Lady Warriors hand Philip Barbour their first loss in five starts

Dunmore, W.Va. –

The two Class AA Philip Barbour soccer teams were both undefeated when they traveled to PCHS on Monday, August 27, to open our home soccer seasons. The PB Lady Colts arrived with four impressive opening wins of 8-1 at Class AA Petersburg, 7-1 vs Class AA Nicholas County, 4-0 at Class A South Harrison and 3-0 at Class A Morgantown Trinity Christian, the school that nipped our girls basketball team at states last season. The PB boys owned three shutout wins and one tie: 5-0 at Petersburg, 8-0 vs Nicholas County, 3-0 vs Class A Notre Dame and a 1-1 tie at South Harrison in their third match.

Going into Monday’s game with PB the PCHS girls had only played about twelve minutes in their only game of the season at Greenbrier East. The Lady Spartans led 1-0 on a goal by senior Ashton Holliday when lightning forced the cancellation of the East match. The Warriors also had only the one game at East under their belt with a hard fought 0-1 loss. The only score in that game came from East junior Stefan Marr-Madariaga in the second half.

The Lady Warriors played at PB last season, and the two teams played to a 2-2 tie, while the Warriors lost 0-1 in their match that followed. All four teams ended their seasons ranked in the top-20 teams with the two PCHS squads ranked higher.

The ladies took the field first on a sunny, hot Monday, and it was a rough game from start to finish. Coaches Kathy and Steve White reported that they were pleased with the girls effort versus a bigger and rougher squad. Although PCHS was the smaller team, their speed made the difference in the match. PCHS would score first when a shot by all-state senior forward Sam Walton bounced off the PB goalie. Walton retrieved the ball and was covered, so she passed to junior forward Makeia Jonese. Jonese hit a beautiful shot off the Walton assist for the 1-0 PCHS lead.

PB goalie Kelsie Smallwood would leave the game early due to an injury while protecting her goal. PB’s Adalai Farris wasted no time (18:25 to go in first) in knotting the match at 1-1 on a quick, short shot that caught the PCHS defense off-guard. The tie would hold until half-time.

Walton, the PCHS high scorer last season, would get her first goal of 2012 with 30:55 to go in the second to take the PCHS lead 2-1. PB was more aggressive in the second half, but the PCHS defense would hold for the 2-1 victory that knocked PB from the unbeaten ranks. A PB player had to be taken off the field by the Cass ambulance squad with 14:21 to go in the match. PCHS senior center midfielder Olivia Workman, who was connecting with Walton all game, had to also be carried off the field with a deep knee bruise with 11:52 to go.

By game’s end junior goalie Lorena Rose would have recorded 13 keeper saves to 9 for PB including a stop of a PB penalty kick after a PCHS hand ball. PB had twice as many shots on goal, 15 to 7. PB also led the corner kicks 6-1, direct kicks 14-2 and indirect kicks 2-1. Three different Lady Warriors were called for a combined nine off-sides calls in the match. The Lady Warriors record is now 1-0, and PB’s record dropped to 4-1 with their first loss.

The PCHS boys took the field later than scheduled due to several injuries in the girls match that stopped their game. Very early in the match senior all-stater defender Ethan Pugh got smacked with a yellow card for a foul in the PB box. PB senior Quentin Mouser scored the first goal of the match on the resulting penalty kick at the 35:14 mark for the 1-0 lead. Pugh was quickly subbed back into the game, but a second yellow card for defending with “cleats up” sent Pugh to the bench with a red card. PCHS had to play the rest of the match with only ten players, and Pugh will sit out the next two matches. PCHS will not have to play down one player in those matches, but Pugh’s abilities will be missed.

Nobody would score again in the first half until PB junior Micah Shahan scored on a direct kick with 3:49 to go in the half. The 2-0 PB lead held until the half.

Playing down one player took it’s toll on the PCHS squad, and PB started a scoring run of four goals in the second half. PB would score on a direct kick by junior Saige Cline (37:29), and then two straight assisted goals by senior Matt Crickard assisted by junior Seth Mayle (29:20) and by an unidentified player assisted by junior Scott Nesland (22:20) for the 5-0 PB lead. Nesland would score a goal with 10:56 to go for the 6-0 lead. PCHS senior Tyler Davis would finally get PCHS on the scoreboard at the 2:01 mark off a direct kick that cut the PB final lead to 6-1.

PCHS playing down one player for most of the game seemed to doom PCHS, since the stats were still pretty even. PB led in shots-on-goal 19-16, and PCHS led on keeper saves 18-17 (PCHS goalie junior Alex Kennison), direct kicks 11-4 and indirect kicks 3-0. Each team got one corner kick. PCHS drops to 0-2 while PB remains undefeated with a 4-0-1 record.

Coach Steve White thought his defense and midfield played well considering that two starters were lost after the season started. White expects to need to play some freshmen in key positions. Freshman Chad Friel is currently on the injured list, and he and Conlin Halterman are two such freshmen. Sophomore Cary Robertson, who switched from football to soccer this season, impressed this sportswriter with his speed and skills. Senior Mikey Dewesse is back playing soccer after playing his freshman year, and will bring some experience to the bench that is short on experience.

The PCHS girls will play a make-up match vs Greenbrier East at PCHS on September 20 at 5 PM, and an away match at James Monroe has been rescheduled for October 11 at 6 PM. The PCHS boys have scheduled a second match with Greenbrier East at PCHS on September 17 at 7 PM.

The always good Sissonville girls (4-1) are next up for the Lady Warriors, and the two rivals will meet as usual at the Beckley YMCA fields on Thursday, September 6 at 5 PM. The also always good Class AA Sissonville boys (3-0) are coming to PCHS on Saturday, September 8 for a 10 AM match. Sissonville is staying at Seneca State Forest and touring NRAO, so the match was moved to PCHS, rather than the usual neutral meeting in Beckley.