Wednesday, September 08, 1999
Soccer powerhouses tie
BY DAVE SCHUTTE
Enquirer contributor
Seven Hills senior goalie Erik Crew benefitted from the past against Summit Country Day on Tuesday.
“Last year in the playoffs, Jamal (Shteiwi) scored on a penalty kick during a shootout,” Crew said. “I remembered where he put the ball, and today I went to the same spot.”
Crew's save of Shteiwi's penalty kick with 1:32 remaining enabled the Stingers to salvage a 2-2 tie with the Silver Knights at Summit in boys soccer.
In a matchup of the No.1 (Summit) and No.2 (Seven Hills) Division II teams in Cincinnati, nothing was decided as the teams tied for the third consecutive time during the regular season dating to 1998.
“We were a disaster waiting to happen,” Summit coach Charlie Cooke said. “We were shaky on defense the entire game. But give their goalie credit. He made a great save on the penalty kick.”
Faced with almost certain defeat when Shteiwi was awarded the kick, a relieved Seven Hills coach Terry Nicholl was more positive than his counterpart after the game.
“This was a great high school soccer game, and if I wasn't coaching, I would have paid to see it,” Nicholl said. “There was some outstanding defense and some outstanding shots for goals.”
Although Seven Hills never led, the Stingers showed no signs of folding under pressure.
Summit took a 1-0 lead 15 minutes into the game when sophomore forward Steve Stickle took a pass from senior Ben Roy and scored with 24:08 remaining before halftime.
But Grayson Sugarman answered for Seven Hills with a great individual effort. He beat two Silver Knights defenders and scored from 10 yards out with 5:29 remaining in the first half.
Cooke's decision to move all-city senior midfielder Jack Cummings to forward in the second half paid off for Summit.
Cummings kept pressure on the Seven Hills defense the entire 40 minutes and responded with seven shots and the eventual go-ahead goal with 7:44 remaining in the game.
To generate some late offense, Nicholl gambled and moved speedy, muscular sweeper Mark Harper into an attacking position.
“I felt responsible for both of Summit's goals with poor defensive play,” Harper said. “When I was moved to forward, my plan was to get the ball to (Sugarman) and let him score.”
As it turned out, Sugarman attempted a pass to Harper on the right side. It hit a Summit defender and rolled toward Harper, who pivoted and fired a quick shot that easily beat Mike Fessler, Summit's goalie.
“Tonight we showed we had heart,” Harper said. “We came back twice and then stopped them at the end. It was also for bragging rights, because a lot of us play on the same summer teams. If we had lost, I'd feel pretty bad right now.”
The return matchup is Sept.30 at Seven Hills and probably will decide the Division II poll champion.
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