BECKLEY — Defenses got the better of the offenses Thursday during No. 4 George Washington and No. 1 Morgantown’s Class AAA state semifinal at the YMCA Paul Cline Memorial Youth Sports Complex. The two teams played a scoreless 100 minutes until the Patriots won a PK shootout 5-3 to advance to the state title game and stifle the Mohigans’ bid at a third straight state title.
“This is one of the few times in the season our shots didn’t fall,” Morgantown head coach Bri Frontuto said. “We totally out-shot them, out-possessed them. That is the game of soccer, sometimes the better team doesn’t win when it comes down to something like that. Their keeper played great all night, you had to expect she would come up big for them when it came to penalty kicks. Congrats to them, getting to where they wanted to be.”
Getting as far as they could with a 0-0 tie, penalty kicks began with a make by George Washington’s Emma Cipoletti. Patriots keeper Oriah Allen came up with a save against Ariana Borneo to give George Washington an edge. The next six shots all found the back of the net, from George Washington’s Ellie Pray, Ella Chipps and Isabella Smith, and Morgantown’s Lillian Staples, Ella Miller and Gabbie Brown. The Patriots’ Trinity Hodge came through with the game-winning goal, a 5-3 advantage.
“They are the most successful class that Morgantown girls’ soccer has ever had,” Frontuto said of her senior class of Staples, Railey Reeves, Sajida Elsarrar, Ariana Borneo, Riley Lafferty, and Josie Johnson.
“You look at the last three years to make it to states three times and win a championship in two of them, it’s hard to describe what they’ve meant to this program. I am sad that we couldn’t get another one for them but like I said they’ve left quite the legacy on this program.”
Morgantown possessed the ball the vast majority of the first half, and tallied seven shots on goal, including one by Miller that was tipped up by Patriots keeper Oriah Allen and hit off the crossbar in the eighth minute. Allen also stopped a laser of a shot in the 30th minute to keep the score frozen despite the close calls.
George Washington had one shot on goal in the first half, shortly before halftime.
The close calls and near-misses kept coming in the second half, for both teams.
In the 62nd minute, Borneo blasted a straightaway direct kick which got by everybody but Allen.
In the 68th minute, George Washington’s Shelby Tharp received a pass with a defender on her hip and a look at the goal, and smoked a shot that bounced off the goal post.
In the 70th minute, Staples connected with a header cleanly off a Borneo cross which bounced off the crossbar.
Allen’s best play came in the 73rd minute where she stopped three shots, two from point-blank range, to keep Morgantown off the scoreboard.
That would be the best chance for either team the remainder of regulation.
In the first overtime, Morgantown benefitted from drawing fouls that set them up with direct kicks at George Washington’s goal, but none yielded a shot on goal. The Mohigans had only one shot on goal in the first overtime period, scooped up by Allen. George Washington had no shots on goal in overtime.
By that point, fatigue had set in for both teams, and the Mohigans and Patriots were laboring to generate looks.
Allen made a game-saving snag with three minutes remaining in the second extra time after a direct kick from midfield yielded a header shot out of a crowd assembled in front of the goal. It was her 11th save of the game. She had 13 on the game.
George Washington will face No. 3 Washington in the state championship on Saturday morning.
— Story by Nick Henthorn
