along the ground and Kolaczkowski’s deflection of it just made its way inside the post.
With PKs knotted at 4-4, Josiah Rodriguez was Beavercreek’s next player to make an attempt. His shot went high over the middle of the net, just missing the crossbar.
Karson Lang stepped up as the final taker for Moeller. The leading scorer for the Crusaders wasted little time lining up his attempt and fired it near the right post midway up the net. Kolaczkowski guessed correctly but the shot was too far out for him to get a hand with his diving save attempt as the ball hit the back of the net to end the match.
“Unfortunately we get to penalty kicks … it’s just kind of a roll of the dice,” head coach Jason Guiliano said. “Not to take anything away from Moeller because of that. But I’m really, really proud of my boys and the effort they put out there.”
Moeller (18-0-3) entered Sunday’s match ranked as the top team in the state amongst D-I schools, according to the MaxPreps rankings used by the OHSAA. Beavercreek was ranked No. 8.
Moeller advances to play Columbus St. Charles Prep in the state semifinals on Wednesday.
All five PK attempts by Moeller went in the same direction to Kolaczkowski’s left. Beavercreek had its first shot score going right and its next three takers all went left.
The near miss summed up a frustrating day for Beavercreek’s offense. Moeller started both halves and the initial overtime session applying the most pressure before the Beavers would gradually take over the run of play, constantly making Moeller’s backline clear the ball sideways to be able to breath.
“We got better as the game went on,” Guiliano said. “In a game of this caliber, nerves kind of settle in. Our forwards and wingers actually started to bring really good movement for us. Just was unfortunate we weren’t able to find a goal today.”
Beavercreek’s closest chances to score came near the end of the first overtime. After Kolaczkowski grabbed a Moeller corner kick attempt, Beavercreek immediately got out on the counter and raced to the other end where Austin Moody fired off a shot from above the box roughly 25 yards out that Tiago Improvola dove to his right to make the save for Moeller. Barely 40 seconds later, Jonathon Guiliano had the ball bounce his way from just inside the top of the penalty area, but his spinning shot attempt missed wide.
“We had a couple of chances in the overtime and just weren’t able to capitalize on it,” Guiliano said. “Anytime you’re dealing with sudden death it’s risk and reward. You want to be aggressive and find a goal, but at the same time you don’t want to do too much and leave yourself open to something silly. I think we found a good balance of it.”
Beavercreek only allowed five goals during regular play all season on its way to ending the year with a 16-1-4 record. The heartbreaking ending had plenty of positives come before it. The Beavers won its first league title since 2020, and advanced into regionals for the first time since its state title season in 2017.
Guiliano said he felt the team was at its best taking a one game at a time mentality, which helped set them up to make a deep tournament run. He said the loss was disappointing, but he couldn’t have been prouder of their body of work.
“This group really came in and re-established that standard we’re looking for,” he said. “I’ll be honest, we way blew out my expectations at the beginning of the season. Where we came from at the beginning of the year to where we ended now, it’s just from the focus and the work that the boys put into things.
PENALTY KICKS
Beavercreek — Carson McGovern – make 1-0 B
Moeller — Thomas Oliver – make 1-1 tie
Beavercreek — Jonathon Guiliano – make 2-1 B
Moeller — David Rimkevicius – make 2-2 tie
Beavercreek — Gage Walling – make 3-2 B
Moeller — Tad Woolfe – make 3-3 tie
Beavercreek — Seth Dierker – make 4-3 B
Moeller — Michael Stocks – make 4-4 tie
Beavercreek — Josiah Rodriguez – miss 4-4 tie
Moeller — Karson Lang – make 5-4 M
Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.
