RAVENNA - Wellington’s boys left their season on the artificial turf at Gilcrest Field on Saturday afternoon.

In a battle to become the school’s first soccer team to make a Final Four, the Dukes dropped a 2-1 hearbreaker to unbeaten, fourth-ranked Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (15-0-5).

It was a tense Division III regional final and a virtual replay of the 2004 regional title match. The Royals also won that one 2-1, and went on to win the state championship.

CVCA advances to a 7 p.m. Tuesday state semifinal at a site to be announced.

The Dukes gave CVCA all it could handle. They were under relentless pressure throughout, but kept the game scoreless until the 35th minute, and the Royals carried a 1-0 lead into halftime. They scored the clincher in the 58th minute.

“They won the match, we didn’t lose it,” said coach Bill Bogan, whose Dukes ended the season 17-3-1. “We played with intensity and we played with heart. That’s (CVCA) a very good soccer team, but I’ll tell you what. We never stopped and we never broke down. We didn’t give them that game.”

Wellington’s goal came in the 65th minute on junior Nick Dowdell’s penalty kick. It followed a CVCA foul that saw Dukes senior Brendan Rinehart taken down in the box by the Royals’ Nick Finelli. Dowdell’s penalty kick from the 12-yard dot went untouched into the left corner.

“I just tried to pick my side and tried not to look at the corner and look straight at the keeper,” Dowdell said. “I put it down low nice and hard.”

The CVCA defense, which had allowed some 11 goals all season, gave Wellington no shots and few chances in the first 40 minutes. Kyle Bartolovich saw Matt Dooley moving toward the Royals’ goal about 10 minutes in and tried to shoot him a right-to-left crossing pass. But the ball sailed over the CVCA crossbar.

In the 40th minute, the Dukes were awarded a corner kick. Dowdell took it, and even though the play didn’t produce a goal, Wellington earned a throw-in deep in the Royals end. But that came to naught seconds before the end of the half.

The Dukes’ Ben Bogan saw Chris Coker moving toward the left goalpost on a restart in the 49th minute. Bogan tried to get the ball to him, but his kick went a little long. In the 58th minute, Rinehart hit a shot just wide of the right goalpost. It earned Wellington its second - and final - corner kick, but produced nothing.

And seconds later, CVCA’s Steve Morris headed Jack Thompson’s corner kick into the Wellington goal for the eventual winner. It was Thompson, with an assist from Tim Hudec, who scored the Royals’ first goal, also on a header.

It was a tough and emotional loss for the Dukes, although their success as only the second regional finalists in the history of the program was not lost on them.

“This has meant a lot to us because we’ve always strived to be the best we can be,” said Ben Bogan, a tri-captain and one of nine seniors on the roster. “We all work hard in school and in sports. We all love to play and we come to play every day. We want to win as much as any other team wants to. We all worked our butts off and that’s all I can ask for out of my teammates.”

Contact Bob Daniels at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

CVCA 2, Wellington 1

GOALS: (W) Nick Dowdell (PK), 65th minute; (CVCA) Jack Thompson, 35th minute; Steve Morris 58th minute
ASSISTS: (CVCA) Tim Hudec, Thompson.
SHOTS: Wellington 5, CVCA 11
SHOTS ON GOAL: Wellington 2, CVCA 6
SAVES: (W) Mike Hicks 5, (CVCA) Nick Ciraldo 2
CORNER KICKS: Wellington 2, CVCA 4
GOAL KICKS: Wellington 5, CVCA 7
OFFSIDE: CVCA 7
HANDBALLS: Wellington 1
FOULS: Wellington 13, CVCA 13
CARDS: (W) Will Pabst, yellow, 62nd minute; Alex Koenig, double yellow (ejection), 71st minute.
HALFTIME: CVCA, 1-0.

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