Steady rainfall and temperatures in the mid-40s didn’t deter the Catawba Ridge Lady Copperheads soccer team from a 2-1 of over the Blythewood Bengals Friday night.
The match wasn’t pretty, but Catawba Ridge handled the elements better than the Bengals to improve to 4-2 on the season.
“It was a tough game,” said Copperheads’ head coach Joe Dority. “We came out a little flat, but we did what we had to do to get the win. We had good play by our seniors – Kyleen Bents, Sarah Sexton, Sadie Commerford. They are our anchors. The team looks to them and they did what they had to do.”
The Copperheads tried to establish their dominance early but the wet conditions didn’t allow them to get an advantage on the Bengals. Blythewood on the other hand struggled just as much as both teams alternated possessions in the first 15 minutes of the match.
Catawba Ridge was able to start getting more possessions of the ball and even got off some shot attempts about midway through the first half.
The Bengals also had their chances as well missing on a cross at about the 25-minute mark of the first half.
The Copperheads got on the board off a free kick at the 30-minute mark with McKenna Randall finding the back of the net.
The rain remained consistent but about two minutes after Randall’s goal, the rainfall intensified.
Blythewood would have two chances to score with less than five minutes left in the first half on two free kicks, but couldn’t score off either attempt.
Catawba Ridge came out on the attack to open the second half and took a shot two minutes into play which was stopped by the Bengals keeper.
However, those shots Catawba Ridge continued to take eventually paid off as Bents scored off a cross by Sexton about four minutes into the second half.
Catawba Ridge was able to stay in control after getting some distance between themselves and the Bengals. The Copperheads controlled possession more in the second half after they scored, but Blythewood was able to gain some control towards the end of the game and then scored with about two minutes remaining.
Up next for Catawba Ridge is a game at Charlotte Latin on March 4.
March 1 Roundup
The Catawba Ridge baseball team improved to 2-0 on the season with a 2-1 win Friday over Blue Ridge in the IP Classic with a game winning hit coming from Ben Wilson.
The Nation Ford girls’ soccer team beat Myrtle Beach 3-1 on the road to improve to 3-2 on the season.
The Nation Ford boys’ soccer team beat Myrtle Bech 2-0 to improve to 8-1-1 on the season.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
