Local Sports

Weir riding down to Beckley

Red Riders win regional title in a shootout to reach the state tournament

NEW MANCHESTER -- In the final minute of the second overtime, Olivia Baker took a hard hit while crashing the net and had to be helped off the pitch after several minutes on the turf.

A few minutes later, in the fifth round of the shootout, it was her scoring the game-clinching goal.

Baker fired a low, hard shot into the twine to seal a 4-3 edge in the game-deciding penalty kick session after 100 minutes of soccer did not decide a winner, breaking a 1-1 tie to give Weir High the Class A/AA Region 1 Championship over East Fairmont and send the Red Riders to the state tournament.

"She's a very tough girl," Weir High head coach Jeremy Angelo said. "Her and our other senior, Oliva Bine, are both very tough, mentally and physically. Liv has been limping through the last two games because she wants to play, she wants to be out there. She's tough, our girls are tough. It says a lot about her to be able to come back from that and score the goal at the end.

"It means a lot to us to be going down to state. The girls are excited, the fans came out. It's a great moment. It's very satisfying, it's very gratifying. I'm so very proud of these girls. The effort they've put in, all the practice, all the hard work, they deserve this -- they've earned this."

The Red Riders (18-2-2) went through a roller coaster of emotions late in the game and the overtimes -- and not just because of Baker's injury, which did not result in a penalty, and her subsequent triumphant return.

Weir was less than three minutes away from winning in regulation, but a controversial call against the Red Riders in the box gave the Bees (16-3-4) a penalty kick and their Leah Paugh took advantage to knot the score with 2:13 remaining in regulation.

The Red Riders, who had held a 1-0 lead since Madelyn Cramer connected from in close in a scramble at the goal mouth all the way back in the 11th minute, were able to regroup and make it to overtime, where they ended up having the better of the chances, especially in the first 10-minute session.

The Red Riders sent a free kick off the goal post and made East Fairmont's Addison Thomas make a point-blank save on the rebound near the midpoint, which ended up being the best look for either side.

"It's very difficult (to go back to attacking after it gets tied)," Angelo said. "Looking at the girls (after the goal) you'd have thought the game was over, but we got through the two minutes, got them over to the sideline and got them fired back up and we went out and, I thought, had the better of the chances in overtime.

"Our girls have a lot of mental toughness; we have strong girls."

At the other end, Rayna Hoover made a big stop in the second overtime and made several key saves in regulation as the Bees pressured hard for the majority of the second half.

"If she's not there (Tuesday night) we were probably back home eating and done an hour ago," Angelo said. "She's been outstanding all year, and she was again.

"Our defense played well, they stood up and played hard. We were able to hold them off a good bit."

When things went to the shootout, the Red Riders first two shooters, Kaelyn Engle and Cramer, connected, while the Bees second shooter hit the crossbar.

Things evened back up in the third round, though, when Thomas made a save to re-energize her team. Both teams' shooters connected in the fourth round, Bianca Pittman finding the back of the net for the Red Riders, before the fifth Bees shooter rang the goalpost in the fifth round, setting up Baker's shot to win it.

"Last year in the OVAC final we lost in a monsoon in PKs and we didn't make one," Angelo recalled. "We missed one (Tuesday), we were four for five and that was the difference. Our girls have that experience (in a shootout in a big game) and three of them wanted to make it (to make up for missing last year) and they did."

The Red Riders advance to the state semifinals, which will be held Nov. 2 at the YMCA Youth Sports Complex in Beckley.