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SMILE FOR SIX – The Oak Glen girls soccer team celebrates a shootout win over Weir High in Saturday’s OVAC Class 4A championship game at Red Devil Stadium in St. Clairsville. The victory earned the Golden Bears their sixth straight conference championship. — Andrew Grimm
ST. CLAIRSVILLE — During the break between the end of regulation and the start of overtime, Oak Glen head coach Bill Watts told his team that one man had a chance to leave Red Devils Stadium as a hero.
One man ended up being the most unlikely hero, too, when freshman Macy Hartung hit the back of the net and scored the lone goal in a five-round shootout to lift the Golden Bears to their sixth straight OVAC Class 4A title with a win over rival Weir High.
“I told the girls this is what we talked about, the chance to win the OVAC Championship.” Watts said. “We’ve won six as a program, but a lot of these girls are making their first OVAC championship start. This is your chance to be a hero, I told them, and two of our seniors ended up being heroes after a tragic escape. You never know who it will be.
“Congratulations to Weir, they have had a great season and this was a great game. We played them twice and both times were tough.”
That pep also went to the ears of a worried team when Weir High’s Olivia Baker fired a cross past an Oak Glen defender as the Golden Bears took a 1-0 lead in the final minute. They forced overtime with just 39 seconds left until the score and the Bears thought they would start the celebration.
Standout Kami Ward’s first-half goal, assisted by Meghan Fisher, was the only goal for the Golden Bears (11-0-2). Bears point guard Alex Greenleaf appears ready to hold out for the Red Knights (10-1-3).
Greenleaf, however, made two stops in overtime and then didn’t allow any of Weir’s five shooters to score on offense.
“I want to give a lot of credit to our defense.” Watts said. “We’ve played good team defense all year … but without Lex, we’re not where we are now. At the end of the game, she came to a halt. There was nothing she could do about the goal at the end of regulation, and the shootout. I’ve been playing soccer for a long time and I’ve never seen a goalie not give up a goal.
For the Red Knights, who had more games in the second half and had several chances in regular and overtime, the official record for the draw was tough and it looked like taking the game after the draw. Be motivated.
“It was a good game, we fought and had our chances.” Weir head coach Jeremy Angelo said. “When it goes to PKs. Anything can happen. They’re high school kids … We hit good shots, (Greenleaf) made two good saves and we didn’t put the ball in the corner. We worked on them, it just didn’t happen for us.”
“I’m proud of them, they worked hard to play in these conditions and go to OT and PKs with that team and leave it all out there.”
The Red Knights’ only loss of the season came at Oak Glen earlier in the season.
Both teams had to battle the conditions as the match was played in a rainstorm.
“It was a difficult situation for everyone.” Watts said. “The rain, the wind, it had an effect.”
Next
Weir High: Travels to Linsley on Tuesday.
Oak Glen: Travels to Wheeling Central on Tuesday.
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