BAY VILLAGE — Still basking in the glow of the first district title in school history, Amherst Steele was being touted as the Cinderella story of the 2008 state soccer tournament.
Unfortunately for the Comets, Ryan Minick shattered into a few million unrecognizable pieces both the glass slipper and the dream season in one fell swoop.
On the strength of four Minick goals, North Royalton blew past Amherst 5-0 at Bay High School and advanced to the Division I regional finals on Saturday.
For Amherst head coach Brett Thompson, it was a sobering and sudden end to a magical year.
“We did exceed expectations this year,” Thompson said of his 10-8-2 team, which finished sixth in the competitive Southwestern Conference. “I had these guys believing they belonged with anybody on the field, but, we didn’t bring our ‘A’ game here.”
A lion’s share of the blame for the loss – besides Minick’s offensive brilliance – belongs to the stifling defense of North Royalton. Scoring opportunities were few for the Comets as they were outshot 20-3, including 16-3 in shots on goal.
The Comets last shot on goal came with just under a minute left in the first period, and most of the second period was played in North Royalton’s offensive zone.
“We didn’t play with that same heart and passion that got us past Westlake and Avon Lake,” Thompson said of earlier Comet victims. “We just ran out of gas.”
Minick opened the scoring 24 minutes in on an assist from Derek Porvasnik. The senior captain doubled the lead 11 minutes later courtesy of a beautiful assist off the foot of Shawn Gross.
The two scores were part of 10 shots on goal for the Bears in the first period. While Amherst’s senior goalie and co-captain, Ryan Tucker, was severely tested, he withstood the barrage of to keep his team in the game early on.
However, for both coaches, those first two goals played a huge role in the outcome.
“Once they got down a couple of goals, I think the doubt started to creep in,” Thompson said. “I think when we got down, especially when it got to two, it’s such a hill to climb. I think then they were like ‘wow, we’re in the regional semifinals and we’re down two goals.’”
“It was huge,” Bears head coach Zoran Mladenovic said of jumping out to the early lead, “plus the jitters, quite honestly. I have a very young team. I only start three or four seniors if you look, so they needed to settle down. They’ve never been (this far in the tournament).”
Given the way the Bears were defending, the lead was seemingly insurmountable entering the second period. Minick then proceeded to remove the word “seemingly” from the equation in a span of 13 minutes.
In the 49th minute, the striker put the Bears up 3-0 with a neatly-executed shot just under the arm of Tucker and into the back of the net. Then, in the 62nd minute, he blasted an unassisted shot into goal to end any remaining hopes of a comeback for the Comets.
The four goals were the most Minick has scored in a game during his illustrious career. Needless to say, the regional semifinal setting made the goals even that much sweeter.
“Excitement,” Minick said when asked what was going through his mind with shot after shot finding net.  “It’s very rare. It’s just great. I just finished the opportunities I got.”
Thompson is looking toward the future.
“To be honest, I don’t think anyone thought we’d be in the Sweet Sixteen,” he said. “We went out and made this magical run. But now they know what it takes to get there.”
Contact John Taylor at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

GOALS: (NR) Ryan Minick (26th minute), Minick (37th minute), Minick (49th minute), Minick (62nd minute), Matt Schmidt (64th minute).
ASSISTS: (NR) Derek Porvasnik, Shawn Gross, Bobi Cancar, S. Gross.
SHOTS: Amherst 3, North Royalton 20.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Amherst 3, North Royalton 16.
SAVES: (A) Ryan Tucker 9, (NR) Vince Ragone 2.
CORNER KICKS: Amherst 3, North Royalton 5.
GOAL KICKS: Amherst 13, North Royalton 3.
OFFSIDE: Amherst 0, North Royalton 8.
HAND BALLS: Amherst 0, North Royalton 0.
FOULS: Amherst 10, North Royalton 14.
CARDS: (NR) Marko Bajko (yellow) 80th minute.
HALFTIME: North Royalton 2, Amherst 0.

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