BEAVERCREEK — While Tuesday’s girls varsity high school soccer game between defending Division I state champion Beavercreek and visiting Whitehouse Anthony Wayne was just a scrimmage contest, the visiting Generals may have provided Beavercreek a taste of what the bulls eye will feel like on their collective backs.
For a game that doesn’t count, Anthony Wayne made the 160-mile trek down Interstate 75 from the southwest Toledo area on a charter bus, and brought several rowdy fans along with them for the match, and the Generals led 3-1 at halftime.
The start of the varsity contest was nearly 45 minutes behind schedule due to a lightning delay. While it did rain prior to the match, at least one fan noted that the supposed boom that was heard which triggered the lightning delay, may have been the banging of a bass drum from the BHS marching band that was practicing nearby.
The match finally did start at approximately 8:10 p.m., an hour and 10 minutes later than scheduled.
Roughly four minutes later, ‘Creek’s Sarah Huffman fired a shot from about 20 yards out and scored into the left side of the Generals net to put the Beavers out in front 1-0.
Anthony Wayne’s Jenna Rybicki launched a nice right-to-left kick that appeared to be a crossing pass, but fell into the left side of the Beavercreek goal, tying things up at 1-all, six minutes into the contest.
Nearly 24 minutes later, AW’s Shelby Herrington found herself open on a breakaway along the right flat. She zipped a shot to the left and past the Beaver goalie to put the Generals out in front, 2-1.
Seven minutes further, Generals senior Sam Schofield scored off a rebound deflection to make the halftime score 3-1 in favor of Anthony Wayne.
With last year’s team scoring leader Marcella Cash announcing in July she would not be playing this season, it’s understandable if Beavercreek is still in the process of reloading and rearranging its starting lineup in anticipation of the 2019 regular season.
Diana Benigno, who was the fourth best scorer in the Greater Western Ohio Conference a season ago with 23 goals and 15 assists, returns as a team midfielder. Junior Maggie Holstein (15 goals, nine assists) and Cassie Rodriguez (nine goals, six assists) are also expected to be back this season.
Due to the lightning delay, Tuesday night’s game had not yet finished as of presstime.
A year ago, Beavercreek finished the season with an unblemished 24-0 record while winning the Division I state title in convincing fashion with a 4-2 win over Strongsville, back on Nov. 9, 2018 at MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus.
The Beavers will begin their 2019 campaign in earnest on Friday, Aug. 16 when they’ll host a nonleague contest with Dublin Jerome.
