Golden Bears use big second half to win regional semi against Weir
Andrew Grimm CELEBRATING — Oak Glen's Angelina Polly is greeted by teammates Kendall Krzys and Anna Tomsic after she scored during Thursday's Region 1 semifinal against Weir High. Oak Glen won, 5-1, to advance to the regional final.
Andrew Grimm IN CONTROL — Oak Glen's Angelina Polly looks to keep possession in front of Weir's Mila White and Gianna Siegel.
Andrew Grimm IN THE AIR — Oak Glen's Bailey Watts and Weir's Abby Glyptis battle for position waiting for a bouncing ball to drop.
Andrew Grimm CLOSE — Weir's Takayla Jones and Myleigh Clevenger battle Oak Glen's Kendall Krzys for the ball.
Andrew Grimm BATTLE — Weir High's Kameryn Mallas looks to get to the ball in front of Oak Glen's Amelia Kampmeyer.
Andrew Grimm CELEBRATING — Oak Glen's Angelina Polly is greeted by teammates Kendall Krzys and Anna Tomsic after she scored during Thursday's Region 1 semifinal against Weir High. Oak Glen won, 5-1, to advance to the regional final.
Andrew Grimm IN CONTROL — Oak Glen's Angelina Polly looks to keep possession in front of Weir's Mila White and Gianna Siegel.
Andrew Grimm IN THE AIR — Oak Glen's Bailey Watts and Weir's Abby Glyptis battle for position waiting for a bouncing ball to drop.
Andrew Grimm CLOSE — Weir's Takayla Jones and Myleigh Clevenger battle Oak Glen's Kendall Krzys for the ball.
Andrew Grimm BATTLE — Weir High's Kameryn Mallas looks to get to the ball in front of Oak Glen's Amelia Kampmeyer.
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NEW MANCHESTER -- Sometimes it really is a tail of two halves.
Thursday’s Class AA/A Region 1 girls soccer showdown between Hancock County rivals Weir and Oak Glen certainly was.
After a scoreless first half in which the Red Riders defended well and had some opportunities, the second half was all Golden Bears right from the start as Oak Glen pulled away for a 5-1 victory.
“I’m proud of the whole team, especially the seniors,” Oak Glen head coach Bill Watts said. “For three-straight years, Weir has knocked us out of the playoffs, they lost to them in the tournament their freshmen, sophomore and junior years. We got a little bit of revenge tonight, and that always feels good against a rival.
“Congratulations to Weir on a good season, I know their numbers are down, but they still play good defensive soccer and play hard. I’m just proud of my girls for getting a win.”
Oak Glen got a goal just 32 second into the second half to break the scoreless tie, Angelina Polly connecting to open the scoring, and it started a scoring frenzy that saw the Golden Bears (15-7) up 4-0 before 16 minutes had gone by in the half.
Bailey Watts scored on a long shot less than five minutes after Polly’s ice breaker, then added another goal just over two minutes later before Polly’s second goal made it 4-0 15:52 into the second half.
“We have three or four girls that are dynamic offensively, once we got that first one to go in it felt like we opened up a little more,” coach Watts said. “In the first half I felt like we were forcing things, we weren’t connecting passes, we weren’t putting the ball in the right places. Everyone was a little bit frustrated and we had a talk. I told them to just take some deep breaths and I called my forwards out and told them they have to do better. They came out right off the bat in the second half and played a very good second half.”
The Red Riders, who close their season at 6-11-2, got on the board just past the halfway mark of the second half to make it 4-1, connecting on a header off a corner kick opportunity, but Oak Glen went the other way and Bailey Watts completed the hat trick less than a minute late to provide the final margin.
“Three of their goals, one pass, that girl passes back to the girl running up the middle and they scored … we talked about it, we talked about who to mark and what to do to stop that, we just didn’t execute it in the second half,” Weir High head coach Jeremy Angelo said. “We played well in the first half, I felt like we controlled a lot of the first half, the second half we just didn’t show up defensively.
“We talked coming in about not giving up any bad goals and we gave up a bad first one and then it kind of snowballed. Oak Glen played a good second half, they had opportunities and they capitalized. We had opportunities in the first half and we didn’t capitalize. The girls played a good first half, we were right in it, the second half I don’t know what happened.
“We wish (Oak Glen) the best of luck next week.”
ANOTHER SHOT AT THE CHAMPS
With the victory the Golden Bears advance to take on No. 1 seed Wheeling Central in the Region 1 Championship Game on Wednesday.
The Maroon Knights (17-4), the defending state champions, defeated the Bears 10-0 back on Oct. 8. They won their semifinal over Williamstown on Thursday, 5-0.
“I’m excited,” coach Watts said. “We’re as close to healthy as we’ve been, we had everyone at the start of tonight for the first time. We had an injury tonight, hopefully she’s OK, but we’re as close to healthy as we’ve been.
“Wheeling Central is a very good team, they’re the defending state champs for a reason and they play a very hard schedule. They have some really dynamic midfielders.
“We’re going to give it our best shot and try to find a way to compete with them.”
SENIOR FAREWELL
The game was the final one for five Weir High seniors -- Bella Weber, Abbi Hunt, Takayla Jones, Mila White and Myleigh Clevenger.
“It’s tough to say goodbye to the seniors every time the season ends,” Angelo said. “I tell them that it goes fast, you start as a freshman and then you blink your eyes and its over.”