Spectacular goals lift Cleveland past Corinth Holders in Two Rivers soccer

Lightning struck twice early for Cleveland Wednesday on Senior Night, lifting the Rams to the biggest win of second-year head coach Nick Gruhn’s career.

Josue Perez scored on a spectacular header off Tanner Costine’s long boot into the box in the 13th minute, while Lawson Lamm scored from almost midfield on another Costine assist in the 21st, giving Cleveland a 2-0 victory over Two Rivers 3A rival Corinth Holders.

The win improved Cleveland to 15-3-1, 7-1-1 in conference play, while the defending conference champion Pirates fell to 15-5-1 and 8-2 in their regular-season finale.

Ethan Fellows made 10 saves to pick up the shutout.

“This was big for our program,” Gruhn said of the win. “Both teams play at a high level. We played a pretty good first half and maybe they outplayed us in the second. We knew that they would respond because they have a bunch of champions on their team and they’re coached well. We knew they would give us everything they had and we just had to hang on.”

Turning point

The first goal, which like the second would have been on a highlight reel at any level of soccer.

They said it

“Cleveland deserved to win,” Corinth Holders coach Brent Walston said. “They played tremendous on their Senior Night. An outstanding game. They created both opportunities. They flipped in the opening goal and put us on our heels. You just hope that you’re able to try to counter. But in the second half their defense slowed us down.”

Three who mattered

Josue Perez, Cleveland: The junior midfielder scored the goal that stood up for the win.

“That was our strategy,” Perez said of the win. “We’d practiced that all day yesterday. I saw it and I scored it. This gives us a strong boost and a lot of confidence.”

Lawson Lamm, Cleveland: The senior midfielder booted in the long goal that turned out to be the clincher.

“We know this was a big win because Corinth Holders is a very good team,” Lamm said. “They were conference champs last year. On the goal, Tanner Costine passed to me, the goal was open and I scored.”

Tanner Costine, Cleveland: The senior midfielder had both the game’s assists.

By the numbers

1: Second-half shot on goal by Cleveland

6: Season assists from Tanner Costine.

10: Saves by Ram goalie Ethan Fellows.

16: Season goals by Lawson Lamm.

18: Season goals by Josue Perez.

Looking ahead

Corinth Holders’ regular season was over, while Cleveland plays at Smithfield-Selma on Thursday night.

“That first goal dropped our heads for a little bit,” Pirate senior midfielder Derek Kaple said. “But I told our team to pick our heads up. We played a good game, but we were a little unlucky.”

All three teams’ playoff destinies will be determined by Thursday’s game. If there’s an outright winner between Cleveland and Smithfield-Selma, that team gets the conference championship. If they tie, there will be tri-champions with Corinth Holders, Cleveland and Smithfield-Selma.

This story was originally published October 29, 2015 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Spectacular goals lift Cleveland past Corinth Holders in Two Rivers soccer."