Trending
STEUBENVILLE – The Catholic Central boys’ soccer team was able to create plenty of chances against Jefferson County rival Indian Creek in the first half, but the Crusaders were unable to find the back of the net.
That changed in the second half.
The Blue-and-Gold netted an early goal in the second half, and the boys in blue ended up pulling away for a 4-0 victory Wednesday night down at the Tony Recinella Soccer Field.
“I thought we controlled a lot of the possession in the first half,” Catholic Central (5-5-4) head coach Steve Kopcha said. “We just were not able to score. At halftime, I just told my guys to be patient and to continue to move the ball around. We wanted to create some opportunities, and we looked to finish them. In the second half, we did a better job of that, for sure.”
Catholic Central was able to break through the Indian Creek defense early in the second half, and the hosts kept rolling from that point.
“We did not apply enough pressure to the offense they were supplying,” first-year Indian Creek (0-12-1) head coach Michael Pawelczyk said. “They were able to connect quite a few passes, and they were able to spread us out.”
Four players – Ben Walsh, Joey Rook, Aiden Hough and Owen Pier – produced goals for the victors, while Xavier Lee tallied an assist.
Joseph Vranish made two saves in goal for the Crusaders.
“We played Weirton a couple of days ago, and we played very well,” Pawelczyk said. “We did not play up to our potential today like we did in that game. We are a very-young team. We are making progress. We are trying to build a culture. Our younger players are going to continue to grow. We have some strong underclassmen. We are looking forward to the future.”
Cru Roe made nine saves in goal for the Redskins.
“I knew they were a younger team,” Kopcha said. “They are gaining experience. They have gotten better. As the year has gone on, you can see they have developed. I expected it to be a good close game. We are local rivals. I knew it was going to be a tough game.”
The Redskins were not able to field a team two years ago, and Indian Creek was only able to play a handful of games last season.
“We did not have a team two years ago,” Pawelczyk said. “They only played like or four five games last season. It was a JV schedule. We are starting over. Despite our record, we have grown tremendously this season. The five seniors we do have this season are all great leaders. We are excited about the next five years. We have got some really-good underclassmen coming up.”
The game against Inian Creek was the latest rivalry game this season for Catholic Central.
“You have Big Red, Indian Creek, us, Edison and Harrison Central,” Kopcha said. “It is nice all of the valley schools are able to play and compete against each other.”
Catholic Central is scheduled to play John Marshall at 5 p.m. today at home.
Indian Creek is slated to play Brooke at 6 p.m. Tuesday night on Paul “Bud” Billiard Field inside Brooke Memorial Stadium.