WINTERSVILLE — The Catholic Central and Indian Creek boys soccer teams battled for 80 minutes Saturday afternoon, however, neither team was able to put the ball into the net resulting in the match ending in a 0-0 tie at Kettlewell Stadium.
“They definitely outplayed us,” Catholic Central (3-2-1) head coach Steve Kopcha said. “They possessed the ball really well in the first half. They did a much better job controlling the game, especially in the first half. We responded more in the second half, but it was not enough in the end to score a goal.”
The Redskins had difficulty in their last couple of games mounting much offense as they were outshot by a wide margin in games against Big Red and Brooke. Indian Creek did a much better possessing the ball and controlling the match against Catholic Central, however, the Redskins were unable to put one into the back of the net.
“We did a better job of possessing the ball today, but we were unable to score,” first-year Indian Creek (1-2-3) head coach Aaron Foldi said. “We did a real-good job of possessing the ball. We talked about that earlier in the week. We worked hard on that at practice, and it show today.
“We almost played a complete game today. Our leadership continues to grow. Our younger players are showing leadership. They know their role, and they are taking their role.”
Indian Creek outshot Catholic Central, 9-2. Eight of the Redskins nine shots were on goal, while both shots by the Crusaders were on target.
“We are going to struggle to score,” Kopcha said. “We don’t have a natural goal scorer. We needed some other guys to step up.”
The Redskins had a shot hit off the post late in the match.
“Catholic Central was real aggressive,” Foldi said. “They put a lot of pressure on us. We were aggressive as well. We did not back down. We just have to find the net. We have to do a better job of finishing.”
The Redskins had a pair of golden opportunities to score in the second half, however, they were unable to convert on them.
“We had some shots go over the goal,” Foldi said. “There were also two or three crosses that we did not finish.”
One such opportunity was when a shot by Elijah Llewellyn hit off the post in the closing minutes of the match.
“We knew he was one of the key players for them,” Kopcha said. (Carson) Copeland is another one. We just tried to contain him. Our defense did a great job as we held them without a goal.”
Michael Duff finished with eight saves in goal for the Crusaders.
Trevor Francis finished with two saves.
Catholic Central is scheduled to play Brooke at 6 p.m. Monday in a makeup game on Paul “Bud” Billiard Field inside Brooke Memorial Stadium.
Indian Creek is slated to play at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Cambridge.
