Big Red breaks through Huskies defense for 2-0 win
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CADIZ -- Going into Thursday night's match, Big Red knew Harrison Central was going to commit to defending and try to make it hard for them to find time and space.
The Huskies did defend, quite well actually, but Steubenville was still able to break through for several good chances -- two of which found the back of the net.
At the other end, the few looks the Huskies had the other way did not connect, allowing Big Red to leave Cadiz with a win and end the regular season victorious, 2-0, at Wagner Field.
"It's tough when they've got eight or nine guys behind the ball, but I thought we were patient and moved the ball well," Big Red head coach Greg Bowers said. "I thought we had good ball movement. We got a little unlucky on a couple and their keeper made a couple nice saves, we're going to work on being focused on finishing and be ready for the tournament.
"Credit to Harrison, they had a good game plan."
Big Red, which closes the regular season at 11-3-3, peppered the Harrison Central (7-6-2) goal through the packed in defensive end for 13 shots on target, forcing Huskies keeper Brady McAfee to make 11 saves. They attempted at least a like amount that missed, a few not by much.
Steubenville did break through in the 18th minute when Drew Stimpert headed a Hayden Hicks feed into the goal for the 1-0 lead. A couple McAfee saves and close misses left that the score at halftime.
12 minutes into the second half, Luke Dinovo connected on another header, this time on a feed from Cole Bowers, for a 2-0 lead.
Less than a minute later, the Huskies went the other way with their best chance of the match – Big Red's Robby Lucas diving to make what ended up being the only save he'd need to make in spectacular fashion.
"We knew were going to play defense most of this game and we had to take advantage of our chances when we got them, unfortunately we had two golden opportunities that we didn't get to go in," Huskies coach Derek Gramling said. "On another night, maybe we bury those and we're talking about a 2-2 game. I'm super proud of our boys, I think Steubenville is one of the best teams we're going to see all season, so to compete with them is a confidence booster going into the tournament."
Steubenville will now turn its focus to the tournament, where Big Red, the No. 2 seed in the Division III, East District tournament will host the winner of No. 3 Dover and No. 7 Carrollton on Oct. 22.
The Huskies are the No. 7 seed in the Division IV, East 1 District bracket and open at home against No. 11 East Liverpool on Oct. 17, but take a trip down to St. Clairsville on Monday before that game.