By Jed Lockett
EAST RIVER _ Thursday night, the PikeView Panthers did not play their best game Thursday night against Pocahontas County. They did not have to.
Mariah Farley had a goal and an assist as PikeView edged Pocahontas County 2-1 to win the West Virginia Class AA-A Region 3 Championship at the East River Soccer Complex.
“We’re just a third-year program and one of the things we’re proud of is what we’ve been able to accomplish in just a short period of time,” said PikeView head coach Sam Hill. “To play three years of soccer at the varsity level and be able to take a team to the final four in the state says a lot about the quality of these girls we’ve got on this team.”
“They played a good game, I just wish we could’ve put another one in,” said Pocahontas County head coach Mike Burns. “I think we were equal. There was no real domination like the last time we played them.”
The victory was a milestone for the Panthers, the first regional title in the program’s history.
The Panthers stunned those in attendance with the first goal on the first shot of the game. In the sixth minute, Mariah Farley took a shot from outside the right corner of the Pocahontas County penalty area. Her shot took a sudden wicked curve, flying into the upper right corner of the goalmouth and there was nothing Warriors goalie Sara Jonese could do about it.
“I was close enough to the 18, I was just like, ‘I’m going to let it go,’” Farley said. “I had a really nice curve and it went in. The goalie couldn’t touch it.”
“Mariah sometimes is not selfish enough in our opinion,” Hill said. “But we challenged the girls in practice leading up to tonight that we wanted to be able to play like we were a goal down early and try to put the pressure on them and we did that. That was a huge goal for us right off the bat.”
Like a great boxing match, the teams traded punches for the remainder of the first half. The Warriors began to take control late in the period and had a pair of chances to equalize.
A communication breakdown between PikeView goalie Amanda Presley and her defenders left a ball deep in the box and an open net with players from both teams in the vicinity. But a PikeView defender got to it and cleared it out of danger.
The Warriors got a better chance moments later. Presley ran out of the box holding the ball. Pocahontas County was awarded a free kick outside the box. But the shot sailed over the crossbar. The Panthers needed to get out of the first half and regroup.
They did better than that. Two minutes after the errant free kick, the Panthers broke out on a counter attack. It ended with Farley passing the ball to the middle of the box to Sarah Stafford, who did not miss from point-blank range.
Goals — PC: Amy Rose (47); PV: Mariah Farley (6), Sarah Stafford (35). Assists — Mariah Farley (35). Halftime — PV 2-0. Shots (on goal) — PC: 10 (3); PV: 16 (7). Saves — PC: 5 (Sara Jonese 5); PV: 2 (Amanda Presley 2). Corner kicks — PC: 1; PV: 4. Offsides — PC: 0; PV: 0. Fouls — PC: 7; PV: 4. Cards — None.
