The first half opened with fairly even possession by both teams. The ball moved quickly around the pitch as each team was looking for an opportunity to play the long ball and then build their attack. Bay was first to strike with a chance on the goal frame, but the Rockets couldn't finish. A few minutes before the half, Lake Catholic had  a good opportunity from a ball played into the penalty area from a sideline cross, but Bay was able to clear it out from danger to keep the half-time scoreless.

It was shortly after the half that Bay was on the attack. Junior Alec Petro received a pass in the penalty area. He quickly laid it off to Sam Dickinson who slotted it into the goal, but the assistant referee called the play offsides, and the goal was disallowed. The rest of the second half featured solid defense by both teams with neither side getting a good attempt on frame. That is until senior goalkeeper Nate McDonald made one of his dependable diving saves to deny a Cougar striker from scoring with less than ten minutes to go. 

The second half ended with neither team scoring. Bay's defenders kept the Cougars from getting into the danger area all match, as most of their shots were hastily taken from 35-40 yards out without much of a threat on goal. 

In the first sudden victory fifteen-minute overtime, good hard play continued by both sides. Bay continued to try to work the ball down the sidelines, but got very few crosses off. Lake Catholic played the ball through their midfield, but their attack stalled far away from goal. Bay's midfielders Petro, junior Will Irvine, senior Shane Williams, and junior Eric Linhart won the battle for balls played in the air consistently enough to deny the Cougars from organizing their attack. It was 0-0 at the end of the first overtime.

In the second sudden victory overtime, good play continued, but both teams seemed to rely on their defense. The best chances to score for both teams were from set pieces. Bay defended several corner kicks by Lake Catholic, and the Cougars had to defend against long throw-ins from Bay senior Dan Spiesz. Again, no goals were scored which leads us to the shootout.

In the penalty kick shootout, it's best of five. If that ends in a tie, then the shootout goes into sudden death. Lake Catholic's first taker put his shot just to McDonald's right to put Lake Catholic up 1-0. Bay's Spiesz slowly walked up to the spot, and put his shot past the goalkeeper to make the score 1-1. Lake Catholic's second taker took a shot to McDonald's right that he blocked from his knees. Following that miss, junior Kenan Sayir took his shot to the left of Lake Catholic's goalkeeper, who got his finger tips on it, but it didn't prevent the ball from hitting the back of the net, and Bay went up 2-1.

In the third round, McDonald couldn't stop Lake Catholic's taker, while Bay's junior Tony Passalacqua followed with a low, hard shot that the goalkeeper had no chance to stop to put Bay ahead 3-2. In the fourth round, McDonald made another stop from his knees going to his right. Bay's Linhart calmly followed with the game clincher to give the Rockets a 4-2 shootout victory and earned them their fifth trip to the state final match since 1969 

Bay will face Columbus St. Francis DeSales who beat Bexley, also in shootout. The game will be played Friday, November 13th at 3:30 PM at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.  

 
Cleveland Plain Dealer article, November 10, 2009

This regional final soccer match featured the Bay Rockets with a 16-1-3 record versus the Lexington Minutemen with a 16-4-1 record. Bay beat Revere to get to this point, and Lexington beat Lima Shawnee.

The first half of this game was played up and down the field with both teams taking turn defending and counter-attacking. Bay was playing against the west wind that prevented any long balls from being played to their forwards. Lexington's defense held strong, as Bay had more shots on goal, but none could find their way through to goal. The half-time score was 0-0.

The second half was an entirely different story in terms of scoring. Senior Sam Dickinson started to find some space around the Lexington goal in the first five minutes of the second half. His two chances didn't result in a score, but they appeared to give the Rockets a boost. At the thirty-two minute mark, Dickinson earned a corner with a strong play at the goal line. Senior Dan Spiesz sent a beautifully-weighted corner kick in front of the goal. The Lexington goalkeeper missed it, and junior Will Irvine was there to head it into the net for the game's first goal. Just two minutes later, junior Alec Petro picked off an errant clearance by a Lexington defender and won a corner kick for Bay. Spiesz, again, sent a solid corner kick into the penalty area. This time it was junior Tony Passalcqua that made a good run and headed it past the Lexington goalkeeper for a 2-0 Bay lead. 

The saying goes that the first few minutes after a goal are the most dangerous for the team that scored. This turned out to be true for Bay, as one minute later; Lexington took advantage of a direct kick that ended up bouncing around the Bay penalty area and was opportunistically knocked into the goal by a Lexington attacker. The Bay lead was cut in half to 2-1.

With senior goalkeeper Nate McDonald leading the defense, Bay continued to keep Lexington from creating good scoring chances over the next ten minutes.  Bay's midfielders won numerous balls to keep possession and maintain the attack. At the 18-minute mark, Bay took a long throw in from close to the penalty area. The ball took a deflection and was then re-directed by Dickinson into the goal to give Bay the insurance goal they needed. Despite their 3-1 lead, Bay continued to attack the Lexington defense. With under two minutes to go, senior Colin Petty found Irvine in the penalty box where he side-footed it into the goal for a commanding 4-1 Bay lead.

With the victory, Bay wins their second consecutive regional final and heads to a state final-four match against Mentor Lake Catholic. The game is scheduled to be played 7:00 PM Tuesday, November 10th at Brush High School.  Go Rockets! 

Bay's defense in the opening half held the Minutemen from scoring by clearing passes to safety. Juniors Tony Passalcqua, Kenan Sayir and Conner Outcalt beat the Revere attackers to most balls, and prevented any passes from getting through to the danger area in front of goal. Senior goalkeeper, Nate McDonald, kept the defense organized and did a solid job of collecting all balls played in the air. The result was a half-time score of 0-0.

The second half started with the Rockets earning the majority of the scoring opportunities. It was approaching the 34 minute mark when junior Alec Petro kept possession of the ball at the goal line between the penalty area and the corner flag. He sent a hard crossing pass into the penalty area in front of goal. The ball pinged around in front of goal and out to senior Shane Williams, who was waiting just outside the penalty area. He took a touch to set himself, then fired a low-hard shot that went in the lower left hand corner of the goal to give Bay a 1-0 lead.

Bay had to resist several surges by Revere, but the Rockets were always able to clear the ball to safety. After about fifteen minutes of pressure by Revere, it appeared as though their energy level decreased. Bay kept sending balls to their forwards, junior Jackson Heller and senior Sam Dickinson, who more often than not were able to beat Revere's defenders to the ball to gain possession. At the ten minute mark, Bay took a direct kick that resulted in Outcalt sending a nicely-weighted pass to senior Dan Spiesz. His shot from 30 yards out was just pushed over the crossbar by Revere's goalkeeper to keep the score at 1-0. However, on the next Bay possession, Heller was able to use his balance and  strength to work his way through two Revere defenders from the right-hand side of the penalty area. He hit a cross that was low to the turf in front of goal where Dickinson was able to run onto it and slot it home past the Revere goalkeeper to increase Bay's lead to 2-0 with eight minutes remaining. 

The Rockets held firm in the closing minutes to prevent Revere from getting any good chances to score. The final and well-deserved result was Bay 2, Revere 0.

Next, the Rockets play in the regional finals against the Lexington Minutemen, who beat Lima Shawnee 2-0. This game was to be played in Lexington. However, it has been moved to Revere High School, since the regional final is to be played at a neutral site for both teams. The game is scheduled for Saturday, November 7th at 3:00 PM. 

Plain Dealer article November 4, 2009