Medina teams enter final Greater Cleveland Conference season before Suburban League move

For a decade, Medina’s teams have competed in the Greater Cleveland Conference. The Bees were charter members when the league formed in 2015. They will make one last lap around the GCC this year before heading to the Suburban League for more geographically friendly competition. The following is a look at Medina’s boys and girls soccer teams and volleyball team as they head into their final year of GCC play.

Boys soccer

Few, if any, teams in any sport, at Medina or elsewhere, have enjoyed the kind of stranglehold over the GCC as Medina’s boys soccer team has. The Bees were GCC champs from 2019-23, going 27-1 over that span and stretching their run of conference championships to six years. The Bees either won or shared seven titles in the league’s 10 years, finished second twice and never lost more than one GCC game in a season, going 50-6-8.

That’s what makes their season a year ago so bizarre. They still lost only one league game in 2024, but tied three and finished in fourth place. Doug Coreno has been a varsity soccer coach at Medina for 15 years. His teams have lost just 80 games overall. Ten percent of those defeats came last year – a product of a rugged schedule.

To say the veteran mentor is ready to get things going this year is an understatement. Coming off a 6-8-4 campaign in 2024, Coreno is leading a veteran team this year, having lost just four letter-winners from that squad.

A large senior class includes midfielders Alejandro Conrique, Ben Garder, Brody Gannon, Tyler Cobb and Cooper Korduba; forwards Jackson Gummo and Cooper Fuller; defender Jackson Thornton; and goalie Bennett Werthmuller, the Greater Akron goalkeeper of the year in 2024.

Juniors with experience are midfielders Jack Piatak and Michael Fischbach, and defender Jackson Harvey. Defenders Chase Wilbur and Logan Abernathy, and goalie Zach Coersmeyer bring some experience as sophomores.

“We return a large amount of last year’s squad,” Coreno said. “With everyone bigger, faster, more mature and more technical, we hope to benefit from the ups and downs of last year’s challenging schedule.”

New to the squad is senior defender Gavin Williams, who came over from Buckeye. Junior forward Jayden Kulwicki, sophomore midfielder Iyan Copley and sophomore defender Xavier Abernathy also are new to the team.

“We need to re-establish our identity as a team and as a program,” Coreno said. “We were wildly inconsistent on a lot of different fronts last year.”

Girls soccer

The girls team has had a similar amount of success over the years. The Bees are coming off their fifth title in the 10 years of GCC play. The other seasons produced four runner-up finishes, and all told Medina has a 53-5-6 record heading into its last year in the GCC.

Last year the Bees finished 14-4-1 overall, 6-0 in the GCC. Fifth-year head coach Jason Rutkowski will look to tack on a final one with a team that graduated 12 letter-winners but has plenty in reserve.

That group includes seniors Brianna McCashin (goalkeeper), Caitlyn Taylor (defender), Ella Wilgor (midfielder), Whitney Howington (midfielder), Sydney Atkinson (forward) and Ashleigh Walburn (goalkeeper). New to the fold in the top class are defenders Becca Keserich and Ella Heinze and forward Ella Kautzman. Defender Madi Kautzman is new among juniors.

The sophomore class is represented by midfielders Livi Saksa and Alexa Donze, and forwards Sophia Lazar and Maggie Wolny, while midfielders Annaliese Ebert, Naomi Sundermeier, Emma McTigue, Avery Atkinson and Tallia Masternak have joined the ranks as freshmen.

“We will be much younger, with six freshmen in the varsity group and four sophomores – the youngest we have been possibly in several years,” Rutkowski said. “The approach is to reload with the young talent to be competitive to hold our program’s standards.”

Rutkowski said his team should be technically strong, skilled and smart. The defense will be counted on early as the most experienced unit.

“So far the group has really taken steps forward each day,” he said. “We have several new players and younger players, so consistency each day and steps forward is our approach, which has been great early on.”

Volleyball

The Bees head into their last GCC season looking for their first title since 2022 in a conference full of heavyweights. The Bees have consistently been in the upper echelon in the league.

Coach Jason Schellenberger’s squad is coming off a 9-14 season overall, 6-6 in the GCC.

Just one letter-winner was lost from that group, with defensive specialist Hailey Blanco graduating. That means Schellenberger’s group should hit the ground running this season.

Leading the returners is 2024 team MVP Leah McKinley, a senior libero. She had a team-best 306 digs a year ago and led the Bees with 433 service receptions.

Other seniors back are middle blocker/right-side Olivia Fedor; middle blocker Elaina Sabol; outside hitter Kiera Szuter; middle blocker Bridget Campbell; and right-side Madelyn Petrulis. Back among juniors are setter Lauren Sherman, defensive specialist Grace Tabaka and outside hitter/defensive specialist Ava Schellenberger. Sophomore outside hitter Kalea Tagaloci notched 54 kills as a freshman playing about half the time.

Up-and-comers seeing their first significant varsity time are outside hitter/right-side Sara Wilson and defensive specialist Allie Fugarini.

“The difference last year was many of the players’ first year playing varsity, and hopefully with that experience we will do well this year,” Schellenberger said. “Right now our strength is having almost all players back from last year. Skill-wise we are a very strong serving and defensive team.”