Staff photo / Neel Madhavan. Poland junior Skevos Tsikouris tries to elude a Beachwood defender during Sunday’s regional final at Niles.
NILES — It’s been an emotional five days for the Poland boys soccer team.
Bulldogs senior AJ Lisko suffered a severe head injury in Poland’s come-from-behind win in the regional semifinal last week. The Bulldogs rallied around their fallen teammate, and it gave them a lift.
“When it happened, we didn’t know what the result was going to be,” Poland head coach Brian Garcar said. “We were pretty fortunate that night that we found out he was going to be OK. He was released and our guys were excited to see him the next day at practice. He’s an important part of our team. This group of guys, they’re pretty close, they’re like brothers and they stick together like family.”
At Sunday’s regional final, the Bulldogs played for Lisko, with players and fans wearing shirts that read “AJ Strong.”
But despite having Lisko back on the bench to cheer them on, the Bulldogs weren’t able to stage another comeback and replicate last week’s feat, as Poland’s season came to an end with a 3-0 defeat to Beachwood in the Division IV, Region 13 final at Niles.
“They played hard for him today, and they played hard for him last Wednesday in the second half and in overtime. We just came up a little bit short today,” Garcar said. “We’ve overcome a lot in the last week with the injuries, and throughout the season, as well. I told the guys, they’ve lived through more in the last week or two than a lot of people have to deal with at this point in their lives. So we were proud of the way they battled through that adversity.”
Poland largely controlled possession against the Bison, but could not find that finishing touch in the attacking third of the field.
Beachwood, on the other hand, was sharp and incisive with its quick counterattacks.
“They’re not 19-1-2 for no reason — they’re good,” Garcar said. “Their backline is good. Their midfield is overwhelming. They press pretty hard up top and they press hard on the wings. We just couldn’t find the right pass. … Soccer is a funny game where you can control a lot of things, and you can create a lot of chances, but the ball just doesn’t bounce your way some nights. Credit Beachwood, they capitalized on a couple of the chances they had, and it just became too much for us in the end.”
The Bison struck first in the 12th minute with a free kick goal by Grant Keilin from about 25 yards out that he whipped around Poland’s defensive wall to beat Bulldogs goalkeeper Michael Daley at the far post.
Keilin scored Beachwood’s second goal in the 30th minute, with this one coming from the run of play, as he struck a low crossbody shot to the far post from about 20 yards away.
After a pair of Poland fouls inside the 18-yard box, the Bison had chances to add to their lead with penalty kicks in the 24th and 34th minutes, but Daley made critical diving saves each time to keep the Bulldogs alive.
“(Daley) does his homework. We watched a lot of film, and we felt prepared for if we had to face penalties,” Garcar said. “He’s just a smart kid. He remembered the scouting report. But you can scout all you want, you still have to make the play. We’re not playing here without him. He’s been very important for our program the last three years. (The saves) gave us a little bit of life in a difficult situation where we weren’t necessarily controlling as much as we wanted to. Credit to him because he made two huge plays for us to kind of stay in it.”
After trailing 2-0 at halftime — the same deficit it faced against Field last week — Poland had to push forward to try to pull a goal back.
One of Poland’s best chances came in the 55th minute when Colin McBride broke behind Beachwood’s backline after a throw-in from Jacob Hayes, but McBride’s cross into the box narrowly missed the outstretched foot of Gabe Dearing in front of the goal.
“We had a couple good second-half chances, especially in the beginning of the second half,” Garcar said. “We didn’t really quite get on the end of them. We had one or two in the first half, as well. The ball was just bouncing in the 18 (yard box) and we just couldn’t get on top of it.”
With just under 20 minutes left, the Bison put the match away with a third and final goal, as Keilin sprinted past Poland’s defense and found Colin Tew on a cross that he finished into the back of the net.
Poland graduates 13 seniors from this year’s squad that finished the season 17-4-1 overall.
“It’s a big group of seniors who were part of multiple district and conference championships,” Garcar said. “So it’s going to be tough to lose those guys. But our underclassmen, hopefully, will use this as a little bit of a taste and try to figure out a way to get back.”