Gallery by Heather Belcher
Dominating the possessions have been a common occurrence for the Woodrow Wilson boys and girls soccer teams this year.
The frustration has been finding the back of the net.
Tuesday night, the song was on repeat with both teams battling to a draw against their respective Cabell County foes.
The boys battled Cabell Midland to a scoreless draw, while the girls needed a goal midway through the second half for a 1-1 tie with Huntington.
Steve Laraba’s troops kept the Knights on the defensive most of the night will lightning quick attacks and several near misses on goal.
“We just need the final product. There was chance after chance after chance. They would make a save or we we would hit a post,” Laraba lamented. “That second half we totally dominated. We created so many chances, but we just have to find that last little connection.”
The bright spot for the Woodrow Wilson boys (2-0-3) is clearly on the defensive end right now where they have only allowed one goal all season and have four clean sheets.
“Defensively we are doing really well. We have only given up the one goal,” Laraba said. “They are playing well and when everybody is called upon to make that last ditch effort and track somebody to get back, they do. (Keeper) Nick (Gunnoe) didn’t have a whole lot to do, but when he was called upon, he made a huge save tonight.”
Although his team has only scored four goals in five matches, Laraba is not ready to hit the panic button by any means.
“We just have to find a way to get the ball in the back of the net. I would be worried if we weren’t creating chances. Then it would be, how are we even going to get there,” Laraba said. “We are there, but I just think it is going to take one or two. If we can get one to go in, then that monkey is going to run off our back.”
Laraba also feels that his team has not become frustrated to the point of making mistakes or letting down.
“It is one pass at a time, one dribble at a time and one shot at a time. We just have to keep going. What I see in their faces is that they deserve more than what they are getting out of games and they do,” Laraba said. “However, we didn’t over expose ourselves. They have two good forwards that could have broke in if we had thrown too many people forward. We kept that from happening.”
The story for head coach Julie Agnor is a little different. Her girls are also creating chances, but Tuesday night, they weren’t creating quality chances.
“We talked about that at halftime. We need to be more patient and not be forcing those shots that are so far out,” Agnor said. “We pulled back a little bit, but we still tried to hit those long shots.”
The Flying Eagles (3-1-3) limited the Highlanders to three shots on the night, but one was true by Maggie Young in the first half. Young beat the defenders for as one-on-one attempt and made good on the try.
On the other side, Woodrow Wilson tallied 17 shots on goal, but many were right at the keeper for easy saves.
“We have to figure out how to get in the box, but we still have a long way to go,” Agnor said.
Even midway through the second half, it looked as if the shooting frustrations would end in a 1-0 setback, before Mya Wooton slid one past the keeper for the equalizer with just over 23 minutes to play.
“It is probably one of the most frustrating things,” Agnor said about the scoring issues. “I will say however, one of the things I harp on is passing and we have that now. We just have to start hitting the net. The plan is to keep working on crossing and finishing.”
Both teams are back in action Thursday in sectional clashes. The girls will host Oak Hill at 5:30 p.m., while the boys will travel to Princeton for a 7:30 p.m. match with the Tigers.
