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 12th minute, which tied the game at 1-1.
Cale gave the lead back to the Lady Bucs in the 37th 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 57th 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 72nd minute to tie the game at 3-3 and Allison Callihan had the game-winner in the 75th 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), 2nd minute.
Bridgeport – Kylie Bender (penalty kick), 12th minute.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Cale (Oliveto assist), 37th minute.
Bridgeport – Gabby Reep (Gracie Courtney assist), 42nd minute.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Cameron Zuliani (Cale assist), 57th minute.
Bridgeport – Reep (Courtney assist), 72nd minute.
Bridgeport – Allison Callihan (Reep assist), 75th 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.
