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STEUBENVILLE – Jaylin Crites contributed a hat trick enabling the Big Red girls’ soccer team to gain city bragging rights against Catholic Central.
Big Red scored the first two goals against Steubenville city-rival Catholic Central, but the Crusaders battled back and pulled to within a goal, however, Big Red rose to the occasion and ended up defeating Catholic Central, 4-2, Monday night on Reno Saccoccia Field inside Harding Stadium.
“We had two games to start the season against Dover and Wheeling Central back-to-back with a football Friday night in between,” Big Red (1-1-1) head coach Annie Cutri said. “We had some tired legs. We are trying to find our chemistry. A 2-0 lead has been our Achilles’ heel the last two games. A 2-0 lead is the most dangerous lead in soccer.”
The Red-and-Black led 2-0 less than 13 minutes into the game.
“We could not find the goal to tie or get us right back into the game,” Catholic Central (1-2) head coach Jonathan Hoover said. “We made some mistakes and that led to some goals at crucial times.”
Trailing by two goals, the Blue-and-Gold netted a goal with 19 minutes remaining to be played in the first half to pull within 2-1, however, the girls in back answered right back with a goal 16 seconds later to regain a two-goal advantage at 3-1.
“That showed their resiliency,” Cutri said. “They wanted to get back into the game with their flow. It was a tough battle. Their was some physicality by both teams. There were some good battles.”
The visitors netted another goal early in the second half to cut their deficit down to 3-2, however, Big Red countered with another goal to make it, 4-2, about five minutes later.
“They played solid in the middle,” Hoover said. “They rotated girls in that center-mid position. They played really well. They rotated different girls into the center. They played solid.”
Crites netted a hat trick to lead the way offensively for the hosts, while fellow sophomore Brynn Bowers contributed the other goal. Senior Gianna Thomas tallied two assists to help the cause for the victors.
Junior Zélie Baillargeon and sophomore Monica Flannery each finished with a goal for Catholic Central. Seniors Gigi Rook and Aurie Hoover recorded assists for the Crusaders.
“She’s a dog,” Cutri said about Hoover.
Junior goalie Jodeci Green made one save for Big Red.
Adalee Long, who is a junior, tallied five saves for Catholic Central.
Bowers recorded the first goal of the game to give Big Red a 1-0 lead with 29:32 left to play before halftime. Then, Crites scored the first of her three-straight goals to increase Big Red’s advantage out to 2-0 with 28:56 remaining in the first half.
Baillargeon found the back of the net for the Crusaders with 19 minutes left in the half to pull Catholic Central to within 2-1. Rook assisted on the goal.
Crites countered with her second goal 16 seconds later to regain a two-goal lead for Big Red at 3-1 with 18:44 still showing on the scoreboard clock. The goal came off a rebound.
Flannery found the back of the net less than six minutes into the second half of a feed from Aurie Hoover to cut Central’s deficit back down to a goal at 3-2. The goal came with 34:18 remaining to be played.
“I thought we played really well,” Coach Hoover said. “We did move the ball as well as we would have liked to. We were able to create some very-good opportunities in the first half. We did not create as many opportunities in the second half.”
Crites capped the scoring with her third goal with 29:20 left to play.
“We played pretty well,” Cutri said. “We struggled to find our chemistry when it came to connecting passes. We connected too many passes against Dover. Today was the opposite. Our corners were phenomenal. We were just unlucky that we were not able to get any balls into the back of the net off of them. We switched some girls around on the field. We are going to have to do different things in different situations. We want to get better throughout the season.”
Big Red outshot the girls in white, 16-5. Big Red tallied 10 shots on goal, while Catholic Central collected three. Big Red’s offensive pressure resulted in the Crusaders into having to take 14 goal kicks, while the winners took four. The home team took 11 corner kicks in the game, while Catholic Central took two.
Both teams missed a penalty kick during the game.
“We want to test ourselves,” Coach Hoover said. “It was a tough game. We want to play tough games. We want to strengthen our schedule. We want to play tougher opponents.”
Big Red is scheduled to play St. Clairsville at 11 a.m. Saturday morning at home.
Catholic Central is slated to play Bishop Rosecrans at 5:30 p.m. Monday at home at the Tony Recinella Soccer Field.