Photograph by Nick Henthorn Ethan Saffell of St. Clairsville scrambles for the ball Sunday in the course of the OVAC All-Star boys soccer recreation at St. Clairsville.
SF. CLAIRSVILLE — The very best of the Ohio Valley got here collectively for an exhibition of their abilities Sunday at St. Clairsville within the 2024 OVAC Soccer Senior All-Star Video games.
Within the annual state-to-state outing, the West Virginia facet of the river took each matches Sunday and in decisive trend, with the boys profitable 11-Zero and the women profitable Eight-Zero over their Ohio counterparts.
Extra essential than the ultimate scores, nonetheless, was the chance for the OVAC's standout seniors to be within the highlight as soon as once more.
“It's a chance for the seniors to get collectively, from completely different faculties and play with guys they know from round OVAC and have a whole lot of enjoyable.” Sunday's W.Va. Boys coach Mario Julian stated Wheeling Park head coach. “That was the main target – to attain a whole lot of targets and have a whole lot of enjoyable. That's what they tried to do there.”
“We wished to have a pleasing expertise for seniors” Steubenville head coach Annie Cutri, the Ohio ladies coach, stated Sunday. “That is the final time they may play in a highschool jersey. West Virginia is all the time a stable facet, so we simply tried to make it enjoyable and uplifting and empowering for the women.”
Between video games, the convention gamers and coaches of the yr have been offered with their plaques. Honorees included, on the women facet, Rylee Wright, Wheeling Central (1A-3A); Gabriella Spickard, Weir (4A); and Adrienne Altizer, Parkersburg South (5A). Cutri was the Coach of the 12 months. Boys, Dominic Gianangeli, Wheeling Central (1A-3A); Ethan Wooden, native Beaver (4A); and Tresz McLeod, Wheeling Park (5A) have been honored. Wheeling Central's Brian Komorowski was Coach of the 12 months.
The boys of W.Va. they took an Eight-Zero halftime lead and reached the end line. It was a win for the Mountain State after Ohio received final yr in PK.
“We’ve got many good gamers – Tresz [McLeod]Riley Brabson, Aidan Stire bought Defensive Participant of the Sport,” Julian stated. “Some nice gamers they usually wished to go on the market and present the talents that they’ve, that West Virginia has. They have been excited to play in it.”
“We’ve got an excellent group of seniors on the Ohio facet and we wished them to benefit from the recreation,” Greg Bowers, Steubenville head coach and Ohio State boys coach on Sunday, stated. “We knew what we have been up in opposition to, this is among the most proficient West Virginia groups that has been assembled. We did job competing, we had enjoyable, I feel the children loved the expertise.”
Morgantown's Aidan Stire took dwelling the W.Va. Defensive MVP and Wheeling Park's Tresz McLeod was awarded the Offensive MVP. For Ohio, Beaver Native's Hunter Warrick was the defensive MVP and Beaver Native's Kaleb Mays was the offensive MVP.
The West Virginia ladies led 6-Zero at halftime and had a number of extra runs within the second half. Wheeling Park's Katelyn Smith was the offensive MVP for West Virginia and Morgantown's Josie Johnson was the defensive MVP. Harrison Central's Vanessa Dowdle was Ohio's defensive MVP, with Ameilia Collopy receiving the offensive MVP.
“We wished them to return out and have enjoyable and play with youngsters that they don't get to play with some other time of the yr as a result of they're competing in opposition to one another all season lengthy.” Parkersburg South head coach Ron Bucholtz, the W.Va. ladies coach, stated. “We wished them to return collectively and play good soccer, which they did, the West Virginia ladies performed very well collectively.
“The principle factor was to have somewhat enjoyable and let the followers take pleasure in a postseason recreation on Sunday the place nothing is at stake. There was to be no warmth, no stress, nobody was going to yell or bark on the officers or something like that. It was , enjoyable and clear recreation. It's all the time good, I had group of ladies and I didn't should do a lot teaching. Set a variety, exit and have enjoyable.”
West Virginia received Four-Zero in final yr's recreation.