PERRY — Perry Girls Soccer kept knocking on the door Monday night.
Eventually, Andora Porcello kicked it open.
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Porcello scored off an assist from Riley McCarley in the 26th minute, and the Pirates made the goal stand up the rest of the way in a 1-0 victory over visiting Beachwood Girls Soccer.
The win improved Perry to 2-0 on the young season, with the Bulldogs pairing an increasingly dangerous attack with a defense that kept Beachwood’s biggest threats from finding room to operate.
Perry created several opportunities before finally breaking through with 14 minutes remaining in the opening half. Porcello and McCarley combined on the play before Porcello, a senior captain, finished for what proved to be the game’s only goal.
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The Pirates continued to generate chances throughout the game, finishing with 14 shots on target.
“Our combination play is about as good as it’s been since I’ve been here,” Perry coach Rich Stavar said. “I think sooner or later those goals are going to go in, and we only missed by a couple of inches at times.
“We had 14 shots on target, and that puts a lot of pressure on an opponent, right? They have to respect your shot, and sooner or later they’re going to make a mistake. We’re going to shift them out of where they are, and we’ll get them where we want them to be, and the ball’s going to find the back of the net. It’s going to take a little time. We’re still pretty young.”
Once Porcello put Perry in front, the Pirates’ defense took care of the rest.
Beachwood’s Marley Readance and Zoe Walters commanded plenty of attention, and Perry made it a priority to prevent the Bison from getting quality service to their dangerous players.
“What we do a really good job of is preventing service from getting into anyone’s feet,” Stavar said. “We’ve got some younger players in the back, but they’ve played enough at the high school level that they know that we don’t want those kinds of players to get behind us because we’re probably going to lose the race if they get behind us, so we don’t let that happen.
“But a lot of that defense starts at midfield because we force people to rush their service.”
That pressure helped Perry preserve the shutout even as Beachwood made adjustments and became more aggressive after halftime.
For the Pirates, a 2-0 start offers plenty of encouragement, but Stavar sees plenty of room for his young team to continue developing — particularly when it comes to turning its possession and combination play into more goals.
“We want to continue to work on our combination play when we’re on attack,” Stavar said. “We do a pretty good job of moving the ball. It’ll start on one side of the field, and a lot of times it ends on the other.
“We had a couple looks at the back post; we just didn’t quite get there in time, so we’ll stress that. We also want to use a couple of different systems, but can we do it effectively?”
Beachwood coach Regina Ploplis also saw positives in the way her team responded after Perry controlled much of the opening half.
With the Pirates concentrating on Readance and Walters, the Bison needed to find other ways to create opportunities.
“I think a lot of times we get so used to kind of looking for those key players that sometimes we forget to make those small passes to create those open gaps,” Ploplis said. “That’s when the frustration can set in a little bit.
“But I do think that in the second half we responded much better. I thought we looked a lot better. We came out a lot harder.”
Ploplis changed formations after halftime, and the adjustment helped Beachwood put more pressure on Perry while dealing with some early-season fatigue.
“I think it was a combination of things,” Ploplis said. “The first thing was we switched our formation, which definitely made a difference. We struggled a bit with fatigue setting in, so we had to change our formation.
“I also think the girls came out with a different mindset. They came out a lot harder. There was a lot more urgency. They were trying to win those balls out of the air. So I think it was a combo of a couple things.”
The Bison’s improved second half wasn’t enough to erase Perry’s one-goal advantage.
For the Pirates, one successful combination between McCarley and Porcello — backed by 80 minutes of defense — was enough to keep their perfect start intact.
Perry returns to action Aug. 22 at Holy Name. Beachwood travels to Shaker Heights on Aug. 19.
More Girls Soccer Coverage From OhioVarsity.com
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- CVC Girls Soccer
- 2026 CVC Girls Soccer Preview
- Girls Soccer News
Girls Soccer Match Result
| Team | Score |
|---|---|
 Beachwood Bison | 0 |
 Perry Pirates | 1 |
Top Performers
Beachwood
Perry
Player Stats
Beachwood
| Player | G | A | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alison Stephens | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Perry
| Player | G | A | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andora Porcello | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Game Notes
Updated automatically through this result and the latest reported player stats.
