Late goal lifts Big Red over Central
Beall connects on PK in closing minutes of city rivalry for 2-1 win
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STEUBENVILLE -- High school soccer is played in 40-minute halves, and Big Red needed nearly every minute of both of them Thursday night.
After falling behind in the early going, Big Red connected just outside the final minute of the first half, then scored the game-winner with a little more than three minutes to play in the second half to complete a 2-1, comeback win over Catholic Central in the annual city rivalry game at Harding Stadium.
"It's an exciting way to win," Big Red head coach Annie Curti said. "In the past we've played one good half and not finished, or started well and tapered off … (Thursday) we played hard the full 80 minutes until the final whistle blew.
"This win means a lot to us. We had a tough start to our season playing strong teams, we're dealing with some injuries … this shows the girls are enduring, they're pushing through and this is definitely a shot of confidence for the girls.
"It was really exciting to seal the deal with that PK."
After a Big Red player was fouled in the box with 3:15 showing on the second half clock with the game knotted at 1-1, Bailee Beall was called upon to take the PK and rifled a shot into the twine for what proved to be the difference.
The victory boosts Big Red's record to 4-6 on the season, with all four of those victories coming in the last six games as the young group starts to put things together. It's also Big Red's sixth-straight win in the city rivalry.
"It's midseason, but we still have a lot of young players that are stepping up into varsity," Curti said. "We're still working on some things, but this is a big win."
Catholic Central, which lost for the just the third time in 10 games this season, got on the board first with an Isabell Lee goal and looked poised to lead at the break, only to see the hosts tie the game and steal the momentum.
After both teams just missed on chances in a back-and-forth second half, the late PK goal against was a tough way to fall.
"It was a good game," Central head coach Jonathan Hoover said. "We both had our shots, we both had opportunities. We had two good chances, one wide right and one wide left, there's nothing you can do about that, then we give up a penalty kick late in the game and there just wasn't enough time to come back from that."
The tying goal came after there was a corner kick and a scramble around the net, and eventually Gianna Thomas was able to knock the ball into the goal to knot the score.
"One of our girls got hit in the throat and we kind of shut down for a second, we didn't play to the whistle and Big Red capitalized on that," Hoover said. "It's unfortunate, that kind of swung the momentum the other direction."
Big Red's Mady Thacker made a big save early in the second half, then Big Red went the other way and just missed on a good look. Central's Jackie O'Karma and Thomas then traded good chances, before Beall's PK finally gave the hosts the upper hand.
"We've had it happen in the past where we get scored on by a good team and we completely break … now whether we get scored on, or we're up 3-0, the girls keep playing like it's 0-0," Curti said. "They're seeing the benefits of never giving up.
"We either win or we learn, we learn from our mistakes and move on and keep working to get better."
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Catholic Central: Does not play again before the OVAC tournament next week. The Crusaders entered the week second in the Class 1A-3A standings and went 2-1 on the week.
Big Red: Also does not have any games scheduled until after the OVAC tournament.
They entered the week sixth among eligible teams in Class 5A and went 1-1 since the standings were last updated.