Boys Soccer Finishes Impressive Season at District Finals
Senior Shai Yulish dives for the ball in the season opener against Independence. Photo by Livia Eppell.
The soccer team had an impressive season.
Shai Yulish stood out by making 2nd team all Ohio, most career goals (92), consecutive games with score (10), games with multiple goals (28), and MVP of Chagrin Valley Conference.
Asaf Roth also made a statement by holding the most career assists (36).
The team won the NSCAA (National Soccer Coaches Association of America) award and the OSSCA (Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association) award.
The team made it to the division III playoffs once again, marking the end of their 9-8-1 season. The team started the playoffs by winning their 4th straight sectional title against Grand Valley 11-0. They continued on to the district semi-finals beating Villa-Angela St Joe’s 7-0 on Oct. 25.
The first of the 7 goals was by senior Yuval Zamir with 8:23 left in the half. At the turn of the half, something altered in the minds and legs of the Beachwood soccer team.
The team started the playoffs by winning their 4th straight sectional title against Grand Valley 11-0. They continued on to the district semi-finals beating Villa-Angela St Joe’s 7-0 on Oct. 25.
“We really expected this game to be a higher scoring game. It surprised us all how hard it was to put the ball in the goal at first, but we were really pushing hard for a win. Sometimes that happens where we start a game off slowly,” Zamir said.
At the beginning of the half, freshman Matthew Young made the score 2-0 after an assist from senior Asaf Roth. Roth then went into a scoring craze as he scored the next 2 goals.
Beachwood all-time goals leader Shai Yulish then went on to make 2 more goals for the Bison making it 6-0.
Freshman Seth Rosky booted in the 7th and final goal of the night to extend the lead to 7-0, an outrageous number of points for a soccer game.
“After the slow start, we really got into the groove and got a good lead. Once we scored one goal, we knew we had the ability to win it all. It was a fun game, not too hard,” Yulish said.
Despite making it to their 3rd straight district finals, the team could not finish with a win, losing 5-0 to Kirtland on Oct. 29.
“It was a rough game. We put up our best fight in the beginning, but once Kirtland started scoring, some of us began to feel defeated. I think we could have won it, but I am still proud of how well we did this season,” Yulish said.
