GRAFTON – Win number five wasn’t the easiest for the Buckhannon-Upshur Lady Bucs, but it was still a win after they defeated a scrappy Grafton team by a 5-4 score Thursday evening in a Big 10 Conference outing.
The Lady Bucs went up on Grafton by a 2-0 score behind a pair of goals from Ava Hollen after 12 minutes of action.
She was credited for the first goal five minutes in when Grafton put in an own goal on her corner kick and then seven minutes later, she dribbled down the right side and put a shot past Grafton keeper Nicole Giles for a goal.
Mackenzie Hunter tallied a goal for Grafton in the 13th minute, but just two minutes later, B-U’s Chloe Cale scored an unassisted goal when she dribbled down the left side of the field and scored from 10 yards out.
Hadley Horne scored an unassisted goal for Grafton making it a 3-2 game, which is where the contest stood at the break.
Cale scored her second goal of the game taking a pass from Cameron Zuliani and turning with a shot at the top of the box that found the back of the net in the 45th minute upping the B-U lead to 4-2.
Horne scored her goal of the game on a defensive breakdown by the Lady Bucs making it a 4-3 contest in the 59th minute.
The Lady Bucs answered with what turned out to be a much needed insurance goal by Miranda Greene in the 78th minute as she played a pass from the outside by Zuliani and beat a Grafton defender for a goal giving the Lady Bucs a 5-3 advantage.
Just a minute later, with just over a minute remaining in the game, Hunter scored her second goal of the contest closing the gap to 5-4.
The Lady Bucs were able to hold onto their one-goal advantage in the final minute for the win.
Buckhannon-Upshur held a 14-7 margin in shots-on-goal and a 3-1 lead in corner kicks. B-U keeper Kyndal Davis made three saves while Giles stopped nine shot for the Bearcats.
The win improved the Lady Bucs to 5-2 on the season heading into Saturday’s home non-conference clash with Martinsburg. That contest will kick-off at noon.
The boxscore:
Buckhannon-Upshur 3 2 – 5
Grafton 2 2 – 4
Scoring
Buckhannon-Upshur – Ava Hollen (Cameron Zuliani assist), 5th minute.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Hollen (unassisted), 12th minute.
Grafton – Mackenzie Hunter (unassisted), 13th minute.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Chloe Cale (unassisted), 15th minute
Grafton – Hadley Horne (unassisted), 19th minute.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Cale (Zuliani assist) 45th minute.
Grafton – Horne (Mckenzie Flohr assist), 59th minute.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Miranda Greene (Zuliani assist), 78th minute.
Grafton – Hunter (Mattie Flohr assist), 79th minute.
Shots-on-goal – Buckhannon-Upshur 14; Grafton 7
Corner kicks – Buckhannon-Upshur 3; Grafton 1
Saves – Buckhannon-Upshur: Kyndal Davis: 3; Grafton: Nicole Giles 9.
