First soccer rankings
released as of September 1

Bruce McKean
Contributing Writer
 
Lady Warriors (2-0-0) 3
#16 Petersburg (3-3-1) 0
 
The first 2012 West Virginia HSCA Girls Soccer Rankings (A/AA top 20) were released for the week ending September 1, and the Pocahontas County High School girls did not yet have the necessary three matches to be ranked. Class AA/A opponents on the PCHS schedule with their ranks are: #4 Sissonville, #6 Midland Trail, #8 Pikeview, #10 Phillip Barbour, #16 Petersburg and #17 Frankfort. Class AAA opponent Greenbrier East was ranked #13 in the AAA top-20. The top three ranked teams are #1Fairmont Senior, #2 Charleston Catholic and #3 Wheeling Central.
Last season the Lady Warriors won at Petersburg 3-0, so history repeated itself. The Lady Warriors traveled to #16 Class AA Petersburg on September 4, and shut-out the Lady Vikings 3-0. Senior all-state forward Samantha Walton scored goals on all three of her shots-on-goal for a hat-trick, and Walton has now scored four goals in the PCHS 2-0 season. The first goal was scored in the first half with 27:08 to go on an assist from fellow forward junior Makeia Jonese. The second goal on a direct kick sailed in with 11:07 to go in the first half. Walton achieved her hat-trick on another direct kick with 11:14 to go in the match.
PCHS led the second ranked team they have faced this season in shots-on-goal 11-1 and corner kicks 8-3. The Lady Colts led PCHS in keeper saves 10-5 and direct kicks 3-0. Senior midfielder Olivia Workman did not miss a game after her deep knee bruise in the first match and also had three shots-on-goal. Jonese had two shots on goal and sophomore Harley Francisco had one.

Warriors (1-2-0) 4
#19 Petersburg (1-3-0) 1
 
The PCHS boys were not eligible to be ranked in the first 2012 West Virginia HSCA Boys Soccer Rankings due to too few matches. Class AA/A opponents on the PCHS schedule came in at: #2 Sissonville, #8 Phillip Barbour, #9 Pikeview, #10 tie Midland Trail and #19 Petersburg. Class AAA opponent Greenbrier East was ranked #13 in the AAA top-20. The top three ranked teams in AA/A are #1 Fairmont Senior, #2 Charleston Catholic and #3 Wheeling Central.
PCHS won at Petersburg 6-1 last season. The Warriors also traveled to #19 Class AA Petersburg on September 4, and got their first win (4-1) in three starts against ranked opponents. The domination of PCHS in the match shows in their fantastic 30-2 shots-on-goal advantage. The Petersburg goalie was amazing with 31 keeper saves to one for PCHS. The Warriors led in corner kicks 4-3 and each team had one direct kick.
Senior Tyler Davis cranked it up in the match with 12 shots-on-goal and two first half goals, the second and third goals of the match. One Davis goal was on an assist from junior Garrett McCurdy (7:44) and the other on a direct kick (4:50). Sophomore Cary Robertson scored the first and fourth PCHS goals of the match with the first on an assist also from McCurdy (28.4 in first) and his second on an assist from freshman Chad Friel with 37:4 to go in the match and the 4-0 lead. The Vikings Isaac Martin got their only goal with 3:03 to go in the match on a direct kick for the final 4-1 PCHS victory.
 
Lady Warriors (2-1-0) 0
#4 Sissonville (7-2-0) in Beckley 9
 
The Lady Warriors headed South to Beckley, the site of the state soccer tournaments, on Thursday, September 6, to face the #4 ranked Class AA Sissonville squad. The Indians quickly showed why there are only five Class AAA teams currently ranked higher in the all-school rankings than this small, fast, athletic and talented AA group. #1 ranked Sissonville (17-4-1) lost in the state AA/A tournament last year 1-2 to #5 ranked state champion Grafton (16-4-2) and won 6-0 over #2 ranked Shady Spring (18-4-1) to advance to the championship game.
Last season #5 ranked Sissonville beat #19 PCHS at Beckley 5-0. This year half of the eighteen Sissonville team members would score one or two goals each for the 9-0 shutout. Four goals were scored in the first half, and five goals were tallied in the second period. PCHS junior goalie Lorena Rose had nine keeper saves to three for the Indians. Sissonville led in corner kicks 9-1 and indirect kicks 2-1, while PCHS led in direct kicks 4-3. Walton, freshman Brittany McMillion and sophomore Kristen Bennett each had one shot-on-goal.
 
Warriors (1-3-0) 1
#2 Sissonville (7-1-0) 6
 
Last season #14 PCHS played #18 Sissonville to a 2-2 tie at Beckley on September 3, 2011. Sissonville, now ranked #2, traveled to PCHS this overcast, wet Saturday and was still stinging from their first loss in seven matches, a 6-2 defeat at the hands of #1 Charleston Catholic. Both teams were undefeated and ranked 1-2, and Catholic is the three-time defending state champions in A/AA. Catholic knocked off Sissonville in their regional last season to advance to the final four in Beckley.

It took PCHS about ten minutes to adjust to Sissonville’s speed and style of play, but the Indians capitalized early with three quick scores at 36:26, 30:56 and 29:32 to go in the 40 minute first half. The Warriors, down 0-3, then played them tough for the rest of the half. Sissonville again scored in the first minute of the second half (39:16) to up the score to 4-0. PCHS took about 17 minutes (22:30) to get on the scoreboard in the
second period when sophomore forward Tyler Davis dribbled in a crowd to
score and close the gap to 1-4 Sissonville. And the sun finally came out
bright right after the score for the rest of the match.
It would be an even stand-off for the next two minutes, but with much last
minute substituting, the Indians finished off the Warriors with two final
goals (2:32 and 1:03) and the 1-6 victory. The squads tied in
shots-on-goal 14-14 and on indirect kicks 1-1. PCHS led in direct kicks
5-2 and came close, 11-12, on keeper saves and corner kicks 4-6. Senior
center mid-fielder Parker White, who can easily cover the center of the
field while pushing up into forward territory, had five shots-on-goal tying
sophomore speedster Cary Robertson’s five saves. Davis had four saves.
 
This PCHS team, coached by Steve and Kathy White and assisted this year by
Cully McCurdy, played really tough soccer vs the #2 team in West Virginia for all but
a few minutes of the match. Junior defender James Coy was really polishing
his skills and playing great defense with his dribbling, stops and kicks
while Ethan Pugh sits out for two games. Sophomore Stephen Simmons has
great ball skills and is playing very calm and smart ball. New junior
goalie Alex Kennison had some beautiful saves, one at the 24:01 mark of the
second that was a diving stop.
 
Both PCHS squads next travel to the Beckley YMCA Fields on Thursday,
September 13, to face unranked Shady Spring, now in Class AAA, at 5 and 7
p.m. with the girls first. Class AA Pikeview (teams ranked #8 and #9) comes to PCHS
on Saturday, September 15, for 1 and 3 p.m. matches with girls first. The “yet
to play a match” Class AA James Monroe girls (5 p.m.) and the Class AAA
#10 Greenbrier East boys (7 p.m.) visit PCHS on Monday, September 17. The
PCHS boys lost at East 0-1 in late August.