(Albert Onderko | Sentinel-Tribune)
FREMONT — The Bowling Green Christian Academy varsity boys soccer team’s season came to a disappointing end Friday afternoon with a 4-3 non-conference setback at the hands of rival Temple Christian Academy in a late addition to the schedule after the Independent Christian Schools of Ohio varsity tournament was cancelled.
BG concludes the season with an 8-3-1 record, including a perfect 4-0 mark in ICSO conference play. BG’s win total set a school record, improving on last year’s 1-9 mark.
Of the Lions’ season losses, two were to the Warriors, both one-goal, non-conference road setbacks. TCA also defeated BG in overtime in the championship match of the Warrior Invite in late August. The two teams split their four games on the year with BG winning both league match-ups by identical 6-2 scores.
The Warriors end their campaign at 6-6 overall (2-2 ICSO).
For the season, BGCA was led offensively by Kunstmann who paced the club with 40 goals and a handful of assists. Kunstmann scored at least one goal in every contest and had 11 multi-goal matches. Nine times he had three or more tallies, including four games with four and two with five. His goal count from this year easily bested his personal best of 18 from a year ago.
Lommel and Rasmusson each scored nine times with Lommel maintaining a 5-match streak to start the season. Also converting for BG on the year were 8th-grader Tyler Armentano (midfield) with six, and one each for Chase Armentano, sophomore back Caden Crawford, and 7th-grade midfielders Klaus Lommel and R.J. Boron. BG was also the recipient of one “own” goal.
Mangala registered all eight wins in goal for BG this season, playing 816 minutes and allowing 24 goals. He also was part of one shared shutout with Justus Lommel. Mangala’s play in net was a big part of BG’s success.
Head coach Terence Armentano’s squad returns every player off this year’s roster and look forward to even more success next season.
Friday’s match was a tale of two halves as the opportunistic Warriors capitalized on their chances in the first half, while the Lions controlled the tempo in the second stanza. TCA built a 3-0 lead after 36 minutes of action thanks to its hard-working, gritty play. TCA held the upper hand in shot attempts in the first half, 16-10, including a 9-1 advantage in shots on goal.
The Lions, however, were the ones to start quickly, missing high on their initial attempt by junior forward Josh Kunstmann and then recording its lone shot on goal of the half (by sophomore forward Colin Rasmusson) shortly thereafter.
BG then had its best chance to take an early lead at 7:01 Kunstmann stole the ball just inside midfield and streaked between two defenders. Forced right, Kunstmann launched a bullet that hit the crossbar. Rasmusson’s left-footed rebound attempt from the left side of the top of the box was off target and was pushed aside by goalkeeper Rider Shaffer to safety.
The tide seemed to turn after TCA dodged those early bullets.
The Warriors grabbed a 1-0 lead at 11:46 following a throw-in deep in BG territory. A give-and-go play from in-bounder, junior Travis Weirich and classmate Thomas Ash resulted in Weirich’s shot being blocked by freshman defender Paxton Fritch. However, a header-clearing attempt went directly back to Weirich who converted to the lower left corner of the cage for an unassisted score.
Ash was denied a few minutes later when BG sophomore goalkeeper Graham Mangala got a piece of his shot coming out to challenge. The bouncing ball was then cleared out of danger near the right post by sophomore defender Chase Armentano.
TCA made it 2-0 at 23:48 when Ash converted on a penalty kick. BG had committed a punting violation resulting in a direct kick at the left side of the top of the box. Instead of taking a shot on goal, Ash directed a soft pass to the right of BG’s wall of four. Sophomore Aiden Lohr, streaking in from the right, beat his man and was tripped up as he was getting ready to shoot (at 22:45), resulting in a penalty kick. Ash then converted to the lower left, past a diving Mangala.
Just under 10 minutes later at 34:43, Ash scored again, this time off a long throw-in attempt by junior midfielder Sam Leonetti. Leonetti’s toss, a couple yards inside the midfield stripe on the team side, had the good fortune of eluding a header attempt by Weirich and bounced through to Ash who split two defenders en route to the goal.
The Lions struck early in the second half at 1:53 when Kunstmann scored his first of three goals on the day. Mangala set up the play with a low punt that Kunstmann gathered in the center circle inside TCA territory. Kunstmann faked his defender left, went right and streaked in, scoring to the lower right. His goal seemed to ignite the Lions who dominated possession the rest of the way.
However, a failed clearing attempt in front of the BG net resulted in TCA’s fourth tally. Leonetti’s long pass from inside midfield found Weirich who came running in from the left. A sliding Mangala came out to successfully hamper the attacker and the soft shot attempt was stopped inside the goal box by the defense. An opportunistic Ash, who was cutting in behind Weirich, pounced on a clearing miscue and scored into an unprotected net for a hat trick.
Exactly one minute later, BGCA midfielder Justus Lommel, a freshman, clanked a shot off the cross bar from the right side after being set up by a Rasmusson pass through a pair of defenders.
The Lions’ pressure finally paid off when at 17:45, Kunstmann was fouled in the box. Kunstmann stole the ball inside the circle, eluded two defenders, the second of which fouled him in the penalty area. Play was allowed to continue as Kunstmann stumbled, but eventually maintained control of the ball before running out of real estate to get off an attempt. He scored lower left past the diving goalkeeper on the PK.
Ash made a bid for his fourth goal at 23:25 when after juking a defender near the top of the box on the left side, his chip shot squarely hit the crossbar and bounced across the opposite sideline.
Not deterred, BGCA closed to within a goal at 26:08 when Kunstmann completed his hat trick. a few seconds after Lommel got off two good shot attempts deep in the box (the first blocked and the second saved). Kunstmann gathered a deep desperation clearing attempt well above the top of the box, deked out one defender and was able to thread a shot off between two defenders using the outer part of his right foot. His attempt easily got by the diving net-minder into the right corner.
BG still had over 10 minutes to get the equalizer plus nearly two minutes of stoppage time, but could not draw even despite applying offensive pressure.
The Lions held a 21-14 advantage in shot attempts in the second half, including 7-3 in SOG. For the game, TCA held a 6-3 cushion in corner kicks. For the match, BG had a slight 31-30 edge in shot attempts. TCA had 12 SOG to BGCA’s eight.
Mangala made eight saves while Shaffer turned aside five. Mangala also had 18 goalie breakups, while Shaffer had 11. BG had 28 punts/throws to FCA’s 18. FCA registered 17 goal kicks to BG’s 12.
Each team committed four fouls. BG had two throw-in violations and one punting infraction. The Warriors had one TIV. BG was also called for one offsides play.
BGCA Junior High Soccer Wins ICSO State Title
FREMONT — BGCA’s junior high soccer squad captured the Independent Christian Schools of Ohio state title on Saturday with a 2-1 semi-final victory over Brooklyn Heritage Christian and then posting a 3-2 conquest over Coshocton Christian in the championship. Justus Lommel scored all three goals in the title tilt as BG held on after leading 3-0 at the half.
Lommel also scored a goal in the earlier match as did Malachi Hackenburg. Klaus Lommel was strong in goal for BGCA in both matches.
Justus Lommel and Paxton Fritch were named to the all-tournament team. BG finishes the year with an 11-1-0 record with its only loss (3-2) coming at State Line Christian with 32 seconds to play.
