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STEUBENVILLE -- The Weir boys' soccer team finished, while Catholic Central struggled in that department.
Antonio Pittman tallied a hat trick leading the Red Riders to a 6-1 victory against Catholic Central Tuesday evening at the Tony Recinella Soccer Field.
"It was a good showing offensively," first-year Weir (1-0-1) head coach Chris LeFever said. "We are not as used to playing on grass as much, but we adapted quickly. I thought our forwards and midfielders linked up well. Our key guys there are Pittman, (Mike) Iafrate, Albert Scheibel – our foreign exchange student – and Dom Guiddy.
"John (Wansack) made some really-good saves in the first half. It was a battle of the keepers. Their keep played extremely well too."
The visitors from Hancock County collected three goals in each half, and the netted the first four goals of the match.
"It starts with their coach," Catholic Central (1-4) head coach Steve Kopcha said. "They are well coached. Chris has been around the game for a long time. He does a great job.
"They have a lot of talented players. They have a lot of speed on the outside and that gave us trouble. They were able to create opportunities, and they were able to find the back of the net on those opportunities they created."
Patrick Slattery, Dawson Evans and Iafrate all tallied a goal for the victors, while Ben Howard delivered an assist.
Wansack made 10 saves in goal before being replaced during the second half by Howard, who made three saves.
"Ben Howard is a sophomore," LeFever said. He starts at outside back. He has been a godsend. You love having young athletes like that.
"Our kids have played a lot of travel soccer and that helps. It keeps them active. It keeps them busy.
"I know Steve is in a rebuilding year. We are in a rebuilding year, but we have a lot more numbers. We have 28, and they are down to 16. Their struggling a little bit. The first half was very good. Once Steve started to sub, I put our JV in too.
"The sportsmanship was excellent -- both ways."
Andrew Rohde delivered the lone goal for the Blue-and-Gold. Tom Baillargeon tallied the assist.
Michael Duff finished the match with nine saves in goal.
One of Pittman's goals came on a penalty kick after Catholic Central was called for a handball inside the penalty box.
Slattery's goal came off a rebound giving the Red-and-Black a 3-0 lead in the first half.
"This is their first couple of games," Kopcha said. "They played the normal style they have been doing the last number of years. They just have different people. They are a talented team."
Rohde's goal pulled the Crusaders to within 4-1 in the second half, but the Red Riders tacked on two more goals to seal the deal.
"We have eight starters gone from last year," LeFever said. "We lost eight seniors, so we have to rebuild. We tied University, 2-2, yesterday.
"We played great competition at the Soccerama. We played Washington High. We lost 3-1. They were either state champions or state runner-up. We tied Buckhannon-Upshur. We lost to Robert C. Byrd. They are a physical team.
"We have faced a lot of physical competition. We are used to it. We scrimmaged Big Red, and we tied them 2-2. That game was very physical.
"That is one of the biggest things. We have played against physical competition, and that will help prepare us for the rest of the season."
The Crusaders had opportunities to score more goals, but the hosts were unable to find the back of the net except for Rohde's shot.
"That is one thing we struggle with," Kopcha said. "We are able to put different parts of the game together – different pieces together. We are able to create opportunities, but we don't have that big scorer. That is something we are trying to develop."
Catholic Central is scheduled to play rival Indian Creek at 6 p.m. Thursday at home.
Weir is slated to play Philip Barbour at 11 a.m. Saturday at home at Jimmy Carey Stadium.