BEAVERCREEK — Beavercreek junior midfielder Ashley Vaughn finished a corner kick from sophomore Ella Walling five minutes into the second half as the Beavers topped Miamisburg, 2-0, Wednesday night in Greater Western Ohio Conference girls’ soccer play.
The teams had battled through a scoreless first half, with both teams seeing every chance at a goal going by the wayside.
“Miamisburg came out very strong and played a good first half,” said Beavers coach Steve Popp. “We were not getting any continuity when we would get the ball. So at halftime, we stressed to our players that we needed to a better job passing, we needed to get numbers forward, and we need to try to break them down going to goal.”
The Beavers did just that, unofficially finding 11 shots including six on goal in the half. Junior defender Maci Rhoades laced a 27-yard free kick with just under a minute and a half to play in the game to ice the victory.
Beavercreek climbs to 10-2 on the season, while Miamisburg drops to 7-5.
“Miamisburg was playing very good team defense and that made it hard for us to get good shots. You know, the field gets a lot smaller in that final third of the field. Our passing was just not crisp,” Popp said.
Popp was not surprised by the challenge put up by the Vikings, who the Beavers had beaten 2-1 earlier in the season.
“Absolutely no surprise,” he said. “We know they are a really good team. Their losses have been very close, very competitive games. They have probably had a chance to win every game they have been in. They have good attacking speed, their defense is strong and they have a good goalkeeper. To win against Miamisburg you better play well because if not they’ll put one on you.”
The Beavers will travel to Northmont Monday, Oct 5 for a 7:15 kickoff with the T-Bolts and will play host to Fairmont at Zink Field next Wednesday.
