On Tuesday, the Bradford girls soccer team had no lack of offense in its 9-0 victory over Oil City.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t carry that goal-scoring prowess over to Thursday’s game, as despite some terrific defense the Lady Owls fell to Warren 1-0 at Parkway Field.
Facing extensive pressure from a very strong Lady Dragons team, Bradford held firm for most of the game. But a goal by Kyra Wotorson early in the second half proved to be enough to give Warren the win.
The loss drops Bradford to 5-3 on the season, though coach Colton Bly saw some good things to take away from the defeat.
“The positive is that we played a quality opponent and that always brings out the best in us,” Bly said. “We knew that they would press us and force us to play out of the back under control. At times we did well, and that’s when we created chances. But at times we didn’t, and that’s when we gave up chances.”
From the outset, Warren controlled the majority of the possession, spending a lot of time in the attacking third. The Lady Owls had trouble maintaining control out of their own zone, leading to clearances that gave the ball right back to the opposition.
“We had a difficult time breaking their midfield line,” Bly explained. “When we’re able to do that, Kaitlyn [Shields] and Chloe [Shaw] or anyone else playing central midfield is able to turn and drive it at their defenders, that’s when we’re able to create chances. That’s when we get thru balls to Regan [Johnson] or balls into space for our wingers.
“We weren’t able to get it from our defensive third to our middle third which would then allow us to get into the attacking third and do some damage.”
Bradford’s best first-half chance was on a free kick from Jade Jimerson with under 10 minutes left that slipped through the Warren keeper’s hands and ended up just missing the post.
A Bradford hand ball gave Warren a penalty shot with seven minutes left in the half. But freshman goalkeeper Mackenzie Lucas stood strong and made a sure-handed save. Bly pointed to Lucas as a big reason why the score was as close as it was.
“Mackenzie is such a fighter,” he said. “She’s so competitive, she never hesitates to give instruction to anyone around her. She’s a special player.”
The second half began with more of the same: Warren controlling the ball and the Bradford back line holding strong.
The Owls had a close call roughly six minutes in when a Warren free kick ricocheted off the crossbar.
The breakthrough for the Dragons finally came just a couple minutes later. After Lucas punched away a corner kick, the Owls failed to clear the ball away. Wotorson wound up with the ball and beat Lucas in a one-on-one opportunity for the goal.
It was the only blemish in an otherwise strong performance by Bradford’s defenders.
“The back four were outstanding and our middle three did a great job making it compact with our back four,” Bly said. “We like to have a solid block of seven keeping it compact and pressuring the ball and they did a fantastic job.”
While Bradford was able to generate a bit of pressure in the late going, the breakthrough equalizing goal simply didn’t materialize.
Despite the setback, Bly has seen a consistency in his team’s style of play that he believes will serve them well as the season progresses.
“The good thing is that we never lose our identity when we’re playing,” he explained. “You always recognize our style of soccer no matter who the opponent is.
“Moving forward we’ll keep training the things we need to train and we’ll go from here.”
Bradford will host Villa Maria on Tuesday at Parkway Field.
