Parkersburg South girls soccer team completes OVAC title run | News, Sports, Jobs

South’s Emilee Owens makes a brilliant save on a high arcing shot, tipping over the net against Wheeling Park. (Photo by Kailin Hughes)

SF. CLAIRSVILLE–If Parkersburg South’s Emilee Owens wasn’t already considered one of the top goalies in the state of West Virginia, then Saturday’s performance against Wheeling Park should solidify her placement in those ranks.

Owens turned away 11 shots to keep the shutout as the Wood County Patriots won their first OVAC title in a three-peat from 2019-21 with a 3-0 victory over Wheeling Park.

Simply put, Owens was brilliant in net.

“Their goalkeeping was fantastic, no doubt,” wailed Wheeling Park head coach Tom Smith after watching his team fire 13 shots at Owens with no luck, two of which grazed the crossbar.

“He made some ridiculous saves.”

Parkersburg South’s Kallie McCutcheon works the ball between Wheeling Park’s Molly Bradshaw (9) and Julia Dunaway. (Photo by Kailin Hughes)

The first of Owens’ many impressive saves came in the first half with her team leading 1-0.

Park’s Brenna Tipton took a powerful, high arcing shot from the right side that looked like it would tip just under the crossbar. Owens shot carefully up with outstretched hands to tip the ball over and out of danger.

Park had a great scoring chance near the midway point of the second half when leading scorer Julia Dunaway placed a ball just ahead of Katelyn Smith, who ran in to attempt a shot.

Owens watched the play unfold and sprinted out of the net, putting his body on the line to block the ball and prevent Smith from scoring.

When it had to charge, it did. When a big save was needed, Owens came. Her effort was certainly not lost on her head coach.

“We are lucky to have an outstanding goalkeeper” said Ron Bucholtz of Parkersburg South. “She made some really nice saves.

South’s defense against Owens was also solid, and PSHS took a defensive stance with the game plan throughout the match.

That Park managed 13 shots on Owens is a testament to the forwards and midfield and the team’s aggressive style of play.

“They are a quality team with a strong midfield and Dunaway and Smith both light up the nets” Bucholtz said. “They will generate a lot of turnovers because of their high pressure and aggressive attacking style.

“You plan for it and you design a defensive strategy, you don’t park the bus, but sometimes that’s what it looked like.”

South’s defensive strategy didn’t give its forwards many opportunities to shoot at Wheeling Park goalie Riley Perry.

But when they did, South seemed real.

Regan Shockey got the ball rolling when he lifted a well-placed shot from the right side over the outstretched arms of Perry for a 1-0 read.

About nine minutes later, South struck again. This time, Shockey set up teammate Livy Henderson, who fired to Perry’s right. The Park keeper was out of position due to a deflection on an earlier shot and was unable to rush in time to catch Henderson’s effort.

That’s how the score stayed until Mack Moles gained possession in a scrimmage-like jam in front of the net and slotted it past Perry for the final score.

That came with 9:42 left.

“Parkersburg South definitely deserved to win” Coach Smith said. “They outplayed us. I just didn’t have it. I don’t know what happened, but we were slow to react, we stopped moving, and when you play like that against a quality team, you’re going to get burned.”

South improved to 12-0-3 with a home meet against East Side Washington High set for Friday. Park, meanwhile, will look to bounce back against Linsly on Wednesday.