×

Big Red soccer holds off Park

WINNING AT HARDING — Steubenville soccer players, from left, Codey Criss, Austin Duggan and Evan Naylor walk to the sideline following Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Wheeling Park at Harding Stadium. (Matthew Peaslee)

STEUBENVILLE — The respect is mutual.

Respect must be earned, and the Steubenville and Wheeling Park boys’ soccer teams have come to respect each other as Big Red and the Patriots have staged many battles throughout their history on the pitch.

The teams met once again Tuesday night, and it was another hard-fought battle. This time, Big Red recorded two goals in the first half and held off a late Wheeling Park charge in the second half en route to a 2-1 victory in the latest rendition of the rivalry inside Harding Stadium.

“The players — and as coaches Mario and I — we both have great respect for each other,” Big Red (10-2) head coach Greg Bowers said. “It was a good, clean game, and it is always a hard-fought game with plenty of skill. It always comes down to more than two goals in every game we play.”

The Patriots had some really good opportunities to tie the score late in the match, but Wheeling Park was unable to find the back of the net.

“It was a close game,” Wheeling Park (7-6-1) head coach Mario Julian said. “I thought it was a pretty even game to be honest with you. We had a good amount of shots in the game.”

T.J. Brown and Austen Duggan each netted a goal for the boys from Jefferson County, while Adam DiCarlo delivered a pair of assists.

Jacob Clevenger made nine saves in goal for the hosts.

Caige Christmas collected the lone goal of the game for the boys from Ohio County. The goal was unassisted as Christmas scored on a penalty kick.

James Hofmann made seven saves in goal for the visitors.

Big Red led 2-0 at halftime.

“They were coming off of a tough loss, and they wanted to redeem themselves,” Julian said.

“We have not played in a week and a half. We did not play in the tournament. We came out with a lot of energy, but it was the wrong type of energy. We were hyper. We made some bad passes.

“At halftime, we calmed down and regrouped. We possessed the ball better in the second half. We were able to score, and we created some scoring opportunities, but their keeper came up big. He made two or three really big saves in the second half.”

The game was scoreless for more than 23 minutes before the Red and Black struck first, and the victors scored their second goal with a little less than two minutes to play before halftime.

“In the first half, we came out focused,” Bowers said. “We moved the ball with our one-two touch passes. In the second half, Wheeling Park locked down their defense more. We missed some scoring opportunities.”

Big Red opened the scoring when DiCarlo sent the ball to Brown, who broke in on goal. Brown’s shot ended up hitting the near post before going into the net to give Big Red a 1-0 lead with 16:17 remaining to be played in the first half.

Big Red added to its advantage late in the half.

DiCarlo had the ball in the penalty box, and he sent a pass to the middle of the box to Duggan, who fired a shot into the back of the net to increase the victors’ advantage to 2-0 with 1:52 remaining before halftime.

“We knew what to expect, and they knew what to expect,” Julian said. “No. 6 (Ryan Delelles) is a great player for them. He is very talented. He is strong with the ball.

“They counter really well. That was the difference in the first half. We would make a mistake, and they would counter. They were able to put the ball into the goal, and we were down 2-0.

“Our kids never quit. We ramped it up in the second half. The kids worked hard. They may have come away with the victory, but not without a fight from Wheeling Park.”

The boys in the red jerseys outshot the boys in the white jerseys, 17-11. Wheeling Park took 10 shots on goal, while Big Red recorded nine.

“Our defense has been great all year,” Bowers said. “We had to make a couple of adjustments on defense because we had a couple of defenders who were unable to play tonight. Our goalie had to make some saves tonight, and he was to make the saves.”

The only shot on goal he was unable to save was the penalty kick by Christmas.

The Patriots were awarded the penalty kick when a Big Red player was called for a push in the box. Christmas converted on the kick to cut Wheeling Park’s deficit to 2-1 with 12:19 still showing on the scoreboard clock.

“We thought they would play the ball more down the line,” Bowers said. “No. 19 (Trevor Hamm) is a great player. He was able to hold the ball while waiting for their other attackers. We did a good job of tracking them.

Big Red took 15 goal kicks in the game, while the Patriots took 12. Wheeling Park took four corner kicks in the game, while Big Red took two — both which came in the first half.

“We worried about a letdown after Saturday,” Bowers said. “We lost in the OVAC Championship Game. It was a hard-fought game. It was an emotional game. There wasn’t a letdown tonight. We played a good game. We still have to improve as a team. Tonight was a good test.”

Wheeling Park is slated to play at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Buckhannon-Upshur.

Big Red is scheduled to play at 2 p.m. Saturday against Jefferson County rival Edison at Harding Stadium as part of the fourth-annual Together For A Cure Breast Cancer Awareness Event.

There will be four games played as part of the event. The Catholic Central boys will play Indian Creek at 10 a.m., the Edison girls will play Indian Creek at noon and the Big Red girls will play Catholic Central at 4 p.m.

The Catholic Central football team will play Bellaire at 8 p.m. Saturday.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today