Published: September 22, 2007 11:58 pm         

Red Devils down MSU Academy 5-3

OAK HILL — The Red Devils celebrated Senior Day with a 5-3 win over Mountain State Academy Saturday.

No. 4-ranked Oak Hill charged out of the gate to start the second period, scoring three goals in 12 minutes, and took control of the contest.

“This was Senior Night and we had some non-starters in during the first half,” Oak Hill coach Charles Shelton said. “We went back to our starters the second half but we’ve pretty much been a second-half team this season.”

Kate Armentrout struck first for the Falcons, scoring off an assist from Rebecca Klenk in the 24th minute.

The Red Devils would respond.

Ryne Shuff found Victor Garcia on a breakaway down the middle in the 30th minute to even the score.

“At first, I was trying to assist goals for the seniors,” Garcia said. “That wasn’t working out so good, so I just thought I’d try to score again.”

Tied 1-1 at the half, Garcia dribbled through the Falcons’ defense for an easy goal from the right side in the third minute of play in the second period.

Oak Hill (10-0-1) followed that with another quick score. Jimmy Adkins fired in a shot from out in front that was partially deflected by Falcons’ keeper Zach Smith in the sixth minute.

Shuff capped the scoring onslaught with a shot from the left corner into the right side of the net off an assist from Ryan Persinger in the 12th minute for a 4-1 advantage.

“You could definitely tell that Oak Hill came out strong in the second half,” Falcons coach Valerie McGraw said. “I think we were still sitting back on our heels a little bit, trying to wake up.”

Oak Hill showed that it has more weapons than just Garcia, who leads the area with 23 goals.

“We distributed the ball well and got a lot of goals from a lot of people,” Shelton said. “I started playing down, to be honest, with about 15 minutes to go. You’ve got some coaches that think the game’s not over until the last whistle, so we went back with our starters.”

Mountain State (6-5-2) didn’t quit playing, though. The Falcons found their offense again late when Lasar Milinkovic found Armentrout in front of the Oak Hill goal in the 30th minute for her second goal of the match.

“There in the second half, we had 10 or 15 minutes where we just weren’t playing ‘Academy soccer’ and it showed,” McGraw said. “They stepped it up and tried to fight back there at the end. We just came up short a little bit.”

Armentrout’s goal was also MSA’s first shot on goal in the second period against a stingy Red Devil defense.

“Kate has a brilliant shot and that’s what you can almost expect,” McGraw said. “Any time that she gets open in front of the goal, you can expect a goal out of her.”

Four minutes later, the Falcons’ Carl Bou-Abboud found a seam in the defense and fired in a goal from the left side of the net.

Oak Hill would respond though, with an insurance goal from Shuff in the 40th minute off a cross-field pass from Persinger

“We came alive there at the end and fought hard,” McGraw said. “They got that goal back with just about a minute to go but they fought hard.”

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