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The Our Lady of the Elms Panthers hope to make some noise in the newly created OHSAA Division III girls soccer tournament in 2011. Elms junior goalkeeper Christina Graziano is an all-star and one of the best in Summit County.
AKRON, Ohio – Small-school girls soccer teams across the Buckeye State heaved a sigh of relief when the OHSAA last April announced the creation of a third championship division.
Division III will be new this season and teams from Our Lady of the Elms, Black River, Garrettsville Garfield, Rootstown and Waterloo are thrilled.
“We’re really excited this year because we feel that we can play with schools that are more (like us) talent-wise and I feel that we can showcase our team in better ways,” Elms junior center midfielder Vivian Miller said.
Elms coach Vito Testa was one of many coaches statewide who lobbied for a third division. With 500 high schools in Ohio sponsoring girls teams beginning in 2011, the OHSAA Board of Directors saw fit to put girls soccer on a par with boys soccer.
“We don’t have as many girls to pick from talent wise,” Miller said. “We take what we can get and play against bigger schools where they can draw from more talent and more girls and have more subs. It’s a big impact.”
Testa anticipates 14 girls on this year’s squad and it will be a case of quality over quantity.
Junior goalkeeper Christina Graziano is one of the best in Summit County, after moving from Atlanta, Ga., to Akron three years ago. Senior captain and sweeper Jessica Frew, along with Miller at center mid, will make the Panthers strong through the middle of the field.
Testa said “knowledge” is what separates Graziano from most goalkeepers. “She can read the game very well and therefore position herself so that she can make the save,” he said.
“It’s a rush when you go up for the ball,” said Graziano, a member of the two-time state champion Cleveland Football Club. “You are always on your toes as a keeper.”
Elms will have to compensate for the graduation loss of striker Leah Oldfield, one of the team’s top scorers in 2010.
Last season, the Panthers endured three concussions, a broken arm and Miller missing four games to illness on their way to a 2-13-2 mark. Elms defeated Akron Garfield and Ellet, while gaining 1-1 ties against Canton Central Catholic and Berlin Hiland. Still, the team is optimistic, having lost only three matches by more than three goals. The addition of Division III comes at a good time.
St. Vincent-St. Mary, Division II district runner-up, knocked Elms out of the 2010 sectional tourney in the first round by a 4-0 score.
This year’s team will be in the same playoff bracket with Black River, Chippewa, Hillsdale, Loudonville, Mapleton, Northwestern, Norwayne, Rittman, Smithville and Waynedale.
Chippewa, a Division II district semifinalist last season, is a perennial power. Black River is a second-year program.