POSSESSION — Steubenville’s Danielle Aguilera tries to get the ball against John Marshall on Saturday. — Kailyn Hughes
MOUNDSVILLE — On Saturday morning at Monarch Stadium in Moundsville, the visiting Steubenville Big Red showed off their strength and team speed by scoring early and often, pounced on the home team John Marshall and never let up.
Led by four goals from junior Cole Bowers, Big Red was adept at maneuvering the ball to create great scoring opportunities and push John Marshall keeper Trip Bonds to the limit, with the Monarchs’ keeper racing around the goal and diving with all his might to keep the shot from going into the net.
Bonds made eight saves, including several excellent diving saves, but the onslaught was never-ending and a skilled Big Red team made frequent, precise saves.
“Steubenville is a physical team. They’ve been this way for 20 years.” “I told them we needed to be prepared to attack and fight back, and we weren’t able to do that,” JM head coach Josh Stroup, who played for Weir High School’s football team during his playing days, said after the 10-0 loss.
“They kind of bullied us at first and then one goal turned into two, two turned into three and so on.”
It was a welcome sight for Big Red head coach Greg Bowers.
Two days earlier, Bowers’ team had beaten Brook 8-3 at Harding Stadium, but the early performance there was below what Bowers considered Big Red standards.
“We came into the game much more focused than we were on Thursday.” “I chastised the guys hard after the Brook game because we didn’t finish the way we should have and we didn’t move the way we should have,” Bowers said of his team’s 5-0-3 record ahead of a key OVAC 5A matchup against conference leader Wheeling Park on Tuesday.
“Our ball movement was crisp in the first half, we created chances and were able to score.”
Big Red certainly moved the ball well.
All 10 of their 10 goals came via assists.
Senior Brady DiNovo assisted on three goals, while senior Hayden Hicks and freshman Landon Bowers each assisted on two goals.
Hicks, DiNovo, Landon Bowers, Luke DiNovo, Daniel Aguilera and Ethan Llewellyn each scored a goal, while James Devereaux, Luke DiNovo and Aguilera added assists.
It was an uneventful game for keeper Robbie Lucas, who kept a clean sheet without making a save.
Speed was not only a key factor in the goal differential, but also in denying JM a solid shot on net.
“Their speed works against us because we are slow, especially on the back end.” “We don’t have the speed we want, so we have to play our position,” Stroup said.
“Teams like Steubenville are where we want to be.”
JM fell to 3-5, ending their two-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, the Big Red is currently preparing for a key matchup against the Patriots.
“The park is a different animal.” Bowers said. “They’re really good. (Head coach) Mario (Julien) has a good team. He’s a great coach and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
The two teams met once last season, with Park winning 5-0 at Wheeling Island.
Get the latest news from the day and more delivered to your inbox
