PARKERSBURG - Bouncing back from its first loss of the season, the host Parkersburg High boys soccer team bested Capital 3-1 Thursday night at Stadium Field as Tyler Broadwater and Tommy Logston snapped a 1-1 second-half tie with goals on a direct kick and penalty kick, respectively, to improve the Big Reds' record to 6-1.
PHS, ranked third in the state in Class AAA this week, had lost at George Washington Tuesday, but came up with a ''huge'' win over the visiting Cougars (2-3-1). ''It got our kids back on the right track,'' said Big Red head coach Don Fosselman, who then added with a laugh, ''and practices are all so much better when we win.''
He noted too that his team had played last Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday before playing host to University at noon Saturday and will make up a suspended game at Warren at 6 p.m. Monday, starting 10 minutes into the match.
Article Photos
Reid Strobl
Logston, a sophomore midfielder, had a two-goal night versus Capital, first notching a score at 15:54 of the first half with an assist from Tyler Miller on a throw-in. Miller's heave was knocked by a horde in front of the net over to Logston, who got open for a clear shot and put it in for a 1-0 PHS lead at halftime.
But the Cougars knotted the count at 1 just over four minutes into the second half when Zachary Koontz booted the ball in from out front to the left at the 35:58 mark.
Less than three minutes later at 33:00, senior co-captain Broadwater drilled a direct kick into the goal, nailing it home on a straight-in shot to give the Big Reds a 2-1 advantage on the scoreboard.
''Did that have a little emphasis on it?''asked Fosselman rhetorically about Broadwater's goal. ''It almost put a hole in the back of the net.''
After PHS missed a golden opportunity as the Capital goalie went down and the Big Reds had an open goal but missed, Logston hammered a penalty kick into the left side of the net for an insurance goal with only 5:11 to play.
''So we scored on two set pieces, which is pretty nice,'' said Fosselman. ''Set pieces are a lot of times the difference between two good teams playing each other.''
Big Red junior keeper Reid Strobl made 23 saves in goal, using both his height and his length to jump up for balls and stretch out to get balls. ''Reid's a good keeper and has improved so much,'' said Fosselman. ''He has really gotten better.''
