St. Stephens, Foard settle for scoreless tie | High School Sports News | hickoryrecord.com – Hickory Daily Record
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St. Stephens’ Linsy Rios, 3, looks to make a pass as Fred T. Foard’s Natigan Crutchfield, 8, defends during Friday’s match in Newton. The Indians and Tigers played to a scoreless tie.
NEWTON — The Western Foothills 3A Conference is home to some of the top girls soccer teams in the state. In fact, five of the conference’s squads are among the top 20 in the latest 3A West rankings compiled by MaxPreps.com.
Thirteenth-ranked Fred T. Foard hosted No. 18 St. Stephens on Friday night, and after 100 minutes of play, both teams remained scoreless. The result was the Tigers’ third scoreless tie in as many weeks, while the Indians settled for a tie for the first time this spring.
St. Stephens moved to 5-2-1 overall and 2-1-1 in Western Foothills 3A matches, and the Indians are currently in third place behind Hickory (5-0 in conference play) and East Lincoln (4-0). On the other side, fifth-place Foard is now 5-2-3 overall and 1-2-2 in league action.
“There was a lot of fight in that match,” St. Stephens coach Tina Voudouris said. “There was a lot of it seemed like violence at some points, it was almost bloody at most of them. But both teams really fought to the very end of that 100 minutes.”
“We played hard tonight and I’m proud of the girls, I couldn’t ask for anything more out of them,” added Foard coach Stan Elliott. “Of course we don’t like ties around here, we want to win every game. But with our effort tonight, we were banged up going into this game and we’re a little bit more banged up after this game, but the desire and the want was there and as a coach and a coaching staff that’s all we can ask for.”
St. Stephens created a lot of pressure on the offensive end in the early going, beginning with a right-side shot from Juliana Goolsby in the second minute that was caught by Tigers goalkeeper Alexis Wolgemuth in front of the right upright. The Indians also advanced into Foard’s box in the eighth minute, but the Tigers’ Brianna McClough kicked the ball out of bounds, resulting in St. Stephens’ first corner kick of the night.
Juliette Hessong looked to score for the Indians in the 11th minute, but Brianna See stepped up for the Tigers on defense as she prevented the junior captain from getting off a shot and ultimately drew a foul that sent Foard the other way. Shortly thereafter, the Tigers earned their first corner kick, although it did not prove fruitful.
Hessong got her best look with 25 minutes remaining in the opening half, working the ball to her left foot in the left side of the box and sending a shot toward the right side of the net. However, the ball careened off the crossbar and over the net.
Foard earned another corner kick in the 17th minute, although it was unable to get a shot off. St. Stephens ended up gaining possession and streaking the other way, but Wolgemuth was again there for the save after an initial shot try was kicked away by McClough.
Wolgemuth had to work a little harder for a save moments later, as St. Stephens’ Kylie Yang took a shot from the right side that the senior keeper dove to snare. Foard went right back the other way, with Julia Chesson dribbling up the right side of the field and attempting to find Rylee Settlemyre in the center of the box. Nevertheless, a St. Stephens defender was there to clear the ball out of bounds before she could get a touch.
Both teams turned away multiple opportunities by the opposition throughout the remainder of the half, with Foard dominating possession during the latter portion. Still, the score remained deadlocked at halftime after St. Stephens got into the Foard box but was turned away with around 10 seconds left, allowing time to expire.
The physicality of the contest continued in the second half as both teams desperately tried to score. One of the best looks for Foard came on a cross from Ofelia Tamas in the 50th minute that was intended for Samaria Tipps but was snuffed out by St. Stephens keeper Ashley Laney, while the Indians’ Goolsby took a straightaway shot in the 56th that was stopped by Wolgemuth.
Other chances followed, including when Foard’s Lily Spangler found herself with possession of the ball on the left side of the field numerous times. With less than six minutes left, Spangler deflected a cross off a St. Stephens defender for a corner kick that was taken by Anna Schmidt, but the senior was unable to connect with a teammate.
Later, after Wolgemuth came out of the box to clear an incoming ball, Foard went back the other way and possession eventually came to Tipps in the final minute. The junior collided with a St. Stephens defender in the box, with a foul being called on Tipps rather than a penalty kick being awarded to her. With time low, neither team got off another shot before regulation ended.
St. Stephens dominated possession for most of both 10-minute overtime periods, but was never able to find the back of the net. Hessong, Goolsby, Linsy Rios, and Elliot Bailey all took shots for the Indians, with each try either being off line or stopped by Wolgemuth.
The last major chance of the match was a shot by Foard’s See with less than 1:30 remaining, but her straightaway attempt was caught by Laney in St. Stephens’ goal. From there, the squads settled for a scoreless tie and the players shook hands at midfield following a hard-fought battle.
“They’re definitely communicating better and they have a lot more drive,” said Voudouris of her team. “They have really developed a sense of relationship between each other and we’re really starting to see it on the field.”
“One of our focuses was denying shots and playing a little bit tighter defensively,” added Elliott. “We had a good film session and we just looked at film and broke down that Hickory game (a 5-0 road loss on Tuesday). We’ve just got to close down time and space defensively, and the girls did a great job of executing that tonight.”
St. Stephens hosts West Iredell on Monday at Henry Fork Soccer Complex, while Foard entertains North Iredell on Tuesday.
Josh McKinney is the sports editor for the Hickory Daily Record.
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St. Stephens’ Linsy Rios, 3, looks to make a pass as Fred T. Foard’s Natigan Crutchfield, 8, defends during Friday’s match in Newton. The Indians and Tigers played to a scoreless tie.
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