COLUMBUS, Ohio – After a dramatic overtime win in the state semifinals, the Summit Country Day boys soccer team didn’t want its last game of the year to be as stressful.
They got a big boost, instead. Junior Carter Lund scored twice in less than 30 seconds midway through the second half, and the Silver Knights went on to control the game from the start for a 5-1 win over Toledo Ottawa Hills in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division V boys soccer state championship game Nov. 10 at Historic Crew Stadium.
Summit Country Day finished with a 12-6-6 record, winning all seven of their postseason games by a combined score of 39-2. They are now an undefeated 9-0 all-time in the championship game.
“It’s a great way to end your career,” senior Johnny Bacca said. “I got emotional at the awards ceremony because being with these guys and this team just means something to you. I’m just happy I got to play my high school years with this program because I’m going to leave here a better person and a better soccer player, and that means the world to me.”
Summit won 2-1 in overtime in the semifinals after Beckett Brinkman scored with only five seconds left in regulation, then sophomore Sam Viltro won it in extra time.
The Silver Knights got early heroics this time. Lund, a junior, scored twice within 25 seconds in the middle of the half, on assists by Bacca and Elijah Warner.
“It feels great,” Lund said. “I honestly wasn’t expecting it, but my coach just told me to start running, put in more effort, and I just went to goal. He talked to me about coming in, especially when the ball’s on the other side. Our center backs, Johnny and Elijah, had both assists. They saw that they can hit it long and I can probably get through, and that’s what I did both times. I just had to be composed and bury it.”
Lund made it a hat trick with 26 minutes to go in the game, dribbling down the left side, getting past his defender in transition, and beating the keeper inside the far post.
He is the sixth Ohio boys soccer player to score three or more goals in a state championship game. Only one player has had four, Summit’s Sam Martin in 2016.
Forrest Cloran made it 3-0 with his third goal of the season, scoring with six minutes left in the half. Isaiah Rodgers scored his seventh in the second half to make it 5-0.
Lund tied senior Lucas Volk for team leadership with 10 goals. The semifinal hero, Beckett Brinkman, had eight. Eight Silver Knights had four goals or more.
“That something that was good for us because it makes it difficult to key on one or two guys,” Summit head coach Scott Sievering said. “We have the ability and the confidence in each other that it could come from anywhere. It could be Carter one day. It was two sophomores in the semifinal, and that gives us the confidence, knowing that we don’t care who it is, as long as it’s somebody.”
Ibraheem Alaani scored for the Green Bears with seven minutes left.
Summit outshot the Green Bears 14-1 in the first half, with eight shots on goal. Senior Lucas Volk recorded four shots, and Lund three, all on goal. The final tally was 29-4. Rodgers, Lund and Volk all had five apiece.
Summit took all six of its losses to bigger schools, including Division II state runner-up Kings.
“We had a difficult schedule,” Sievering said. “But we felt we had faced or seen everything that we were going to potentially see in the postseason and that we would be prepared for it. And these guys proved that they were prepared for it. They executed our game plan throughout the postseason, and as a result, we’re sitting here back to back years. Couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”
The Green Bears finished 12-10-2 and are now 1-3 in the state finals with a state championship in 2008. Similar to Summit, most of their losses were to bigger schools in their area. And they peaked at the end, beating Maumee Valley Country Day in the regional finals after losing to them by a commanding 7-1 count in the regular season.
“We play the teams we do because it forces us to be in a situation where we feel uncomfortable,” senior keeper Clemente Volk said. “It’s not that we’re completely comfortable, but we know that every team we play. We know that we played a team better than that, and so, we weren’t scared. We know that we can compete with any of these teams, and that was our mindset all throughout the tournament.”
Summit senior salute
Summit Country Day seniors are Johnny Bacca, Tom Hobbins, Tyler Lammers, Lucas Volk and Clemente Volk.
Three of them started in the final. Lucas Volk was the team’s leading scorer with 10 goals and six assists. Bacca had six goals. Clemente Volk ended with 17.5 shutouts, nine this season.
“I’m just so grateful,” Lammers said. “Going into this season, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to play soccer, to be quite frank. I played tennis and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to focus on tennis or finish one more season with my boys, but I’m glad I’m here.”
Lucas Volk transferred in for this school year, and due to OHSAA rules, he missed the first eight games of the regular season.
“He’s my twin brother, and we’re both seniors,” Clemente said. “So winning state with your brother, your twin brother, senior year, it’s not something that many people get to do.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Summit Country Day boys soccer rolls to second straight state title
Reporting by James Weber, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
