MORGANTOWN – After a tough 3-1 loss to Wheeling Park in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference tournament final on Saturday, the Morgantown High School boys’ soccer team was ready for some home cooking.
After all, the Mohigans (12-3-1) haven’t lost a game at Pony Lewis Field in over a year and boast an 11-0-2 record during that span.
“We love to play at home,” MHS head coach Sam Snyder said. “Tonight, was big too because it was to protect home field for the playoffs – so we had to win to keep it. We feel comfortable here; our crowds are good, and our players just come to play, and they play with an extra little bit of energy. Definitely better to play at home than anywhere else.”
Tuesday’s game against Brooke didn’t start off very good for the Mohigans as the Bruins (10-5) scored within the first five minutes of the contest when Ben Ferguson lofted a ball over the MHS keeper from 20 yards out into the right side of the net.
“Good start to the game obviously,” Brooke coach Joe Pepe said. “We just couldn’t put the ball in the net enough to beat Morgantown tonight.”
Morgantown did respond on the way to a 5-2 victory, but MHS junior forward Riley Brabson admitted that early goal by the Bruins served as a wake-up call.
“That happened once earlier this year,” Brabson, who finished with two goals and two assists, said. “We needed to come out here and start with motivation and not have that goal be our motivation.”
The good news for MHS was that Brabson, and his slick ball handling, were on full display during the rest of the contest. He tied the game at 1-1 just eight minutes later when he rebounded a shot off the foot of Anthony Vessecchia that glanced off the Brooke keeper.
Brabson added a beautiful assist for a 2-1 lead when he weaved down the left side, starting and stopping several times, before lofting the ball to the back side of the goal where junior striker Aidan Stire headed the ball into the net.
“Riley is definitely one of the better 1 vs. 1 players we have had in a while,” Snyder said. “He can really create and manipulate space and he can cut in, cut out and get a cross off as well as get a shot off. It really changes what a team can do to defend against him.”
Brabson scored on a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box when he found the lower left corner and then added a nifty back-foot assist to Rayyan Hanif for the final goal of the game. Hanif also added one more goal in the contest as he scored off an assist from Alexander Gonzales-tanon.
“We don’t want to lose here,” Brabson said of playing at home. “This is our place, so we want to come out here every time thinking we got to own this turf.”
Morgantown has done just that since a 2-1 loss to Charleston Catholic on September 24, 2022. During that time, MHS has scored 67 goals while allowing just seven.
“We want people to want to come see us,” Snyder said. “So, we want to put on more of an attractive game. At times, tonight, we pressed, and we wanted to get good scoring chances and to put up five (goals) tonight was great.”
Brooke had more shots in the contest with 17 to 10 for the Mohigans but MHS was efficient as five of those found the net.
Chance Brozstek had three saves from the Bruins while Ferguson added another goal. MHS keeper Tyler Crites finished the contest with eight saves.
Morgantown returns to action on Thursday when it hosts Weir at 6 p.m. for senior night.
BY ERIC HERTER
