St. Catharine soccer wins one, drops three

SCC Sports Information

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SCC goalkeeper William Johnston, a sophomore from Georgetown, makes a leaping save in Saturday’s loss to West Virginia Tech.

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It was a tough week for St. Catharine College soccer as the men’s and women’s varsity teams combined for a 1-3 record. Two of those losses came Saturday as the Patriots entered Mid-South Conference competition for the first time, dropping decisions to West Virginia Tech. Earlier in the week the women’s team lost at St. Mary of the Woods College (Indiana) but the men won in impressive fashion at Ohio Christian.

A talented group of Golden Bears from West Virginia Tech visited Saturday and dealt both St. Catharine teams a defeat. In the women’s contest the visitors scored first but the Patriots tied the game when Ashley Thompkins scored off an assist from Leah Wright. The Golden Bears took the lead for good with another first-half goal and added two more after intermission for a 4-1 win.

“They were a little quicker than us and had a big, physical girl in the middle that we couldn’t match up with,” said head coach Paul Patton.

In the second game of the doubleheader the St. Catharine men also had match-up problems as they fell 8-0 to the Golden Bears who improved to 4-3-1. “Overall they were bigger and faster and slightly more skilled,” said Patton. “We are going to find that the conference teams are going to be very tough.”

On Thursday the St. Catharine women fell 5-1 at St. Mary of the Woods. Wright scored a first half goal for the Patriots who trailed 2-1 at halftime. “We fought hard in the second half and had some scoring chances but were unable to cut the lead,” added Patton.

On Friday the Patriots were able to pin the first loss on the Ohio Christian Trailblazers, (6-1) as they scored in the final seconds for a 3-2 victory. Trailing 2-0 at halftime the Patriots got on the board four minutes into the second half as Patrick Williams scored when Orest Arendacz served up a corner kick in front of the goal.

The Patriots tied the game 20 minutes later on another corner kick, this one by Don Russell who got the ball to Evan Harlow who headed it into the net. Then, with just 30 seconds left in stoppage time, one more corner kick gave St. Catharine the victory. The dramatic goal came when another corner kick by Russell was headed in by Will Meza.

“I was proud of the way our guys came back after trailing by two,” said Patton.

Both of the St. Catharine teams now hold records of 4-5. The women will return to action Thursday at Berea and will play a conference game Saturday at University of the Cumberlands. The men will host Trevecca Nazarene Friday and will play the second game of the doubleheader Saturday at Cumberlands.