Girls soccer: River View can't convert in loss to St. C

WARSAW—The River View girls soccer team, despite its age, can do a number of things well out on the pitch. But throughout the 2022 season, corner kicks haven't been among them.

The Lady Bears failed to convert on any of the six corner attempts they attempted Saturday afternoon against a suddenly resurgent St. Clairsville club. In fact, none resulted in a direct shot at Red Devils goalkeeper Rileigh Wood.

That stat came further into focus because, while the Bears worked the ball into St. Clairsville territory on several occasions, the Devils' back row prevented any RV strikers from getting a good look at the net.

The result was a 4-1 loss for the Black Bears that dropped their record to 6-5-1.

“We have not been very proficient with corners for sure,” River View coach Dave Kridler noted.

River View struck first with 34:22 showing in the first half. But even that goal, originating with a direct kick by Alyssa Fox, seemed to deflect off a St. Clairsville player and past Wood for a 1-0 lead.

Prior to that, it was a whole lot of nothing out of either team offensively.

St. Clairsville made six shots toward the net in the first half, with only three requiring a save from keeper Elaina Brenley. The Bears? One shot requiring one save.

The second half, however, saw the visitors' Delaney Florence start to get untracked. The team's leading scorer, Florence kept pushing the ball up the perimeter before forcing the ball inside, either looking to cross or score.

She found teammate Savannah Grimm the right of the middle of the pitch with a crossing pass. Grimm alertly fired back and Florence went top right with her left foot for a 1-1 tally. That came with 27:28 showing in the half.

Florence just missed from the right side with 19:19 left and a whistle was blown during the ensuing battle for the rebound and St. C. was awarded a penalty kick.

Senior Megan Malin aimed her shot low and to the right, just clear of a diving Brenley for a 2-0 lead.

Florence later added a second goal on an assist from Malin when she slow rolled a kick to the right of Brenley, who had fallen down getting into position and was scrambling to get to the ball.

The final goal came with 6:24 left when Zoey Russell blasted a bending shot high left from the middle.

Kridler noted his team didn't play bad defensively. But there's a lot of youth on that field — only two seniors figure into the starting 11 — and the few mistakes it made, St. C. took advantage.

“We didn't have a good answer for Florence,” Kridler admitted. “Even though we identified her, she did a lot of stabbing. I think we're a really young team and we just aren't mature enough to kill off a game when we have the lead.

“As you get tired, you can have bad habits and you have to play smart and manage your lead.”

It also didn't help that starting goalkeeper, fellow freshman Regan Foster, was unable to play. That's because Foster was injured during a play near the opposing net while playing in the junior varsity contest that preceded the varsity match.

The two teams pitted 8 v 8 in jayvee, with Foster playing in the midfield while Brenley manned the net. Foster was supposed to start the varsity game, with Brenley playing center back.

“We were forced to do a lot of rearranging,” Kridler said. “We felt we adapted rather well given those circumstances, but some of our shortcomings just reared their head and some of our bad habits kind of bit us. I'm not saying we would have prevailed (otherwise) but it made a difference.”

Kridler noted he's forced to play some starters both in position, and out, in order to field enough girls for a jayvee game.

St. Clairsville, which was on a four game losing streak prior to its last two games, scored four goals for the second straight game. That's more goals (eight) than the Red Devils previously scored in all of its previous losses or tie (two).

The Lady Bears return to action this week, hitting the road to face Hiland on Tuesday before returning home to host Tri-Valley on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: River View girls soccer can't convert in loss to St. Clairsville