PARKERSBURG — Opportunity after opportunity came for the Parkersburg South girls soccer team during their game against Wheeling Central Catholic Saturday afternoon.
The Maroon Knights, thanks to the presence of sophomore keeper Bella Fitzsimmons, were able to hold off all but one of their opponents, and Patriot senior Addie Altizer scored an unassisted goal at 22:49 of the first half, giving South a 1-0 win at Erickson All Sports Facility.
South finished the opening week of the season with two shutout wins.
“I’m probably a little more pleased with the first game because we converted more chances,” South coach Ron Buchholz said, “but we still missed a lot of chances to score. It was the same today. We’re creating chances. We have good weapons up top. We just need to convert those chances.”
“The difference today is Wheeling Central has a strong goalie. She made some great saves. We had some rebounds and we just didn’t respond as quickly as we should have. It’s good that we’re creating chances. We just need to score.”
Junior keeper Emily Owens was perfect for South, slipping through the net among her teammates on a Wheeling Central corner kick.
“Wheeling Central had two good chances, one in the first half and one in the second half, and both were off the mark,” Buchholz said. “Emily makes good decisions. When she gets to the ball on a corner kick, she knows it’s hers. If you’re close to the six and you can get the ball, you should go for it.”
In the season opener, Wheeling Central made some offensive plays deep in the South Zone, but Patriot defenders kept shots on goal to a minimum.
“We had some good chances offensively but just couldn’t score,” Wheeling Central coach Ashley Winters said. “Our girls did a great job. We’ve been preparing all week for this game. We knew what kind of team Parkersburg South is. We know they’re a tough (OVAC 5A) school. We’re Single-A. People might have thought that might be a disadvantage.”
“They fought hard and didn’t give up.”
Altizer nearly scored South’s second goal late in the second half, when her shot from the left side of the field flew toward the Wheeling Center keeper, and a Maroon Knight defender stepped forward and nearly deflected the ball backwards and into the net before Fitzsimmons could get a hold of it.
“Bella has made dramatic changes from last year to this year, for the better,” Winters said. “She’s become more aggressive at the net. She’s making better decisions. You couldn’t ask for more from her in this match.”
The game was played in sweltering heat and fluid breaks were allowed during the first and second halves, but the pauses in play did not prevent senior midfielder Regan Shockey from suffering a painful spasm in her left calf late in the second half. After the game was stopped for an injury timeout, Regan limped off the field and sat out the final four minutes of the game.
“Playing a tough schedule wears you down,” Buchholz said. “If we were scoring a few more chances, I’d be more willing to make some changes. We’re overtaxing Regan. We’ve got to find a way to get some more guys involved so he doesn’t have to do the bulk of the work.”
Contact Kelly Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com.
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