Big Red strikes early, but St. C storms back
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Steubenville Big Red had yet to score in four games when head coach Annie Cutri's team rolled up to Red Devil Stadium in St. Clairsville.
It took all of six minutes for the Red to score not once, but twice, effectively delivering the ole "punch in the mouth" to a shocked St. C. team.
St. C. coach Wes Stoner had preached the need for aggressive play the previous two games and realized he was going to have to revisit that topic yet again as his team trailed 2-1 at the break.
The message finally hit home, as a different Red Devils team stepped onto the field and more or less squared up with the visitors.
From down 2-1, St. Clairsville outscored Big Red 3-0 in the final 40 minutes for the hard-fought 4-2 decision, improving its record to 3-2 heading into tonight's road meeting with Edison.
"After the half, I felt like we were more aggressive," Stoner said. "We were down 2-1 and I told them If you want to win this game, you are going to have to go win balls, step in front and win it out of the air and win those 50-50 balls and we started to do it.
"We played really, really well in the second half and hopefully that continues going forward. Maybe this is the wakeup call, that this is what we have to do to be successful because it works."
The team's were scoreless when Bailee Beall lofted a shot over the outstretched hands of St. C. sophomore keeper Kailin Hughes. Amelia Collopy, playing in her first game this season, followed suit less than a minute later in similar fashion, aiming high from far out.
For a team that had yet to score, it was a welcome sign for Cutri.
"That was big for us," Cutri said. "Just having this team, it's a whole brand new team and Amelia returned so we're still learning how to play with each other.
"We need to find our groove and learn how to work with each other and figure out who works best where"
Like Big Red, the Red Devils' lineup features a number of freshmen and sophomores. One of those, Kaylee Schaffer, was the first to score in the first half when she took a shot from wide right that slipped past a defender and keeper Mady Thacker.
That's how it stayed until after the break, when senior captain Delaney Florence aggressively weaved her way through Big Red defenders and angled a shot left past Thacker to knot the score.
Another freshman gave St. C. the lead. After a crisp pass from Bella Yeager, Ashlynn Lednik
worked her way through the defense and fired toward the right side of the net where Thacker couldn't reach.
The final tally came from freshman Emma Gasber.
The defense, which had allowed two quick goals early, went on lockdown in the second half.
Big Red only managed a few legit shots on goal, including a couple of corners. But when they did, Hughes made the saves, finishing with 10 in her first varsity start in place of the injured Kiya Kyer.
"Our defense was awesome," Stoner said. "We limited them to a couple of good chances on corners, but aside from that, it was basically no good changes.
"Bailee was having to shoot from 30-40 yards out and 'K' was there to scoop it up, nice and easy."
Stone was also complimentary of Big Red's keeper. Thacker is also in her first season as a starter and like Hughes, managed 10 saves Wednesday including a couple diving stops.