×

Weir claims city championship over Madonna with late goal

WEIRTON — Joe Jimboy will never forget his first win as head coach of the Weir girls’ soccer team.

Less than four minutes after the completion of a 30-minute rain delay, Red Rider standout Julia Gianni netted the lone goal of the game to lead Weir to a 1-0 victory against city-rival Madonna in the annual City Championship game Thursday evening at Jimmy Carey Stadium.

“It is darn near poetic to get my first win against Madonna in the City Championship game,” Jimboy said. “These girls have had a lot thrown out them. They were down. Their attitudes were down. I had a long talk with them yesterday. I told them this game was really not about Madonna, but it was about us showing what Weir could still do.

“Last year, we tied them, and when it was 0-0 with 17:22 left I said ‘please God don’t let that happen again.’

“As a head coach, you don’t want to start 0-3. People turn on you when do. After squeaking out a win against our city rival, someone should at least buy me a hot dog.”

Madonna made some costly mistakes in the game.

“We gave another one away,” Madonna (2-2) head coach Bob Kolanko said. “We gave a team another gift. We just could not execute a simple throw-in. We could win everything between the lines, but a throw-in we can’t do. I don’t know what the exact numbers are, but I would say 85 to 90 percent of our throw-ins went straight to them.

“No. 22 killed us. We threw the ball right to her. We threw the ball right to her so many times it was like she was on our team instead of theirs.”

Gianni’s goal was unassisted.

“You are not going to find a tougher girl than Taylor Quickle,” Jimboy said. “Tonight was an absolute total-team effort. I know every coach tells you that, but it really was. We had great people come off of the bench. Kaitlyn Ferrebee stopped what could have been the go-ahead goal. Bailey Stead gave us great minutes. I can give you a thousand names.

“It feels good being on the other side. This should bring our morale back. It has. You can see them on the field having a good time.

“We are a good loser. We know how to win, and we know how to lose.”

Madonna outshot Weir, 10-9, in the game, but the Red Riders ripped six shots on goal, while the Blue Dons delivered five.

The hosts took 19 goal kicks, while the visitors took 10. Weir took six corner kicks and the Dons four.

Lexey Brenneman made four saves for Weir.

Kasey Canei made five saves for Madonna.

“I am really proud of the girls,” Jimboy said. “I am proud of everybody. I am proud of everybody for sticking with us. We have got a lot more to show.”

The Blue Dons had the best chance to score in the first half, when Gianna Antinone broke free from the Red Rider defense, but unfortunately for Madonna, the senior forward’s shot hit off the post and bounced out of the goal with 28:43 remaining.

A brief downpour brought the game to a halt with 17:22 left to play in the second half. The stoppage came at a good time for the victors.

“When that delay happened, Julia Gianni was coming off of the field,” Jimboy said. “You never want Gianni off of the field. When she crossed that line, I looked at her and thought Mother Nature must be a Gianni fan. We never want her off of the field. She is like our quarterback.

“This was a positive for us. Maybe I can win some people back.”

The Blue Dons have 14 players, so the break in the second half enabled the Madonna players to get some needed rest.

“We made a gameplan when the rain delay came,” Kolanko said.

“We just didn’t execute it. We talked about what we were going to do in the second half, and we didn’t do it. We put pressure on them the whole game, we had 10 shots and only one of them did the goalie really have to make a save. We had that one, and the one that hit off the post.

“We should have been better. We were tired. We only had three subs. I thought the delay would give us the help we needed by giving us some rest.”

The Blue Dons were able to use their speed up top to their advantage, but the Red Riders were up to the challenge defensively, and Weir made the plays it needed to keep Madonna off of the scoreboard.

“Madonna came ready to play,” Jimboy said. “(Hayley) Timko has got some wheels on her. Bob had his kids ready. He always has kids ready when they play us. Hats off to them. They played a great game. They always change things when they play us. They always do something different. They have a lot of speed up top, and they utilized it. They crossed the ball more than I thought they would. I’m not sure if that was their intent.

“Defensively, they were better than they were last year.”

Last season, Madonna netted two late goals to come away with a tie, however, there was no late-game magic for the Blue Dons Thursday.

“We did not win the 50-50 balls,” Kolanko said. “They won 90 to 100 percent of the 50-50 balls. We did not win any.”

Weir hosts Wheeling Park at 10 a.m. Saturday.

“Park has always been tough,” Jimboy said. “They have improved the last two years, and they were already really good. I am excited to play them. I like playing Park. I like playing good teams, because it give us a chance to see where we are at.”

Madonna plays at 5 p.m. Monday at John Marshall.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today