Photo by Kerry Patrick Marietta junior Lilly Westbrook (5) attempts to dribble past Parkersburg South sophomore Livy Henderson (15) during their high school girls soccer match Saturday afternoon at the Erickson All-Sports Facility. Marietta suffered its first defeat in three matches this season after losing to the Patriots 1-0.
PARKERSBURG — Persistence paid off for Adrienne Altizer.
The sophomore scored the only goal of the match as the Parkersburg South girls soccer team defeated Marietta 1-0 Saturday afternoon at the Erickson All-Sports Facility.
The eventual game-winner occurred at the 31:37 mark of the second half on a shot taken 15 yards out of the net. The Patriots captured their fourth win in as many matches to start the 2022 season.
“My teammates passed me the ball and the grass was tall, so I tried to touch but it wouldn’t move,” Altizer said. “I tried touching it again, and figured this isn’t going to work, and at that point both of the defenders had closed me down. I had to look for another option.
“I turned around to find somebody else and they were running up to help me, but I turned around and they were gone, so I shot it.”
Despite having multiple possessions in the final third of the field over the final five minutes of the second half, Marietta managed just one shot on goal against Patriot keeper Mackenzie Mott and came away empty on each occasion.
The Tigers suffered their first defeat in three matches this season.
“Parkersburg South is a very good team — they are the standard in the area that everyone is trying to get to,” Marietta co-coach Bill Mannix said. “We need to make a few small adjustments. I don’t think we are very far from where we need to be.
“We use this early game of the season so we can see what we need to work on going forward.”
South coach Ron Bucholtz knew his offense would have his hands full trying to send the ball past Marietta keeper Leigha Lauer, who he considers one of the best at her craft in the area. Lauer was up to the task and stuffed a pair of shots on goal in a scoreless first half and recorded another three saves in the final 40 minutes.
“Marietta is obviously a quality team,” Bucholtz said. “They brought more pressure than we have seen all season. We handled it better in the second half, certainly. Still, I thought we had good moments of possession passing the ball.
“We created some chances in the first half — I was really happy with our free kicks. They were struck well and more or less on the frame. (Lauer) is a quality keeper so he is going to take a really special free kick. We knew it was going to take a quality shot to beat them and we found that in the second half.”
Marietta just missed scoring the game’s first goal. with just less than 18 minutes remaining in the first half, senior Katie Mannix lined up for a free kick 45 yards outside the net. Mannix’s strike appeared headed for the top portion of the net, but eluded Mott’s fingertips and clipped the crossbar and luckily for the Patriots dropped out of bounds for a goal kick.
Mott’s shutout as a keep included 10 saves
“I’m very pleased with today — (Mackenzie) did a great job in goal claiming some free balls and some tosses, managing the clock herself,” Bucholtz said. “We needed to play a good, quality team because starting next Saturday we have Philip Barbour, Bexley, Wheeling Park and Morgantown in that order. Those are four high quality teams, We need to keep players healthy and play smart.”
Contact Kerry Patrick at [email protected]
.