SHOOTING THROUGH TRAFFIC – Big Red’s Bailee Beall fired a long-range shot against Oak Glen’s Giada Giambroni during Thursday’s game at Harding Stadium. – Andrew Grimm
STEUBENVILLE – Anni Cutri noticed that it took a while for her Big Red girls soccer teams to get going in recent years.
That was not the case this year.
Big Red started strong, scoring three goals in the first half and holding on en route to a 5-1 victory Thursday night at Harding Stadium, improving their season-opening record to 3-0.
“In past seasons, we took a while to warm up or we would let up midway through the game… this team hung in there for 80 minutes and didn’t let up,” Cutri said. “I’m so impressed with their ball movement and how it led to great finishes for us.”
Bailee Beall scored two goals, including the first goal, and two assists, Gianna Thomas scored two goals and Lucy Saccoccia added three assists for the Crimson and Black.
All five goals were assists and the result of good passes, a trait that is already emerging as a strength of Cutri’s club.
“That’s something we’ve really worked on in practice and it shows,” Cutri added. “(Oak Glen) had five on defense, so it’s pretty impressive that they were able to move the ball the way they did.”
“That shows a lot of selflessness. Usually we have to tell players to pass… we tell them to be a little more selfish and take a shot when they have the opportunity.”
After controlling possession for most of the game, Big Red broke through in the 15th minute to take a 1-0 lead when Saccoccia passed the ball to Beall, who fired a shot just under the crossbar.
About two minutes later, Thomas scored with a long-range shot after a pass from Beall to make it 2-0.
After Beall hit the crossbar, Saccoccia played another beautiful pass to her and this time Beall scored in the 36th minute to make it 3-0 at halftime.
Oak Glen came into the game a little better in the second half and had a little more possession early on, but after Steubenville goalkeeper Madilyn Thacker impressively saved a shot on one side, Aubrey Duggan scored the fourth goal of the night with just under eight minutes left on the clock.
The Golden Bears (1:1) took the lead with six minutes to go through a free kick goal by Angelina Polly, but Thomas scored in the last minute for Big Red and secured the final lead.
“It’s tough when you fall behind early against a good team,” Oak Glen head coach Bill Watts said. “We’re a pretty new team, we have a couple of starters that haven’t played this year … we’re going to develop and get better. We played a lot better in the second half. You have to give Steubenville a big compliment, they played a very good first half. We made some adjustments and were a little better in the second half.”
“If we continue to improve throughout the year, we will make it.”
Big Red is scheduled to host St. Clairsville on Tuesday, while Oak Glen travels to Tyler Consolidated on Saturday.
Boys open victoriously
In the early evening, the Big Red Boys soccer team started their season opening game at Harding Stadium with a win.
Coach Greg Bowers’ side scored goals from seven different players on their way to an 8-0 win over visitors East Liverpool.
Landon Bowers scored two goals and Daniel Aguilera added a goal and three assists to lead the attack. Hayden Hicks, Luke Dinovo, Josiah Rea, Gabe Martin and Nate Chipps also scored goals for Steubenville, while Drew Stimpert added two assists and Ethan Llewellyn added one assist.
Robby Lucas only had to make one save to prevent a Potters goal, while East Liverpool’s Dom Johnson made 15 saves.
Big Red travels to Cambridge on Saturday.
