South takes care of business versus PHS
Trending
PARKERSBURG -- No. 3 Parkersburg South definitely wasn't looking ahead to Saturday's noon match versus No. 7 Hurricane.
Here Thursday evening inside the Erickson All-Sports Facility, the Patriot girls bested rival Parkersburg, 8-0, to improve to 10-1.
"There were moments we played really, really well," admitted Patriot boss Ron Bucholtz, whose team led 3-0 at intermission. "We played better in the second half. I thought we were a little slow and the girls agreed. We were playing a little slowly in the first half and letting PHS beat us to some of the 50-50 balls.
"We picked up the tempo, obviously, in the second half. We did a lot of nice passing. I mean the start of the second half was 20-some passes linked together before PHS even touched it. I'm pleased. Our finishing on the season has been good."
The Patriots got the only goal they ended up needing with three seconds left in the fourth minute when Jozy Barton assisted on Ava Barton's tally. Big Red keeper Hailee Merritt tried to make a diving save to her right, but the ball went off her gloves and bounced in off the post.
In the 14th minute, Samara Nunn sent a pass from the middle of the field to Regan Shockey, who fired it inside the same left post for a 2-0 advantage.
Prior to that in the 12th minute, the Big Reds had their lone first-half shot on goal by Addi Warman, but Patriot keeper Mackenzie Mott was there to make an easy save.
With just two ticks remaining in the 36th minute, Ava Barton fed Nunn, who turned around and booted a laser near the upper left 90 to set the halftime score.
Parkersburg head coach Brad Morris' squad, now 4-6-1 with an 11 a.m. match Saturday at Cabell Midland, couldn't score off Jenna Carpenter's 38th minute corner kick.
In the 25th minute, Kendal Domenick got the ball ahead to Hannah Hopkins, but her shot went wide. A Carpenter through to Payton Harvey went just long in the 30th minute and in the 37th minute Domenick's through to Carpenter was scooped up just in time by Mott. PHS also tried to use a Harvey cross to Margaret Mildren just before the break, but Patriot Hadley Freshour was there to clear it.
"I know PHS is hurting and has some injuries this year," Bucholtz added. "They are a good team and we saw them give Wheeling Park a pretty good run for their money last week and they had moments where they broke Wheeling Park's high pressure really nicely. They had a few moments here where they played very nicely with some good combination play.
"They had some good shots on frame. They are a good team. They just don't have the depth that we do. They have a good coaching staff and they've got some quality players. They gave us as good a game as they could given we just have a little deeper bench. They are much better than the scoreline shows. It's always a good rivalry and they come out and play hard."
PSHS wasted little time getting things going after intermission. A corner kick by Cameron Limer in the 44th minute resulted in an own goal for a 4-0 cushion. Two minutes prior to that, Nunn sent a cross into the box, but Annie Mildren cleared it. However, Jenna Limer made it 5-0 in the 59th minute when she found the back of the net after Cameron Limer's corner kick wasn't cleared.
Nunn scored her second goal in the 65th minute when Adi Altizer got a pass ahead to the speedster and she managed to beat both the defender and Merritt to make it 6-0. Altizer found the back of the net two minutes later thanks to an assist from Joey Barton. It appeared Altizer's shot was going to be handled by Merritt, but it trickled across for a 7-0 lead.
Just nine seconds into the 72nd minute, defender Mia Miller moved up to an attacking position and showed off her footwork by carrying the ball into the box and finding the back of the net.
Carpenter had both of the Big Reds' shots on goal in the second half. They came in the 62nd and 63rd minutes, but Mott was able to secure her clean slate.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com