The two Pocahontas County High School Soccer Teams headed to Petersburg October 14 for their second matchups this season with the Vikings.

On September 16 at PCHS the Lady Warriors shutout the Lady Vikings 3-0 and the Warriors were shut out 3-0 by the Vikings.ﾠ The #7 ranked Pocahontas Girls had eight wins going into the game while Petersburg got its first win of the season at its last outing at Bishop Walsh, Maryland.

The PCHS Girls dominated Petersburg, but one mistake early in the match allowed the Lady Vikings to tie the game at 1-1.ﾠ The Lady Warriors then took charge, and upped the final score to 5-1. Sophomore all-stater Samantha Walton, senior Amy Rose, and junior all-stater Lyndsey Barlow each scored one goal for PCHS, while senior Morgan Williamson connected for two scores.

The Petersburg and Pocahontas Boys Teams both went into their game with four wins each.ﾠ The Vikings scored early in the match, and their 1-0 lead held until the 50 second mark of the match.ﾠ Center midfielder Parker White took a direct kick just outside the goal box and tied the match 1-1 as time was running out. The Warriors and Lady Warriors both improved upon their earlier performances at home.


Liberty Soccer Teams prepare PCHS for tough sectional play

Both PCHS Soccer Teams ended their regular seasons on October 16 at home versus Class AA Liberty (Harrison County), in rescheduled matches.ﾠ The senior team members and parents were honored between games.ﾠ Unlike last season, Senior Alex Rodriguez is the only senior graduating from the boys team, but his size, skill and leadership will be missed greatly by the team. Rodriguez has been playing with bruised ribs.ﾠ Making it to the state championship in 2008, a first in any sport at PCHS, has to be an accomplishment that he will remember for a lifetime.ﾠ

The six graduating senior girls will leave a giant hole to fill in the offense, the defense and in leadership.ﾠ The injuries this season have afforded Coaches Kathy and Steve White the opportunity to begin seeing which players will be able to fill the missing spots on the two teams.ﾠ Shonda Carr, Cathy Hefner, all-stater Danielle Mothes, Amy Rose, Merandia Shinaberry, and all-stater Morgan Williamson have all contributed to the record-setting accomplishments of the girls program in the last three years including getting to the regional championship last season and to the first state semi-finals in 2008.

The Class AA Liberty Girls and Boys Teams were ranked #14 and #12 respectively coming into the matches, but a closer look at their tough schedules helps explain why their rankings seem to be much lower than they should be.ﾠ The girls team lost by one point to both #9 Ravenswood and to #5 Grafton and were also shut out 0-6 by Grafton.ﾠ All their other five losses were to Class AAA teams.ﾠ The Liberty Boys Team played 10 ranked teams and six Class AAA teams, and their record is now 10-6-2.

The Lady Warriors started slow in the first game, and Liberty took a 2-0 halftime lead.ﾠ The Lady Warriors came out the second half ready to play, and junior Chelsea Walker scored a goal on a cross from senior Amy Rose.ﾠ Nine minutes later, Williamson kicked a ball over the goalie into the left corner to tie the match at 2-2.

The tie seemed to rally the Mountaineers, and they scored in a crowd a minute later.ﾠ It was a defensive battle until just under the 10 minute mark, and Liberty lobbed a short shot over junior goalie Sara Jonese's head.ﾠ PCHS subbed freely, but Liberty only brought one sub with them.ﾠ So with our subs playing their starters, Liberty added another goal for the 5-2 win.ﾠ The PCHS girls end their regular season with a 9-6-0 record, and Liberty ups their record to 8-8-0.

If A/AA soccer rankings went beyond #15, the PCHS Boys would be ranked #17, and Liberty came in at #12.

Liberty scored the first goal of the match on a penalty kick with 33:20 to go in the first half (40 minute halves) when sophomore goalie Frankie Lambert was called for holding a Liberty player in the box.ﾠ It was a defensive battle for the next 20 minutes, and Liberty liked to play rough and use their elbows, but the ref controlled the match.ﾠ In what seemed like a flash, Liberty took advantage of every scoring drive and ran the score up to 6-0 by the half.ﾠ

The second half was more even, and Liberty scored two more goals with 33:47 and 26:51 to go in the match for the 8-0 shutout of the Warriors.ﾠ The PCHS final regular season record drops to 4-8-3 and Liberty improves to 10-6-2.


PCHS Soccer Teams began sectional play this week

The Warriors began Section 1 Region 3 play on Monday at Paul Cline Stadium of the YMCA Soccer Complex at Beckley.ﾠ The #3 seed PCHS squad played the #10 ranked and #2 seed Shady Spring Boys.ﾠ Pocahontas needed to play like they did in their huge 3-0 upset of Shady on October 7.ﾠ There are two ranked boys teams in Section 1 and three total in Region 3, and Region 3 is ranked third in strength out of the four boys regions.

The # 7 ranked and #3 seed Lady Warriors opened Section 1 Region 3 play on Tuesday at #6 ranked and #2 seed Midland Trail. PCHS beat Trail last season in the same sectional game 3-0. Pocahontas upset Trail at home 2-1 on September 28 and had to step up their game to counter the Trail home field advantage that resulted when Trail jumped one ranking higher than PCHS.ﾠ The Lady Warriors find themselves in the top ranked region with five of the top 15 teams in Region 3 and in the tougher section with three top seven ranked teams.

Charleston Catholic and Sissonville are ranked #1 and #2 in both girls and boys soccer and both schools are in Section 2 of Region 4.ﾠ Region 4 is close behind our top ranked Region 3 in the girls rankings, but the boys Region 4 with five ranked boys teams is ranked 20 points higher than the second place boys Berkeley Springs area Region 2.

The PCHS Girls are the defending Section 1 Champions, and the PCHS Boys were upset by one point 1-2 to Oak Hill last season in their sectional championship.

Two Lady Warrior starters, Erin White and Erica Rebinski, are out for the season with injuries.