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BECKLEY -- The Weir High girls soccer team's 18-game unbeaten streak that lasted more than two months came to end in the state semifinals on Thursday afternoon, ending the Red Riders season.
Weir High hung with defending Class AA/A champion and top-seed Charleston Catholic for much of the contest, but ultimately the Irish were able to connect on a few chances and pull away for a 4-0 victory on Carter Field at the YMCA Youth Sports Complex.
The Red Riders, who had not lost since late August, close the season with a sparkling 18-3-2 mark.
"It was a great season," Weir High head coach Jeremy Angelo said. "You can't do a whole lot of complaining about going two-and-a-half month without losing. Of course we'd have liked to have won (Thursday), but we gave them a game. That's a very good team, that's probably the best team we've played all season.
"I'm proud of the girls, they played hard all season. There were times we were behind and came back, they played hard and battled and the effort was always there the entire season."
Facing the Irish, who are now 19-1-2 and are seeking a fifth-straight title, the Red Riders knew they'd have to weather the storm early. Thanks to junior keeper Rayna Hoover, who turned in a great performance from start to finish, they did.
Hoover, who finished with 21 saves in the game, made two stops in the first two minutes and stopped 12 shots in the first half.
"Rayna was terrific," Angelo said. "When we've played really good teams this year she's done very well. She's a good kid and a good keeper. We're lucky to have her."
The Red Riders, who were out-shot by a wide margin, were unable to get a shot towards the Irish's net during their best look of the opening half but played solid defense and got several key saves from Hoover to keep the game deadlocked.
"We only created a couple of chances, we had a shot go wide and a scrum in front of their goal," Angelo said. "I'm proud of the girls, we came to play, we went after them. We didn't have our best game, but I'm going to guess most teams don't play their best game against them.
"If we were able to get one in there, it's a totally different game. That would have put some pressure on them and gave us a ton of confidence."
After Hoover had made 11 saves to keep the game scoreless for more than 30 minutes, Charleston Catholic was able to break through for a 1-0 lead before the half when Aurelia Kirby was able to finish a cross from Ella Green in the 31st minute.
Hoover made another big stop late in the half to keep the score at 1-0, and the Red Riders seemed to possess the ball a little better in the early portion of the second half, but quality chances still eluded Weir as the Irish seemed to always keep defenders surrounding Red Riders leading scorer Olivia Baker.
Charleston Catholic made another push, and, after a few more big stops from Hoover, Green again sent a well-placed cross to a teammate, this time to Molly Messer to make it 2-0 in the 53rd minute.
The Red Riders made a push up the field and attempted to get back in it, but the ensuing counter by the Irish netted two goals about a minute apart to all but wrap up a trip to Saturday's final.
First, the Irish's leading scorer Mia Lough fired a perfectly placed shot off the crossbar and in to make it 3-0 in the 62nd minute, then Messer got a ball past a diving Hoover just 1:13 of game time later.
"The second one hurt ... the third one was the killer, that was when the girls' heads dropped a little," Angelo said. "They tried to stay positive and keep each other up, and then they got that last one right after.
"We kept playing, but you could see that took a little bit of the wind out of our sails.
"There's a reason (Charleston Catholic) is the defending champs, that's what good teams do. They put pressure on us, they moved the ball and they finished their chances."
Hoover continued to battle, making five more saves before the final horn.
The Red Riders depart just two seniors, though they were key pieces of the winning streak and first state tournament run in eight years as Baker, who finished with 35 goals on the season, and Olivia Bine will graduate in the spring.
"I'm very proud of our two seniors, they led this team to what we did this year," Angelo said. "Those two girls, Liv and Liv, were a very big part of this. Liv Baker was a force for us all year. She works hard, she's been our leading scorer for three years. Liv Bine had her best year this year. She established herself as a starter, she contributed five goals and six assists at defensive mid and was a spark plug for us.
"We're going to miss both of them. They were great leaders for us, they were the best captains we could have had. They're great kids on and off the field and come from great families."
That does mean that the Red Riders will return a large group, who now have experienced the state tournament and will be hungry to get back.
"Most of this group is coming back and they'll have a bad taste in their mouth from this," Angelo said. "That will keep the hunger going to come back down here.
"They enjoyed this season, they enjoyed this experience coming down here. They earned it. I think we're going to see in the preseason next year right when we get started that they're going to have the drive and desire to get back here and do it again."
Charleston Catholic will meet Philip Barbour in the state championship for a third consecutive season. The Colts defeated Point Pleasant, 1-0, in the other semifinal on Thursday night. The championship match will be played at noon on Saturday.