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PHS girls fall to Marietta, 3-2

By Jay W. Bennett 4 min read

DEVOLA -- Grace Spencer found the back of the net twice, Jacey McKnight tallied a goal and Leigha Lauer had a half dozen saves here Saturday afternoon at Jerry Brock Field to help host Marietta rally past Parkersburg, 3-2.

The Big Reds of head coach Jarric Hoskins, who were playing their fourth match of the year on natural grass, scored the first goal in the 15th minute when Layla Hill collected her second assist of the campaign on Kayla Marlow's fourth tally of the year.

"They just dropped the ball over the top of our backline and we didn't stay with our runners," said Tiger head coach Bill Mannix of Hill's free kick. "It's a simple game.

"You either have to keep them from scoring or your keeper comes out and gets it. It was a well played ball that was just between the keeper coming out and the defender coming back, and they just started off with a goal."

Marlow had a shot on goal in the sixth minute and Gracie Lively put one on frame in the ninth, but they were denied by Lauer.

Marietta, which improved to 9-4 with Athens set to invade on Monday, was turned back by PHS keeper Kaleigh Rexroad on shots by Millie Becker in the 16th minute and Alyssa Baker in the 20th.

However, the Tigers were able to square things up with 11 ticks remaining in the 30th minute when Becker sent a cross into the box and McKnight managed to finish for her third goal of the season.

Following a foul on the Big Reds, which gave Spencer a long free kick, the Tiger was able to send a shot toward the upper left 90 that eluded the outstretched hands of a leaping Rexroad to make it 2-1 at intermission.

Just 66 seconds after halftime, the Big Reds found themselves down 3-1 when Becker assisted on Spencer's 24th goal.

"They've got a lot of talent. We knew it was going to be a hard game," admitted coach Hoskins, whose squad won the Mountain State Athletic Conference championship on Thursday. "They started the game well. I'd say basically up until we got our first goal I thought we looked good. I thought we were stepping in front of balls. I thought we were giving good effort, running for those through balls, but after that something changed.

"I don't know if it's being tired from Thursday, kind of being low on numbers and being hot. It's not really an excuse because the other team probably has the same issues. I kind of felt like we were on cruise control from there on out and when they get up 3-1 that's a hard hole to come back from. I thought we tried to turn it on midway through the second half and got our second goal, but it's hard to come out of that hole. It's hard to turn it on and off. Effort is something you can control every single day."

PHS set the final score in the 56th minute following a Tiger turnover that allowed Lively to send a shot from one side of the field to the opposite post as a leaping Lauer couldn't stop it.

Spencer nearly had a hat trick when she took a feed from Becker in the 74th minute, but her shot was just wide.

PHS, which dropped to 13-2-2 and plays Tuesday at University, had a chance in the 75th minute via a Lively corner. However, Tiger Colbie Wheeler managed to get a head on it and then Lauer made a leaping grab before anyone from PHS could make a play on the ball.

In the 78th minute, Marlow had what looked like the potential match-tying goal, but Lauer used a fully-extended stretch and leap to punch the ball above the goal and out of harm's way.

"We had good play from everybody," added coach Mannix. "When your keeper steps up and makes a save like that and Grace steps up and hits a ball like that, it rises all ships and everyone feels much better when everyone is playing at a high level.

"Izzy (Riggs) is out for the year, but we got everybody else back at this point and we feel pretty good about that. We play two styles of soccer. We play possession and play to our teammates and we play get the ball off my foot. When we are playing possession and doing well we are hard to deal with. We just tend to get flat sometimes and we get ourselves backed up."

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

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