CHARLESTON – A three-minute lapse hurt an upset bid for the Buckhannon-Upshur soccer Bucs in their Saturday afternoon road battle with one of the best teams in the state and the unbeaten Charleston Catholic Irish.
The Bucs trailed just 2-1 at the half but gave up three goals to start the second half in a three-minute span and went on to drop a 7-1 decision.
“By far this is one of the deepest and best teams we’ll see all year,” remarked Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Mike Donato. “I was really proud of how we hung in there during the first half. We withstood their pressure early and created some chances. Even after giving up goals in the first half the boys didn’t have any let down and created a quality scoring chances which a lot of teams haven’t been able to do against the Irish this season. However second half their depth was just too much and they came right out of the gate with three quick goals and we just couldn’t match them.”
Jack Curry and Sully Groom scored in the 13th minute and the 16th minute to stake Charleston Catholic to a 2-0 lead.
Josh Gregory cut that lead in half in the 25th minute when he dribbled into the top of the penalty area and scored with a shot to the far post as the Bucs went into the locker room at the half down by just that 2-1 score.
The Irish then had their three-minute flurry with Groom getting a goal, William Ball scoring and Groom getting another score for a 5-1 lead.
The Irish tallied two more goals by Michael Lao in the 52nd minute and Groom in the 62nd minute.
Charleston Catholic improved to 7-0-0 on the season.
“The team didn’t back down from any challenge and played with confidence” said Donato. “Even in a loss I saw a lot of things we’ve been looking to improve on so that definitely gives us something to build on after the Labor Day break and into next week.”
The Bucs were outshot by a 14-3 margin and trailed in corner kicks by a 4-0 margin.
Buckhannon-Upshur was guilty of three fouls while Charleston Catholic was called for 10.
Dalton Auvil made seven saves in net for the Bucs while John Patnoe stopped two shots for the Irish.
The loss dropped the Bucs to 2-4-1 on the year.
They will be back in action Thursday hosting Grafton at 5:30 p.m.
The boxscore:
Buckhannon-Upshur 1 0 – 1
Charleston Catholic 2 5 – 7
(Scoring)
Charleston Catholic – Jack Curry (Colin McGinley assist), 13th minute.
Charleston Catholic – Sully Groom (unassisted), 16th minute.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Josh Gregory (unassisted), 25th minute.
Charleston Catholic – Groom (unassisted), 43rd minute.
Charleston Catholic – William Ball (unassisted), 44th minute.
Charleston Catholic – Groom (unassisted), 46th minute.
Charleston Catholic – Michael Lao (unassisted), 52nd minute.
Charleston Catholic – Groom (unassisted), 62nd minute.
Shots-on-goal – Buckhannon-Upshur: 3; Charleston Catholic: 14.
Corner kicks – Buckhannon-Upshur: 0; Charleston Catholic: 4.
Fouls – Buckhannon-Upshur: 3; Charleston Catholic: 10.
Saves – Buckhannon-Upshur: Dalton Auvil 7; John Patnoe 2.
