The 2023 Eastwood girls soccer squad.
PEMBERVILLE — In her second season as Eastwood girls soccer coach, Julie Cross is already tasked with having to defend a league championship.
It may have helped that Cross was an assistant under then-head coach Megan Rutherford, now head coach at Lake, for seven seasons prior to taking the helm. It will likely create an interesting rivalry when the Eagles and Flyers go at each other in league contests this year.
The Eagles finished 15-1-2 last season and 9-0-1 in the Northern Buckeye Conference, but Cross has 12 returning letter winners to help her get the job done.
Letter winners are seniors Kayla Buehler, Reilly Might, Abby Rothenbuhler, Amelia Ward, Delaine Zura; juniors Sam Brooks, Jordan Jensen; and sophomores: Grace Abbey, Kennedy Ameling, Grace Meter, Kenna Nelson, and Piper Sutton.
“We are excited about our solid group of returning players,” Cross said. “They each bring experience of what it is like to be a part of a successful program and have been stepping up as leaders for our underclassmen all summer.”
That includes multiple others who come in with varsity playing experience.
“We have 17 returning players that were a part of our program last year. Each of these girls are bringing their own leadership, experience, and skill,” Cross said.
“This is being combined with 10 first-year energetic and hardworking incoming players. It has been enjoyable to watch our experienced girls mentor the younger players and show them what the Eastwood girls soccer program is about.
“We are really focused on improving as a team each day that we are together, controlling the things that we can control, and we believe that the results will take care of themselves by doing so.”
Ward was second team all-district and All-Northern Buckeye Conference last year, and honorable mention All-NBC as a sophomore. Ward had 20 steals, 109 interceptions and also had eight shots on goal with two goals and an assist last year.
Zura was second team all-district and first team All-NBC last year. Zura had 14 goals and eight assists with 44 shots on goal, plus 17 steals and 23 interceptions last year.
Zura has already verbally committed to play NCAA Division III soccer for Baldwin-Wallace University. Cross says there are other seniors who are considering playing soccer or another sport at the next level.
Buehler, considered the “quarterback of the team” by her coaches and teammates, was HM All-NBC the last two years. Last year she had 23 steals, 118 interceptions, and scored twice on nine shots on goal.
Might and Rothenbuhler HM All-NBC last year with Might getting 34 steals, 119 interceptions, plus five goals and three assists on 19 shots on goal. Rothenbuhler had 18 shots on goal with four goals, two assists and on defense she had 12 steals and 20 interceptions.
Jensen second team All-NBC last year and HM All-NBC as a freshman. The goalkeeper saved 47 saves on 52 shots on goal for a 90% average. While Jensen only gave up five goals all season, Rothenbuhler also spent some time in goal, saving all four shots she faced.
Sutton was second team All-NBC last year after garnering 10 goals and seven assists on 33 shots at net, and she 37 steals and 51 interceptions on defense.
Last year’s team out shot opponents 300-56, had 94 corner kicks to opponents’ 20, plus the Eagles got through the season without a yellow card being whistled while opponents had two called against them.
Reloading again
Since Cross and Rutherford first began building the program at Eastwood, it has always been about reloading, not rebuilding. That continues this season.
“We have an incoming class of seven freshmen and three other first-year players this season,” Cross said. “We are looking forward to seeing which of these young players will contribute to the program right away.
“We believe that we have been bringing in larger numbers of new players the past couple of seasons as a direct result of the excitement that our program has raised with younger girls in the district and community.”
As a result, expect the Eagles to be in the thick of the league race, even with Maumee and Oak Harbor, both schools with perennially strong girls soccer programs, coming into the league this year.
“We hope to be battling for another NBC title this season,” Cross said. “We have many team goals and this is something that we believe can happen as a result of meeting and making progress on many of our other team goals.
“Our league is always competitive, and we know it won’t be any different this season. It is going to be a battle each and every league game this season,” Cross continued.
“We are excited about the additions of Oak Harbor and Maumee to the NBC, which gives us one more girls soccer program in the league than what we have had in the past. Ultimately, it is our goal to defend the championship and keep it at Eastwood once again.”
The Eagles open the season Tuesday, August 22, hosting Liberty-Benton at 7 p.m. in a game that has become an annual rivalry between two of Northwest Ohio’s perennially strong programs. Last year, the two teams tied in the season opener, 1-1, on L-B’s field.
