MORGANTOWN – Early on in the season, the MHS boys’ soccer team struggled to find goals, scoring only three in its first four games. Since then, the Mohigans have found the back of the net 35 times, including five on Monday night in a 5-0 victory against Parkersburg South in the OVAC 5A quarterfinals.
The victory sets up a semifinal road match against Wheeling Park at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
In a game previously this season, MHS defeated the Patriots 6-0, and dominated possession throughout the game. This, however, was a different Patriots’ team.
Despite a scoreless opening 10 minutes, both sides were going back and forth with possession on offense. The Patriots were the first to produce the first moment of the game when a shot from nearly 35 yards away clanged the crossbar.
It took a bit for the Mohigans to look comfortable with Parkersburg South’s defensive pressure, and MHS eventually began to find chances. A few good saves from South in goal kept the game tied through 20 minutes.
Senior forward Alex Tadros was finding space down the right wing nearly at will, and was able to get some dangerous passes into the Patriots box, some resulting in corners for the Mohigans.
With just under eight minutes until halftime, MHS would finally break through and open the scoring from one of the corner kicks. Riley Brabson sent a cross into the box and it was headed into the far corner by Alexander Gonzalez to give MHS a 1-0 lead.
The Mohigans added their second goal just three minutes later on another corner kick by Brabson. This one was found by senior James Percifield and tucked home, doubling the Mohigan lead going into the break.
MHS head coach Sam Snyder praised his teams ability to create chances in the attacking third, particularly down the wings through the play of Tadros and Brabson.
“Parkersburg South played very well, the played us tight and to open they were beating us to the ball,” Snyder said. “We talk about set pieces though and how they unlock games and we scored two in the first half. Riley was creating a lot of chances for us, he was incredible.”
Brabson would be involved in another goal when MHS added a third, 15 minutes into the second half. He worked his way down the left wing before crossing the ball into the box. A slight scrum ensued and somehow the ball rolled into the net, with it being unclear of who the ball came off of. Either way, the Mohigans lead 3-0.
A fourth goal came from Brabson on a shot that was saved before rebounding to the feet of the MHS winger, who calmly put the ball into the net.
Joel Beeson added the fifth for the Mohigans with just over 15 minutes to play. Brabson provided his third assist and along with his goal and the pile-up when his pass ended up in the net, was directly involved in every goal for his team on the night.
“We wanted to attack, we’ve been working on it and we needed to start finding some goals,” Snyder said. “Even if we don’t always get the goal we are creating a lot of chances to potentially score.”
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