Soccer Lady Bucs drop heartbreaker in sectional final to Bridgeport

BRIDGEPORT – Utter heartbreak is the only way to describe the loss the Buckhannon-Upshur soccer Lady Bucs suffered against Bridgeport in their sectional championship game against the Indians Thursday night.

The Lady Bucs led by a 3-2 count with under 10 minutes remaining in the game when the Indians struck twice to escape with a 4-3 victory.

“Absolutely heartbroken,” was the lone response from Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Jackie Zuliani.

The game started out well enough for the Lady Bucs as they scored in the second minute when Catherine Oliveto played a through ball to Chloe Cale, who dribbled in on the goal and found the back of net to give B-U a 1-0 lead.

A foul by Buckhannon-Upshur in the box led to a penalty kick by Bridgeport’s Kylie Bender in the 12^th minute, which tied the game at 1-1.

Cale gave the lead back to the Lady Bucs in the 37^th minute when she dribbled on goal again and tallied her second score of the game.

Oliveto was credited with the assist.

The Lady Bucs almost made it a 3-1 game right before the half ended but their free kick was knocked away on a diving save by Bridgeport keeper Kierra Klingensmith.

Another Buckhannon-Upshur penalty set up Bridgeport’s second goal as the Indians turned a free kick into a goal when Gabby Reep put in a rebound from a kick by Gracie Courtney just two minutes into the second half.

Cameron Zuliani returned the lead back to the Lady Bucs in the 57^th minute when she unleashed a shot to the bottom corner of the net beating Klingensmith, making it a 3-2 contest in favor of the Lady Bucs.

The game remained 3-2 until the final 10 minutes occurred.

Reep cleaned up a rebound off of B-U keeper Kyndal Davis in the 72^nd minute to tie the game at 3-3 and Allison Callihan had the game-winner in the 75^th minute after playing a cross from Reep.

Bridgeport outshot the Lady Bucs by a 12-8 margin and owned a 3-1 margin in corner kicks.

Davis made eight saves for the Lady Bucs while Klingensmith turned away five shots for Bridgeport.

Bridgeport improved to 17-3 on the season and will face Wheeling Park on Thursday at Brooke High School in in the regional final.

The Lady Bucs closed out their season with a 13-6-2 record.

The boxscore:

Buckhannon-Upshur 2  1 – 3

Bridgeport 1  3 – 4

Scoring

Buckhannon-Upshur – Chloe Cale (Catherine Oliveto assist), 2^nd minute.

Bridgeport – Kylie Bender (penalty kick), 12^th minute.

Buckhannon-Upshur – Cale (Oliveto assist), 37^th minute.

Bridgeport – Gabby Reep (Gracie Courtney assist), 42^nd minute.

Buckhannon-Upshur – Cameron Zuliani (Cale assist), 57^th minute.

Bridgeport – Reep (Courtney assist), 72^nd minute.

Bridgeport – Allison Callihan (Reep assist), 75^th minute.

Shots-on-goal – Buckhannon-Upshur 8; Bridgeport 12.

Corner kicks – Buckhannon-Upshur 1; Bridgeport 3.

Saves – Buckhannon-Upshur: Kyndal Davis 8; Bridgeport: Kierra Klingensmith 5.