With the regular season winding to a close both Aledo soccer teams sit atop their respective districts following close wins over Fossil Ridge on Tuesday, Feb. 25. Allie Weimer led the Ladycats (12-4 overall, 7-2 in district) to a 1-0 victory as they successfully defended their home turf. Meanwhile, the Bearcats (11-3-2 overall, 6-1-1 in districts) earned a 2-1 road win to reclaim first place in District 5-5A.
Although the scoreboard read 1-0 as the final whistle sounded, the Ladycats dominated Fossil Ridge both in terms of time of possession and shots on goal. The Lady Panthers sat back in their defense hoping to play the numbers game and nullify Aledo’s speed up front. In the first 30 minutes of the match the Ladycats had several near misses. Despite their efforts to have a numbers advantage defensively, Weimer managed to slip behind Fossil Ridge’s defense creating a one-on-one attempt at a goal. Her shot on goal got by the outstretched hands of the diving keeper, but ended up being just wide of the far post as the would-be opening goal missed by mere inches.
Aledo nearly scored on two more shots on goal along with a trio of set pieces, but just weren’t quite able to find the net as time continued to tick by in the first half.
With 10 minutes left until halftime, the Lady Panthers began to find their way as they put the Ladycat defense on its heels slightly. Both squads took their opportunities to push the ball down the field before any advances were snuffed out. Through the first 40 minutes of play, the score remained 0-0.
For much of the second half the story, along with the scoreboard, remained unchanged. Aledo pressured the Lady Panthers, creating multiple quality scoring opportunities to no avail.
Midway through the second half Avery Sands appeared to have a chance to take a contested shot on goal before being tackled from behind in the box by a Lady Panther defender creating a certain opportunity for a penalty kick. However, the officials didn’t call the foul resulting in a goal kick instead.
Minutes later Katie Cox sent a perfect cross into the box that connected with Kylee Vandiver. Vandiver got a clean look at the goal between a pair of centerbacks as she fired yet another close shot on goal that sailed just over the crossbar.
With 13 minutes left to play Weimer was finally able to get the Ladycats on the board. Aledo’s top scorer managed to fake out her marker creating just enough space to get a look at the goal from around 30 yards out. She fired a high, arching shot towards the goal that sailed just out of reach of the outstretched hands of the leaping keeper as the ball found the net just inside the upper right corner of the goal. An elated Ladycat team breathed a collective sigh of relief as they swarmed Weimer in celebration.
Fossil Ridge was determined not to go down without a fight, and even managed to create some drama for a brief moment. The Lady Panthers advanced deep into Aledo territory and took their best shot of the night at the goal. Freshman goalkeeper Audrey Obana made a diving stop to keep the Ladycat lead secure with seven minutes left to play.
Aledo continued to work in the waning moments of the contest, hoping to find a second goal to solidify the win. They almost found it as Katie Cox made a left-footed shot from 15 yards out that beat the keeper. Unfortunately, the ball ricocheted off the near post and was cleared by a Fossil Ridge centerback for good measure.
“I was getting nervous,” Ladycat head coach Bryan Johnson said after the match. “That’s three halves we’ve been shut out. But right now we’re sitting in good shape [after the win]. That’s three points. That puts us in the driver’s seat with 21 points overall.”
Aledo entered the match on Tuesday against Fossil Ridge in second place in the District 5-5A standings in spite of only suffering a single loss during their district schedule this season. The win over Fossil Ridge coupled with Brewer handing Saginaw their second district loss of the year propelled the Bearcats back into the top spot in the district standings.
The Bearcats jumped out to an early lead as Hunter Waugh set up Trapper Davis with a scoring opportunity he managed to capitalize on to put Aledo up 1-0 over the home team. From there the match stayed relatively quiet until the Panthers scored the tying goal with just seconds left until halftime.
As the teams made their adjustments in the second half, the Panthers were determined to neutralize Austin Randriamahefa even if it meant double and triple teaming him. Aledo’s resident oracle of futbol and gaffer, Derek Vierling, decided to move Randriamahefa to striker in order to create scoring opportunities up the middle for his other players.
The plan worked to perfection.
With 11 minutes remaining in regulation Davis found Robby Sloan, who put in the game-winner as the Bearcats went on to win 2-1.
With just three matches left on the regular season schedule, both Aledo teams will be in action on Friday when they take on Saginaw. The Ladycats will hit the road looking to secure another three points as they take on the last place Lady Rough Riders.
The Bearcats will play host to a Saginaw club coming off the loss to Brewer and hoping to reclaim the top spot in the district standings with a win in Aledo.
Both varsity matches are slated for a 7:45 pm start.
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