Lady Cats Win Two, Wendy Beveridge Scores Five Goals On Friday (10/04/17)

(By Coach Chris Schonbachler

Clarion vs West Forest

On Friday, September 29th, the Clarion Area Lady Cat soccer team headed to West Forest.  Due to injuries and player availability, the team had 12 players dressed.  Cait Murtha got her first start in goal for Clarion.  Wendy Beveridge, the usual Clarion goalkeeper started in the center midfield position.

The teams traded chances early on, until Clarion’s Emily Grabiak found the back of the net giving the Lady Cats a 1-0 lead.  The Fires responded quickly with a goal of their own, evening the score.  Then, Wendy Beveridge took over the game, eventually netting an impressive 5 goals, giving Clarion a 6-2 victory.  Wendy’s performance was helped in large part by assists from Alexa Hannold and Megan Stahlman.

Gabby Weaver led the defensive efforts for the Lady Cats.

Congrats to Cait on her first of many wins as a Clarion goalkeeper.

Clarion vs Redbank Valley

Monday evening, (October, 2nd) Clarion hosted the Redbank Valley Lady Bulldogs.  The game was back and forth early, with Redbank’s best scoring chance coming when they were awarded a penalty kick.  Wendy Beveridge made a save on the PK, her third PK save this season!  Soon after, Alish Nagy hammered a shot off the Redbank crossbar.  Emily Grabiak pounced on the rebound and put Clarion into the lead 1-0.

The score remained 1-0 until midway through the second half, when Redbank deflected a corner kick into the short side of the Clarion goal.  The game ended 1-1 at the end of regulation.

The Lady Cats seized control with an inspired performance in the overtime.  After 6 minutes, Gabby Weaver stepped into a Redbank clearing pass and carried it back into their half of the field.  She then played a perfect ball wide left into the path of Alish Nagy.  Nagy crossed the ball quickly, and after a couple bounces between both teams, Alexa Hannold found the ball on her preferred left foot.  Hannold hammered a great shot into the far right side panel, giving the Lady Cats a hard earned 2-1 victory.

The win gives the girls a record of 8-5 this season, their next action is Wednesday (October, 4th) at Brookville.

(Thanks to Coach Schonbachler for this article. Keep up the good work, Clarion!!!!)