MORGANTOWN – One goal in each half secured a 2-1 victory for the MHS girls soccer team (10-1) over the visiting Wheeling Park Patriots (11-4-1) in the semifinals of the OVAC 5A girls soccer conference tournament at a wet and rainy Pony Lewis Field Wednesday night.
The win secures the Mohigans a spot in the championship match against Parkersburg South on Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Clairsville, Ohio.
Despite allowing a goal with 33 seconds left to play in the game, MHS dominated possession, working its way patiently into dangerous areas of the WPHS 18-yard box all night.
The opening goal came nearly 15 minutes into the game. MHS worked the ball down the left wing into open space before sending a cross through the middle of the field that was deflected off of a player and into the back of the net for the opening goal. The pileup for the ball made it difficult for anyone watching to see who to credit the goal to, but regardless the hosts lead 1-0.
The Patriots did well to possess the ball on offense for the opening ten minutes of the game, but once the Mohigans became comfortable with the WPHS pressure, the game came to them.
“Everything that we wanted to do we were able to. We pressed them and we knew if we put pressure on them they would give us the ball,” MHS head coach Stirlin Rivers said after the game. “We created good chances and could’ve had more goals but their keeper (Riley Hicks) was excellent tonight. I was happy about the chances we were able to create overall against a team like Wheeling Park.”
The second goal came on one of the many chances Rivers mentioned after the game, right after the second half whistle blew to resume the game. Forward Lilly Staples sent a ball into the box from the right wing toward the goal, that we through the hands of Hicks and into the net, doubling the Mohigan lead.
At that point, desperate to get a goal to cut into the deficit, the Patriots began to try and pass the ball over the top of the MHS defense, but the Mohigan defenders remained calm on the ball all night, including their keeper Madysen Scheller. Scheller has the ability to use her feet like the rest of the players on the field that aren’t playing keeper, something that Rivers knows gives helps his team play their style more efficiently.
“If you look at the modern game today with the amount of pressure teams put on you, you need a keeper that can use their feet. We have two keepers that can do that, and it allows us to not have to give possession away by kicking the ball out and things like that and she is always reliable. That last goal wasn’t on her.”
The goal he mentioned came with 33 second left on the clock, when a cross from the right wing found the foot of a Patriot player in the box who tucked the ball away.
MHS would kill the clock to end the match after however, taking the game 2-1 and advancing to the OVAC 5A championship.
The kickoff Saturday morning at 10 a.m. in St. Clairsville, Ohio against Parkersburg South, who the Mohigans defeated 2-0 on September 10th.
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