KINGWOOD – The Preston High School girls’ soccer team got the Buckwheat Festival weekend off to a blazing start with a fiery second-half performance against visiting Tyler Consolidated en route to a 6-1 victory on Thursday morning in Kingwood.
Leading by a lone goal at halftime, 2-1, the Knights (7-4-3) exploded for four goals in the opening 20 minutes of the second half and didn’t look back as they earned their seventh win in 2025, their most since the 2018 season.
Sophomore midfielder Ava Turner led Preston with a pair of goals and assists. Junior forward Addison Blosser scored the lone goal of the contest for Tyler on a solo effort in the first half, but the visitors didn’t find offense in the final 40 minutes.
“We weren’t playing our game in the first half whatsoever,” PHS head coach Kevin Whitehair said. “We came out a bit flat and played down a bit and just weren’t on our game. At halftime, we rallied around our captains and seniors, and we quickly picked up the pace in the second half. I was proud of the response by the girls.”
It took a little bit of time for the Knights to find the back of the net for the opening goal, but no time at all for them to generate chances on the Tyler goal.
Thirteen minutes into the game, Turner broke the ice with a well-placed free kick from the top of the 18-yard box to give PHS the lead 1-0.
The Knights continued to pepper shots at the goal but the Tyler defense held true and was rewarded by the attack with a goal with 16 minutes left in the first half. Blosser beat a defender before burying an effort into the far post, knotting the match at one goal each.
Preston responded fairly and finally found the go-ahead goal with three minutes until the break to take a 2-1 lead.
“Our captains, Ava Turner, Kylie Ross, and Zoe Fasouletos, command the game well for us,” Whitehair said. “They are like an extension of the coaches on the field and can be like an extra voice at times. We have some girls who can truly play anywhere on the field, and that goes a long way for us.”
The Knights scored their third goal 10 minutes into the second half and added three more in the following ten minutes, leading 6-1 midway through the frame.
“We’ve grown a lot when it comes to our possession and how we work the ball around as a unit,” Whitehair said. “That’s boosted our offense greatly, and we are trying to continue to raise our soccer IQ. We have a few girls who play year-round with a club soccer team, and that helps when they can show some of the other girls what it takes to play the way we know we can. The program has experienced constant growth over the four seasons since I took over. We had two seasons with three wins, then five last season, and now we have seven and have the chance for even more.”
Preston will travel to North Marion on Tuesday for a 5:30 p.m. kickoff.
University 2, Steubenville (Ohio) 0
Ava Gizzi and Maddie Fritsch both scored goals and the University High girls’ soccer team advanced to its first Ohio Valley Athletic Conference championship game in seven years with a victory over Steubenville (Ohio) late Thursday.
Gizzi got the Hawks (10-1-2) on the board midway through the first half when a Lauren Goodenow pass was bobbled by the Steubenville goalkeeper. Gizzi pounced on the loose ball and put it in the empty goal.
Neither team generated much offense for the rest of the first half, but that changed early in the second.
Goodenow sent a corner kick that was met by Fritsch and she sent a header into the back of the net for the final score.
The Big Red (8-2-1) responded with some pressure of their own, but Hawks’ keeper Caitlyn Stout made two scrambling saves off of Steubenville corner kicks to secure the shutout.
“You have to love playoff soccer,” UHS head coach Graham Peace said. “We couldn’t be more proud of the girls. We’re the only team to beat Steubenville all season, and to do it twice is an achievement. They’re an excellent team. We’re thrilled to be going to a final – the girls have worked hard all season and it’s fantastic to see it pay off.”
The championship game takes place on Saturday at 10:00am at Wheeling Island Stadium against #1 ranked Wheeling Park.
