MORGANTOWN — A sectional soccer doubleheader was played at Pony Lewis Field Tuesday evening as both the top-ranked Morgantown boys and girls soccer teams hosted the fourth-seeded John Marshall Monarchs in the semifinals of the Region 1 Section 1 soccer tournaments.
The boys got the night started with a 10-0 victory in a shortened match that lasted just five minutes into the second half.
MHS scored its first goal after seven minutes played in the first half when junior Aiden Stire tucked the ball away after it rolled through the entire box of players without being touched.
The Mohigans didn’t score again for the next 10 minutes as a combination of bad bounces and some good saves in goal for John Marshall held the hosts in check.
However, MHS would go on to add seven more goals in the half between the 21:11 mark and halftime. Eight different Mohigans found the back of the net in the game with sophomore Rayyan Hanif and junior Riley Brabson each scoring two.
Senior defender Ziggy Hirschfeld ended the match with his goal early in the second half.
The Mohigans will move on to the Region 1 Section 1 championship against Wheeling Park on Thursday after the Patriots defeated Brooke.
“We have been working on offensive movement and tonight was a great opportunity to work on cohesive attacking and link-up play,” MHS head coach Sam Snyder said. “We can always improve our finishing and crossing, as well as set pieces.”
Snyder said Wheeling Park is an athletic and composed team with a stout attack.
“They are an excellent pressing team,” he said. “It will be a dogfight but we believe we are ready and up to the challenge.”
The MHS girls followed the boys’ team with a 10-0 win of their own over the visiting Monarchs and it only took less than 90 seconds of play for a goal to come.
Senior Emily Carpenter netted the opening goal of the match with 38:47 on the clock in the first half. The Mohigans would score five goals before the first 10 minutes had ticked off of the scoreboard.
Three different Mohigans scored multiple goals on the night on the way to the shortened victory with Carpenter being joined by senior Gracie Brown and junior Ariana Borneo.
The game was ended after the tenth goal was scored in the second half with 27:54 left to play in the second half.
“We want to come together as a team more and make sure we know every game could be our last,” MHS girls head coach Bri Frontuto said. “The playoffs are a completely new season and we need to be ready to play our best every single match.”
