The Buckhannon-Upshur soccer Bucs downed Elkins Wednesday night, 3-1 (Bobbie Hatcher/My Buckhannon).

Soccer Bucs look impressive in 3-1 win against Elkins

TENNERTON – Tim Snyder tallied two goals and freshman Kaleb Kowalkoski came up big in his varsity start in the net as the Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers defeated the Elkins Tigers in their regular-season finale in Big 10 Conference action Wednesday night at the high school.

Snyder scored his first goal in the 25th minute when he dribbled to the right side and took a shot at an angle from 20 yards out.

His goal was the lone score in the first half.

Snyder scored again in the 49th minute when he played a cross from Christian Dowell and unleashed a shot to the near post giving the Bucs a 2-0 advantage.

Elkins scored in the 73rd minute when Andrew Tesar played a free kick into the box and flicked it off his heel in the air over Kowalkoski.

In a high intense final seven minutes, Riel Figueroa put the game away for the Bucs with a shot to the far post.

“We had one of our best practices of the season yesterday and it carried over into tonight’s match,” noted Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Mike Donato. “We put a lot of emphasis on defensive positioning and rotations, and we showed improvement in both of those areas tonight. There was intent with our attack and great runs and movement all over the field. This was not only a great win, but we did a lot of things well that gives us something to carry forward into the postseason.”

The Bucs held a 12-7 lead in shots-on-goal and owned an 8-3 margin in corner kicks.

B-U was guilty of 10 fouls while Elkins was called for four.

Kowalkoski made six saves while Elkins keeper Bobby Valentine turned away nine shots.

Buckhannon-Upshur improved their record to 6-11-3 and 5-4-2 in the Big 10 Conference.

The Bucs will now prepare for the sectional tournament next week, likely on the road against either University or Bridgeport.

The boxscore:

Elkins 0  1 – 1

Buckhannon-Upshur 1  2 – 3

(Scoring)

Buckhannon-Upshur – Tim Snyder (unassisted), 25th minute.

Buckhannon-Upshur – Snyder (Christian Dowell assist), 49th minute.

Elkins – Andrew Tesar (unassisted), 73rd minute.

Buckhannon-Upshur – Riel Figueroa (unassisted), 78th minute.

Shots-on-goal – Elkins: 7; Buckhannon-Upshur: 12.

Corner kicks – Elkins: 3; Buckhannon-Upshur: 8.

Fouls – Elkins: 4; Buckhannon-Upshur 10.

Saves – Elkins: Bobby Valentine 9; Buckhannon-Upshur: Kaleb Kowalkoski 6.

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