MORGANTOWN – Wheeling Park visited Baker’s Ridge on Tuesday evening as the University girls’ soccer team hosted the Patriots for a matchup of two teams who had eight wins and zero losses between them.
The Hawks (4-1-1), coming off a scoreless draw against Preston on Saturday, struggled to generate offense once again, as Wheeling Park (5-0-0) controlled the majority of possession and eventually broke through to open the second half after no goals in the opening 40 minutes.
Five Wheeling Park goals in the second half made the difference at the end as the Hawks failed to respond with a score of their own, falling 5-0.
University will return home on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. against Steubenville, while the Patriots will welcome Parkersburg South to Wheeling Island Stadium on Thursday evening.
“We liked getting to the half scoreless,” UHS head coach Graham Peace said. “We didn’t have a specific game plan coming into the game; we really just wanted to play them straight up and see how we did. We haven’t played one of the true top-tier teams yet, and we were curious what we looked like. I think we did perform well in the first half.”
Wheeling Park nearly opened the scoring 60 seconds into the match as it worked the ball into the box directly from the kickoff, but UHS goalkeeper Caitlyn Stout made a good save to her left to keep the game scoreless early.
Stout would be called upon multiple times in the opening half and kept the Patriots from scoring, but the Hawks’ offense couldn’t match the effort of their defensive line and failed to find the back of the net, let alone generate much threat.
The game entered the break scoreless, but the visitors came out the same as they had in the first half, with a quick play that worked the ball into the attacking third and eventually, the UHS box.
This time, Stout wasn’t able to keep the ball out of the net as Corin McFarland broke the ice for Wheeling Park two minutes into the second half.
“I think once they scored the goal, our heads went down and the energy was taken from us,” Peace said. “That’s the main difference between a state championship contender like Wheeling Park and a program like us, that’s where we are. We are very proud of the effort against a team like that.”
Park struck again ten minutes later as Molly Bradshaw doubled the lead with a one-timer from a cross by Brenna Tipton.
Julia Dunaway added the third for the Patriots midway through the second half with a nice finish into the top corner to make it 3-0.
The final two goals were scored in the final two minutes as Lakin Chambers and Tipton capped the scoring for the Patriots.
“No loss is a good loss,” Peace said. “But sometimes players need to be shown what it takes to win at this level, and I think that’s what we were shown tonight. I’m hopeful that our ladies will respond positively to that and come back ready to win on Saturday, and I’m confident that they will do just that.”
