It may have been Senior Day for the Bradford girls soccer team, but it was junior Regan Johnson who stole the show on Tuesday evening.
Johnson did all the scoring for the Lady Owls (7-9), sending Bradford to a 5-3 victory over the Erie Lady Royals at Parkway Field.
The game featured opportunities aplenty for both teams, but it was Johnson who put her finishing abilities on full display. The forward scored her first three goals in a seven-minute span in the first half and had already registered a hat trick less than 15 minutes into the contest.
“When she works, it’s beautiful,” Bradford coach Warren Shaw said. “She really worked for her teammates tonight and you could tell. She wanted to score, she wanted to win the game, and when she does that she is a top-notch scorer.”
All but one of Johnson’s goals came on clear-cut breakaways with the Erie goalkeeper, and Shaw praised her striker’s patience in finishing on those pressure chances.
“Regan fought through a lot of stuff tonight and worked her butt off for the ball,” he said. “She was patient on her opportunities and the longer distance shots she knows that I’m not a fan of, but the ones where she took her time and actually baited the keeper, they were gorgeous.”
Johnson has a team-high 25 goals through 16 games this season.
Shaw also credited his midfielders and supporting cast for consistently finding Johnson streaking through the middle of the field. Bradford’s first-year head coach said that he made a few formational adjustments prior to the game, and it clearly paid dividends.
“Chloe (Shaw) fed her some nice balls and it just worked today,” he said. “We played much better in the middle of the field. We changed up schematically just a little bit tonight and it worked out to our advantage. Instead of playing with the three halves, we played with two sixes and played with Chloe up top and it seemed to be a good mix. Kyle (Lekas) and Liz (Miller) played real well at the holding positions.”
As sharp as Johnson and Bradford’s offense played on Tuesday in the attacking end, they also gave up plenty of chances on the other side of the ball.
The Lady Owls jumped out to that 3-0 lead, but the Royals (9-9) were set on keeping this one interesting. Erie netted the next two goals before Johnson scored again to give Bradford a 4-2 lead just before the intermission.
Johnson scored her final tally just four minutes into the second half to make it 5-2 and put the Owls back up comfortably.
“It was a fun game, Shaw said. “That’s a good team that just got done beating Meadville and who played McDowell to a 2-0 game. “They are a big, physical bunch but I thought our back line really held up well.”
Bradford defeated Erie 2-1 in a matchup earlier this season that was filled with physicality and some fiery exchanges between spectators and Bradford players. With the way the Lady Owls started Tuesday’s rematch, it was clear that it meant a little bit more to Shaw and his girls to sweep the season series against the Royals.
“Heck yeah it feels good,” said Shaw, who received a yellow card in the second half. “I mean we beat them up there, but it was a physical game and the last 20 minutes the crowd was really on us. This time it was really nice to be at home where I think most of them were with us.”
Mackenzie Lucas made 12 saves in net for the Lady Owls.
The Lady Owls honored their five seniors (Victoria Coppella, Kyle Lekas, Amaya Gonzalez, Mikayla Bond and Lexi Bennardi) during a halftime ceremony on Tuesday. All of the girls were in Bradford’s starting lineup and were given valuable minutes throughout the game.
“It’s a good group of kids,” Shaw said. “They are all positive kids and I have been with a couple of them longer via travel seasons. Good, positive kids and they all came out here and fought tonight. They all got to play and they all fought hard.”
Bradford wraps up its regular season on Thursday at DuBois before district playoffs begin next week.
