Precise passing and a second-half defensive stand vaulted
Bradford to a 5-2 triumph over St. Marys on Saturday and into the
District 9 Class AA soccer championship game.
Bradford grabbed a 4-0 lead just after the midway point of the
first half and took a 4-2 margin into intermission. The Owls added
an insurance goal after the break and prevented a Dutch rally by
holding the visitors scoreless over the final 40 minutes.
Nate Tingley hustled Bradford onto the board less than eight
minutes in at the 32:42 mark. Racing with a pair of St. Marys
defenders, Tingley brought the ball under his control, slamming it
off the hands of Dutch keeper Brian Ferragine and into the net for
a 1-0 score.
Only two minutes later at the 30:36 point, Irwin faked out
Ferragine for a goal. Ferragine read Irwin as though he were aiming
at the left side of the net, so Irwin adjusted slightly and went
right, sailing the ball over the St. Marys netminder’s outstretched
hands.
In just another two minutes, Bradford demonstrated still more
pinpoint passing. Alex Ita deep in the right corner placed a pass
in perfect position for Nick Palmer to redirect the ball for the
score on a picturesque header.
Then 10 scoreless minutes ticked off before Tingley scored again
at the 17:42 mark, sneaking it past Ferragine on a corner kick to
make it 4-0.
“We started the game out passing extremely well,” admitted Wes
Lohrman, BHS coach. “We knew at the beginning of the season that we
had a quicker team than most of the teams that we played. We took
advantage of that today.
“The guys found the runners and we were able to play the ball
into a space where we could get to it and the other team couldn’t.
We scored three goals in that manner. That’s how we like to play
and we played that way today.
“The last two times we played St. Marys we made early mistakes
in the game that usually put us down by one or two goals,” Lohrman
continued. “That didn’t happen today (Saturday), we started out
right off the bat putting the ball in the net and we jumped out to
that 4-0 lead.”
St. Marys finally tallied a goal at the 11:22 juncture. Taking
advantage of a corner kick situation, the active Dutch freshman
Ryan Quinn went high to beat BHS keeper Micah Ridley.
The Dutch then shaved their deficit to two goals with 42 seconds
left in the half. Ridley came up with a nice diving stop, but
Brendan Wilson stuck with the play and pounded the rebound into the
net before Ridley could recover.
“I think when we got to that point (the 4-0 lead), our defense
kind of fell asleep and they got two quick goals,” Lohrman
explained. “At halftime I talked to the guys about getting
themselves to play for 40 minutes straight and finish out the game.
They didn’t let a goal in the second half, so I think they heeded
what we were saying.”
At the 29:47 mark of the second half, Steve Butler added the
aforementioned insurance goal. He found himself alone deep in St.
Marys territory amid four Dutch defenders, but smashed the ball
into the back of the net anyway to fix the score at 5-2.
Ridley made several daring plays on the ball all morning, and
made perhaps his best when he came far out of goal to challenge an
attacking Quinn with about eight minutes left. He thwarted the
Dutch offensive by firmly meeting Quinn, taking possession and
clearing the ball.
The Bradford defense stayed firm for the remainder and the Owls
claimed the 5-2 victory.
With the win, the Owls will take on Clearfield for the triple-A
title at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Clarion University.
“They (Clearfield) had our number this season. They beat us the
first two games, but both our records are 0-0 now,” Lohrman said.
“I think we have a bit of an advantage in that fact that we’ve had
a game. They had a bye in the first round and have not had a game.
I think that’s going to help us.
“We set a goal for ourselves at the beginning of the season to
get to the D-9 championship game and we’ve made good on that
promise. It’s going to be a tough, physical game and we’ll really
need to be on top of what we do and how we play to be
successful.”
