photo by: Jay W. Bennett

Wheeling Park’s Brenna Tipton settles the ball Tuesday during the Patriots’ road game against Parkersburg.

PARKERSBURG — Top-ranked Class AAAA Wheeling Park, which entered Tuesday’s showdown at Stadium Field with setbacks in two of its last three matches, had to settle for a 1-1 draw with No. 7 Parkersburg following a scoreless first half.

The Patriots had five shots on goal in the opening 40 minutes, but couldn’t find a way to beat Big Red keeper Addi Mosso, who finished with 10 saves.

Parkersburg, which concluded the regular season at 14-4-2 for head man Jarric Hoskins, dented the scoreboard first in the 55th minute when Hailey Warman picked up her ninth assist on Malaya Bowling’s 12th goal.

However, just 2:01 later, WPHS leading scorer Julia Dunaway tied the match when she beat a diving effort by Mosso and scored inside the post thanks to a through from Molly Bradshaw, who collected her 23rd assist.

“Credit to Wheeling Park. They are the number one team in the state for a reason. They’ve got a lot of skill. They move the ball well,” admitted coach Hoskins. “Our girls, we told them before the game that they are more than capable of going out there and competing and getting a win. They believed it. Especially after halftime, they believed it a lot more.

“They came out firing in the second half. Almost had it there at the end, but their effort, that should be a game right there, we’ve had others where they should have confidence, but after that game tonight there’s no doubt they should have confidence going into the playoffs.”

Both squads had a quartet of corner kicks apiece with Bradshaw and Warman taking them. The Patriots’ final corner came in the 68th minute, but Arai Swartz’ touch was too high. The Big Reds’ last opportunity came in the 72nd minute when Faithlyn Butcher had a header attempt, but couldn’t put it on frame.

Warman had a couple of late chances for the hosts, but Park keeper Riley Perry made a one-hop save in the 67th and followed with a leaping one-handed punch save in the 72nd minute that led to the CK.

Following the goal by Dunaway, Patriots Maggie Miller, Swartz, Bradshaw and Lakin Chambers all tested Mosso, but to no avail.

The Big Reds, who got a quality look from Gracie Lively at the end of the 79th minute that sailed high, are expected to find out their postseason opponent by the end of the week as regional ballots are due Thursday.

“We’ve earned some time off,” added coach Hoskins. “We’ve got a lot of girls playing a lot of minutes right now so we definitely need some time to rest and get our legs back a little, but also there’s some things that we can work on. We could’ve done a little better with our possession in the second half.

“Defensively we played amazing tonight on all fronts. We had good pressure up top and in the midfield. All around it was a good defensive effort. I think I’d like to see some of those chances that we had and us finishing them. There’s things to work on. Hopefully we can ride that momentum into the playoffs.”

Wheeling Park head coach Tom Smith, who declined to comment following the match, will try to end the regular season with a 15-3-1 mark at noon Saturday when the Patriots invade Winfield.