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South wins MSAC third-place match on penalty kicks

By Kerry Patrick 4 min read

PARKERSBURG - No doubt in his mind who Parkersburg South girls soccer coach Ron Bucholtz planned to handle the keeper duties for penalty kicks to decide third place in the Mountain State Athletic Conference.

Thursday night in the MSAC third-place match at Erickson All-Sports Facility, Hurricane and South played to a scoreless draw at the end of regulation. The result went down as a tie for both teams, so as a formality the match went directly to penalty kick.

After the clock read 0:00 in the second half without a true winner, coach Bucholtz pulled his captains aside to discuss who to put in goal. The Patriots had three candidates, but coach Bucholtz elected to stick with Alivia Goff as a reward for her play during regulation.

The junior was up to the challenge and saved two attempts and watched another miss the goal completely as the Patriots converted three times - one apiece from Natalee Epperly, Marie Silvis and Payton Sellers - to just one (Kendall Pyle) for Hurricane.

"Mainly, I just look where they are looking," said Goff, who took over as starting keeper this season. "Most of them look opposite of the goal, so that's how you know. Or you look at the way their hips are turned. You also look for their mannerisms. I've never done penalty kicks before. Now I feel like I can. I have a lot of confidence now.

"I've learned a lot this year. It's definitely a lot of information that I've never heard before, but I wouldn't want it any other way."

South moved to 12-3-3 with a home match against Oak Hill scheduled for noon on Saturday. Hurricane's record moved to 9-3-4 after playing its second consecutive scoreless tie.

"I would like to score some goals," admitted Hurricane coach Reuben Ellis. "We had a scoreless tie Tuesday against Oak Hill and now another draw today. So hopefully against Nitro on Saturday we will find it back."

Exactly one month to the day, South and Hurricane played to a 2-2 tie. Both teams finished the season with identical 7-2-2 MSAC records.

"Both teams had some chances tonight," Ellis said. "I think we edged them in shots and in possession. We had the ball a lot. We just couldn't find that last pass to put the game away."

The most terrifying moment of the match for South occurred 10 minutes into the first half. On a free kick from Hurricane's Emma Jeffery in Patriot territory, Goff came out of net to secure possession but did not get a firm grasp.

With Goff out of the picture, several Redskin players put a foot on several close-range shots but the back line of South's defense used their bodies to deflect those opportunities from landing in the back of the net.

Other than that one instance, Goff and her counterpart Emsley Conley as the Hurricane keeper were spot on.

"During the game, Alivia was magnificent coming off her line, intervening when she needed to," Bucholtz said. "It was a complete game by her. She has come a long way since we first started with her back in June as a new keeper.

"She has been growing up nicely with the position. Tonight, by far, she's showing that she is probably ready to help lead this team into the playoffs."

South is a first-year member of the MSAC. Coach Bucholtz is elated with the third-place finish. He figures George Washington is the cream of the crop in the South Regional with up to five teams - South, Parkersburg, Hurricane, Huntington and Oak Hill - with equal abilities.

"We had a good quality game tonight," Bucholtz said. "They probably played a little better in the first half when they had more pressure on us. We had some nice passing moments - we just couldn't get the ball across midfield. We would get our passing going and tend to turn it over."

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com

MSAC Third Place Match

At Erickson All-Sports Facility

Parkersburg South 0, Hurricane 0

(South wins on penalty kicks, 3-1)

Hurricane (9-3-4) 0 0 - 0

South (12-3-3) 0 0 - 0

Penalty Kicks

Hurricane: Kendall Pyle

South: Natalee Epperly, Marie Silvis, Payton Sellers

Next match: Oak Hill at Parkersburg South, noon; Hurricane at Nitro, 10 a.m.

Starting at /week.