MORGANTOWN – The Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneer soccer team opened with one of the top teams in the state, and although they didn’t come away with a victory, head coach Mike Donato was pleased with his team after 1 -0 setback to the defending state Class AAA champion Morgantown on the road Wednesday night.
The lone goal of the game occurred with five seconds remaining in the first half when the Bucs had a poor clear on defense and Morgantown’s Riley Brabson came onto the ball and after a touch, made a goal over Buckhannon-Upshur keeper Dalton Auvil’s head.
Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the second half.
“Considering the short turnaround for the start of the regular season and the adjustments we wanted to make after the Parkersburg scrimmage, I thought we played really well,” stated Donato.
Donato praised Auvil and the defense for keeping them in the game.
“Dalton and our back line defenders kept us in the game and we created some really good chances that we just couldn’t finish on,” noted Donato. “We made some critical errors at the end of the first half, but I have to give the team credit, they didn’t get down after that and was able to move on quickly and come out with a great start to the second half. We’ll have a few days to work on those adjustments and be ready to Greenbrier East on Saturday.”
The Bucs were outshot by a 11-5 margin and trailed in corner kicks by an 8-2 margin.
B-U was guilty of six fouls while Morgantown was called for 11.
Auvil made 10 saves for the Bucs while Tyler Crites stopped five shots for Morgantown.
The Bucs will be back in action for their home opener Saturday as they host Greenbrier East at 1:30 p.m.
The boxscore:
Buckhannon-Upshur 0 0 – 0
Morgantown 1 0 – 1
Scoring
Morgantown – Riley Brabson (unassisted), 39th minute
STATISTICS
Shots-on-goal – Buckhannon-Upshur 5; Morgantown 11
Corner kicks – Buckhannon-Upshur 2; Morgantown 8
Fouls – Buckhannon-Upshur 6; Morgantown 11
Saves – Buckhannon-Upshur: Dalton Auvil 10; Morgantown: Tyler Crites 5.
