MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Monday night was simply beautiful for the No. 2 Morgantown High boys’ soccer team.
The evening stayed unseasonably warm, and the Mohigans’ offense was hot — as they crushed rival Wheeling Park.
But Tuesday evening was chilly at Pony Lewis Field as the Mohigans hosted Parkersburg, and the MHS offense seemed to reflect the temperature change in their frustrating, unsatisfying 0-0 draw.
After an early MHS chance from the right corner was smothered by Big Reds keeper Caleb Thomas, Morgantown (8-1-2) seemed content with dominating possession in the middle third — and the sagging PHS defense and midfield was equally satisfied to let it. While the Mohigans hustled to and won the majority of 50/50 balls, they also too often went 1-on-3 — or 4 or 5 — rather than playing more simple and patient.
In fact, the first corner of the match was earned on a rare counter by Parkersburg (6-6-3) in the 21st minute, but was handled by the stout MHS defense without issue. Finally, Morgantown started to play long over the top, and began generating some good chances, but Thomas was up to the task, especially on a point-blank reflex save on ever-dangerous MHS striker Caden Carpenter late in the half that kept the game scoreless at the break.
PHS generated its best sustained offensive thrust of the game in the opening minutes of the second half, but nothing of consequence was permitted to approach Mohigans’ keeper Carter Cave.
A counterpunching flurry of Morgantown shots followed immediately, but all were blocked in front by the packed-in Big Reds back wall. The pattern remained in place — MHS possessed extremely well, but didn’t take advantage of space on the wings, and didn’t turn up the urgency until late in the match.
In the 78th minute, a long diagonal pass into the box perfectly found the head of James Percifield, who had made a beautiful run into the box, but his header looped over both the keeper and, unfortunately for the Mohigans, the crossbar as well.
After the hard-fought draw, MHS coach Sam Snyder saw this one as a bit of a hangover from the team’s sharp performance of the night before, but also as an excellent learning tool.
“We played so well against Park, and I think the guys approached this one with the idea that we could just go out and play and our game would come to us in the same way,” he said. “But while our defense was very clean, and the midfield played very well, and the forwards’ work rate was great, I thought we played some silly soccer at times. We knew they were very compact, and we took space that was given — but then we continually dribbled right into their wall. It resulted in too many turnovers, which meant lost opportunities, and ultimately to the final result.
“We need to do a better job of recognizing what we are facing and exploit it in the right way,” he continued, “and we’re more than capable of doing that. We lacked urgency and directness tonight, and it led to a frustrating game, but we’ll get a chance to practice after a very busy stretch of games, and we’ll learn to play both hard and smart, rather than just hard.”
Morgantown travels to Brooke for a key matchup at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, with the No. 1 seed for the upcoming sectional tournament on the line.
