Parkersburg South's Marie Silvis keeps possession while being guarded by Parkersburg's Amiya Powell during Thursday's 0-0 tie at Erickson All-Sports Facility. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Looking for its first victory in the rivalry since 2012, Parkersburg had to settle for a 0-0 draw here Thursday evening at Erickson All-Sports Facility versus Parkersburg South.

Patriot keeper Emilee Owens worked a clean slate after denying the Big Reds’ 13 shots on goal while PHS goalie Addison Mosso made a trio of saves.

In the 31st minute, Parkersburg South’s Marie Silvis had a free kick from just inside 50 yards and nearly scored as the ball came down on a short hop in front of Mosso, who partially deflected it as it ended up on the outside of the netting.

Silvis had the first shot on goal of the match in the third minute and also had another long range shot gobbled up by Mosso in the 78th minute.

Cramping was an issue for both sides on the new artificial turf and it looked like the Big Reds of head coach Jarric Hoskins might get the match-winner in the 79th minute after Patriot defender Averee Cross went down with a cramp. That allowed Big Red Gracie Lively a solid look for her potential eighth goal of the campaign, but her laser shot went right into the gut of Owens.

Parkersburg's Faithlyn Butcher goes up for a header during the Big Reds' 0-0 draw on Thursday evening versus Parkersburg South at Erickson All-Sports Facility. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“It certainly helps to have an Emilee Owens in goal,” admitted Patriot boss Ron Bucholtz, whose 2-3-2 squad returns to action at 11 a.m. Saturday when Hurricane invades. “She’s been all-state the last two years for a reason. She’s been showing her quality, really, this year because we knew with this year’s lineup compared to last year we’re going to be giving up more shots. It’s the nature of the game when you have a young and relatively inexperienced team and you’re playing some quality teams. They are going to find ways to get some shots off.

“A lot of those shots are coming off some of our turnovers, which we are still growing and trying to improve on that and limit those. I think we did a little a better job today on limiting some of those turnovers on our end of the field. We didn’t give up too many. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get anymore of our shots up in the air. That was the gameplan because we know their goal keeper is suspect to the high shot. Hopefully this will be a good learning lesson for our girls. We must attack and aggressively go after every shot. We could’ve been there for a putback.”

The Big Reds had six shots on goal in the opening half with two from Lively and Emma Morris as well as one apiece by Hailey Warman and Reagan Ashley.

After intermission, Lively was denied twice more as were Camille Tatterson and Faithlyn Butcher.

PHS held a 3-2 edge on corner kicks as the Big Reds moved to 6-3-1 with an 11 a.m. match Saturday versus South Charleston set for Stadium Field.

Parkersburg South's Peyton Sellers, left, battles with Parkersburg's Hailey Warman (6) and Reagan Ashley (11) for the ball following a corner kick during the Patriots' 0-0 tie on Thursday night at Erickson All-Sports Facility. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“They moved the ball well and they created good opportunities,” said coach Hoskins. “Just sometimes the ball doesn’t roll your way. Sometimes calls don’t go your way. Things happen. You just have to work on things going forward and try to be better.

“It’s disappointing, but we just need to get better from here. Their possession was really good and we created the opportunities. Sometimes the ball doesn’t go in. A couple bounces go our way, it could’ve been a different score.”

Warman nearly gave the Big Reds a 1-0 lead in the 68th minute, but her low liner was saved by a diving Owens.

“PHS is a quality team and they have a good coach. I thought the girls defended well,” added coach Bucholtz. “There are some moments we still need to improve on. We’re a young team and we’re growing. On a whole this is a great result for the program. To keep a really good team off the board, a lot of that was Emilee Owens, but we had some good stout defending – Averee Cross in the middle, Sophia (Williams) played well. All the girls stepped up – Taylor (Benear), you know, Braylin (Byrd) and in the midfield Reece (Waters) did a nice job shoring things up.

“Of course, Marie is just a workhorse out there and she’s a beast. She’s tough to deal with, but they are swarming her two, three. We need to learn to play combination off her a little more effectively so we can control the ball versus she gets stripped of the ball with two or three on her. When they swarm like that, you know, so we got to work on that. I think our wingers Natalie (Epperly) and Berkley (Elschlager) stepped up. I’ve never seen Berkley play with this much intensity and Natalie stepped up her game. Everybody came to play.”

Parkersburg South's Averee Cross boots the ball down the field during the Patriots' 0-0 tie with Parkersburg on Thursday evening at Erickson All-Sports Facility. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Parkersburg South keeper Emilee Owens collects one of her 13 saves during the Patriots' 0-0 tie with Parkersburg on Thursday evening at Erickson All-Sports Facility. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)