PARKERSBURG - Host Parkersburg High scored almost midway through the first half, then added a key second goal 1:47 before the half ended en route to a 3-0 girls soccer victory over Marietta Wednesday evening at Stadium Field.
PHS, now 3-1 on the young season, comes right back today to face another visiting foe in George Washington at 5:30 p.m., with the JV match to follow. Marietta, now 1-1, is back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. at Johnstown-Monroe.
Halie Hill got the initial Big Red goal at the 22:45 mark of the first half. Hill got to a lead pass down the middle by Allie Roberts, reaching the rolling ball just ahead of the Tiger keeper to steer it into the net with an assist from Abby Johnson.
Article Photos
Photo by Jeff Baughan
Parkersburg's Allie Roberts, left, battles Marietta's Alyssa Hill for the ball Wednesday during their match at Stadium Field. Parkersburg scored a 3-0 victory.
Over the next 15 minutes, both goalies - PHS' Taylor Beckley and Marietta's Nora Gullick - made some nice saves - tipping away, blocking and snagging potentially goal-bound shots.
The Big Reds tallied an important second goal late in the first half to take a 2-0 advantage into intermission.
Johnson, coming in from the right side, knocked a shot into the net at 1:47. ''That second goal was definitely a big one,'' said PHS head coach Kristen Schreiber, ''giving us a two-goal lead going into the half.''
Fact Box
At Stadium Field, Parkersburg
Parkersburg High girls 3, Marietta 0
Marietta (1-1) 0 0 - 0
PHS (3-1) 2 1 - 3
Goals:
PHS: Halie Hill, assist Abby Johnson, 22:45, 1st half
PHS: Johnson, unassisted, 1:47, 1st
PHS: Taylor Hunkele, assist Connie Chefren, 10:51, 2nd half
Shots on goal: PHS 14, Mar. 12
Keeper saves: PHS (Taylor Beckley) 12, Mar. 10 (Nora Gullick 7, Maureen Robinson 3)
Corner kicks: PHS 4, Mar. 1
Next matches: George Washington at PHS 5:30 p.m. today (JV at 7:30 p.m.); Marietta at Johnstown-Monroe 3 p;m. Saturday
In the second half, Beckley went to the ground to make a stop and and picked off a hard liner from the wing before Big Red teammate Taylor Hunkele banged home a goal off an assist from Connie Chefren at 10:51.
Schreiber thought her team ''started off the first half slow, but we did a good job of picking it up and starting to fix the little things that we weren't doing right.''
She praised Marietta as ''playing a very good game. They've got some good kids on that team this year,'' one of which is senior Molly Joseffson from Sweden. ''She's very good,'' said Schreiber. ''She gave us some trouble today. She had some opportunities that I think she'll probably put away down the road.
''We knew about her before the game. So you tell your defenders to be aware, try to figure out her speed and make sure that we've got cover behind the person who's covering her, so if we get beat, then you have cover. We were a little slow doing that tonight, but she's a good player to try and control.''
Schreiber, in her second season at the PHS girls soccer helm, noted that ''we graduated a lot of kids from last year, so have a lot of freshmen this year who are playing considerable minutes. Being young, we're still learning and trying to do more of the little things consistently. But we're doing good so far, so hopefully we can continue that.''
