By Tom Bone
Parity could make for an exciting week in the West Virginia Conference women’s soccer playoffs, and it begins at 1 p.m. today at Anderson Field in Athens with No. 4 Concord (10-6, 7-3 in league play) hosting No. 5 Alderson-Broaddus (12-3-1, 6-3-1).
The overall improvement around the conference is “great to see,” said Concord head coach Carol Bonnes. “First of all, the conference has gotten a lot closer. There’s not much separating the top five teams, to be perfectly honest. The results have varied.”
That they have. Concord defeated A-B in the regular season 3-2 in overtime in Philippi on Sept. 4, scoring an equalizer goal in the final minute of regulation and getting the clincher from Gemma Nortcliffe, who is among the league’s top scorers.
The Lions have lost 2-1 overtime decisions to two other playoff teams, top-seeded Davis & Elkins and No. 2 West Virginia Wesleyan, beaten sixth-ranked Seton Hill 3-0 and lost to No. 3 Wheeling Jesuit 5-2.
“There definitely could be some upsets in the conference (tournament),” Bonnes said.
She cautioned against reading too much into the regular season. Injuries and tactics have changed the clubs.
Asked about the overtime game at A-B, she said, “When we played them earlier this year, we didn’t play the same system we have now.”
She called the season “a very strange year” with regard to injuries, which at different times sidelined Nortcliffe, fellow striker Kelsey Ballard and outstanding defender Terri Donnelly.
“We’ve had a lot of key players out at various times of the year,” she said. “We’re lucky to have everybody back and healthy.”
Alderson-Broaddus, fielding a young team of 16 freshmen and eight sophomores, has allowed only 11 goals in 16 matches, with six shutouts. The Battlers average almost three goals a game.
“They have one of the best defenses on paper,” Bonnes said. “They’ve been strong on defense this year.”
She added, “We’ve scored almost a quarter of what they’ve conceded.” The Lions are the only team to score more than one goal in a game this year off A-B and its freshman goalkeeper Kate Laird.
Concord leads the conference in goals with 62, and Nortcliffe has scored 21 of those.
“When we look at both teams ... scoring has not really been a problem for us,” Bonnes said. “It’s going to be a nice battle.”
The Lions’ Katie Cuviello and Kate Armentrout are among the league leaders in assists, and Ballard has a dozen goals this season. The top-scoring Battler is freshman Kacie Shoemaker, with 15 goals.
She said A-B coach Patrick McGinnis “has done a nice job recruiting, and a nice job of recruiting locally.” The Battlers are young but physical. “What they lack tactically, they make up in physical ability,” Bonnes said.
This afternoon’s winner travels on Friday to take on Davis & Elkins (14-4, 10-0) in a tournament semifinal. The championship match is Sunday at the home of the highest remaining seed.
— E-mail:
tbone@bdtonline.com
