WARREN — You might call it the “Big Turnaround” or the “Sweet Sweep.”
No matter what you choose, Bradford High’s girls soccer team put the finishing touches on an unbeaten Region 4 schedule with a 4-2 victory over Warren on Thursday that also gave the Lady Owls a regular-season sweep of the Lady Dragons.
The win gave Bradford a final 8-0 record in the Region and made the team 12-4-1 overall, achievements that had head coach Dennis Morrisroe bursting at the seams.
“This is a real accomplishment for these girls because we did not even place in the Region last year,” Morrisroe proudly stated. “What they did going unbeaten in the Region is the highest accomplishment they can achieve in District 10.
“The girls have worked hard and this is a testament to all of that hard work … it’s really exciting for us,” he added.
Ironically, all of the scoring came in the second half.
“Our goalie, Payton Llewellyn, really only had one save in the first half,” Morrisroe explained. “The midfields were battling for possession. We had a couple of attacks, but just did not make the right placement on the ball.
“Each team had the right game plan defensively. They were trying to set up their lines and neither was able to get a lot going,” he pointed out.
The second half proved to be a different story as all six goals were scored in the first 10 minutes of play.
Just 1:50 into play, Bradford’s Courtney Shade took a pass from Taylor Yohe and drove it in the net to break the scoreless tie and put the visitors up 1-0.
It didn’t take Warren long to reply, as Summer Rosendahl evened the score at 1-1 with her goal at the 3:30 mark.
The Lady Owls regained the lead, 2-1, on a goal by Arianna Brien off an assist from Kathleen Shay, 4:45 into the period.
“Kathleen is a defender who seldom finds her way into the scoring column, but she has been working on it,” said Morrisroe. “She found herself not getting any pressure in the midfield, was all alone with the ball and made a perfect pass to Arianna who finished it off with the goal.”
Again, however, the Lady Dragons answered the challenge as Kathryn Lobdell found the back of the Bradford net 5:10 into the stanza to deadlock the score at 2-2.
From that point on the Lady Owls took control.
Taylor Yohe put the visitors in front for good, 3-2, with an unassisted goal six minutes in.
“Kathleen helped open her up and Taylor got possession in open space and took the shot,” Morrisroe explained.
Shade put the finishing touches on the victory with an assist from Shay at the 10:30 mark to make it a 4-2 final margin.
“Kathleen made another great run up the midfield, which changed the dynamics and nobody covered her. She made a great pass to Courtney who sent it home,” Morrisroe noted.
The loss dropped Warren to 5-2-1 in the Region and 6-9-1 overall.
Bradford will now return to District 9 for the playoffs. The Lady Owls will face Clearfield, Punxsutawney or St. Marys based on who enters the playoffs and the seeding.
