PHS girls booters win 13th game
By
Sports Writer
PARKERSBURG— The Parkersburg High School girls soccer team executed it’s 13th
win of the season against rival Parkersburg South at Stadium Field with a 4-0
win on Thursday night.
The Big Reds (13-1) spent most of the game playing keep away with South (
“It makes it tough to generate offense when you’re having to play so much
defense against their attacking team,” PSHS coach Mark Ashton said.
The majority of Parkersburg South’s shots on goal were from direct kicks. Only
one Patriot booter threatened the goal in the first half, while PHS remained
one step faster than it’s rival counterpart.
The Big Reds took control in the middle of the first half when Chelsey Maiden
found the goal for the game’s first score.
PHS was attacking the goal when Maiden’s first shot came back to her after a
South defender got a foot in front of it for the stop. The second time Maiden
placed the ball in the top left corner to give the Big Reds a 1-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later, Maiden drove down to the corner of the box and
sent a crossing past to find Alex Bush darting in towards the back post for
goal No. 2.
“You don’t really realize all the things (Maiden) does until you take her out
of the game,” PHS coach Mike Lockney said about the senior forward. “With her
tremendous athleticism and her desire to move the ball forward she just creates
all types of opportunities.
“She wins balls, she’s there when our players get stuck or they need an
outlet.”
In the second half, South started challenging more
balls and getting between carefully placed Big Red passes, but the defense held
strong. The game leveled out as the Big Reds comfortably held on to a two-goal
lead.
That is until PHS found the net for the third time on a corner kick. After the
kick was tapped to Brooke Logston near the end line, Logston played the ball
out and sent a crossing pass to the back-side where Amelia Hammell finished the
pass with a header past the Patriot keeper.
The Big Reds found the net one more time with 13 minutes on the clock when
Patriot keeper Sammi Hicks blocked a shot and was tangled up with a PSHS
defender and Big Red Tori Boggs. Boggs was able to poke the ball past Hicks for
the goal to set the final score at 4-0.
The game was dominated by the Big Reds’ ability to move the ball efficiently
and quickly send the Patriots’ long passes the other way. Senior Patriot
forward Kelsey Watkins, who scored a hat trick in three of her previous four
games, was neutralized by a ball control-centered PHS team.
The Big Reds head to