MORGANTOWN – After over 90 minutes of scoreless soccer between the Morgantown Mohigans and the Wheeling Park Patriots, MHS junior striker Ella Miller headed home the golden goal in double overtime to capture the Class AAA Region I Section 1 championship.
Miller pounced on the rebound of a shot from senior Lilly Staples that hit the crossbar, nodding it into the back of the net and ending the match.
With the victory, the Mohigans (16-2-2) advance to the Region I championship match to play the Section 2 champion, Bridgeport, next week at John Marshall High School on Tuesday evening following the boys’ game that begins at 5:00 p.m.
The Patriots see their 2024 campaign come to an end at 15-5-1.
“I think our girls have had this game on their radar for a few weeks, and I’m so proud of them for pulling this one out,” MHS head coach Bri Frontuto said. “We’ve faced some adversity this season with injuries. Throughout this whole season, tonight was the first match that I had the starting eleven out there together that we had tonight. You could feel a different energy in practice last night, and having everyone together at this point in the season will be what we lean on going forward.”
A scoreless first half certainly didn’t lack action or chances, as the physicality of the match was established from the opening whistle.
The Mohigans had most of the offensive possession and generated multiple chances in dangerous areas that threatened Wheeling Park’s goal.
Patriots’ junior goalkeeper Hailey Hastings had an outstanding game between the posts despite the 1-0 defeat, denying Morgantown multiple goals that could’ve made a big difference in regulation.
Even after the chances in attack for both sides in the first half, no goals were yielded before the halftime break.
Out of the locker room, the Patriots worked the ball well into the attacking third to begin the second half, but MHS goalkeeper Camdyn Smith made a good save to keep the contest even.
“Morgantown played with great pace tonight, particularly in the midfield and that makes the difference in soccer most of the time,” Wheeling Park head coach Tom Smith said. “We didn’t adjust to their pressure very well but did have our chances. It was tough to control the ball in the middle. We wanted to try and find a breakaway goal and had a couple of chances, but that’s tough to do against a defense like they have.”
The remainder of the second half played out like the first half had, with both teams seeing chances in the final third of the field and the Mohigans having most of the ball on offense.
Both teams had chances on goal with free kicks in dangerous areas, but both keepers were equal to the task with saves.
Regulation ended with the game scoreless, and it went to extra time, which consisted of two ten-minute periods before penalty kicks.
The first period did not see the game end, but it took MHS less than three minutes into the second overtime period to score the go-ahead goal to end the match.
Staples dribbled the ball to the middle of the field onto her left foot and rifled a shot toward the net that rattled the crossbar, bouncing straight down to the ground and into the air.
Miller read the ball and willed herself to touch it with her forehead before a Park defender could clear the danger. The Patriots could not keep the ball from crossing the line and the Mohigans celebrated a sectional championship.
“Ella impresses me so much with how hard she works and how much she loves the game,” Forntuto said of her junior striker. “She wants to win and cares about the game. Her game sense is just as strong as her technical skill, which showed in the type of goal she scored for us tonight. She’s been huge for us this season. We will enjoy the win and then get back to work to prepare for Tuesday.”
