BHS Soccer Teams Sweep Lewis County on Senior Night
By Chris Johnson on September 21, 2022
It was Senior Night for the Bridgeport High School soccer teams on Tuesday at Wayne Jamison Field, and what the 12th grade class may lack for in total numbers (only two seniors for the boys soccer team and three for the girls), they certainly made up for it in production as the Indians swept Lewis County.
The two games couldn’t have been any different as the boys improved to 3-3-4 with a 1-0 victory against the Minutemen, who are now 7-4-1. In the nightcap, the BHS girls won their third straight to improve to 7-2-1 with an offensive onslaught that resulted in a 15-0 victory against the Minutemaids (1-9).
With 1:08 to play, BHS goalkeeper Levi Crayton, one of the two seniors for the boys, stopped a penalty kick by Lewis County’s Leon Racines Cuevas to secure the 1-0 victory for the Indians.
Crayton finished with 12 saves, many of them were highlight-worthy but none as big as the final one.
“Levi stepped up and made a big, big save,” BHS boys coach Keith Dumas said. “He kept the sheet clean and kept them off the scoreboard. On a penalty kick you always have to kind of guess. You just look at it and see if they are giving anything away. The chances of stopping a PK are much lower than making one. I’m so happy for him.”
BHS sophomore Will Madden scored the lone goal in the contest. It was an unassisted goal as he showed off some fancy footwork, weaving his way in between several Lewis defenders to find the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season.
“Usually you can get around two or three but he got around four or five it’s almost impossible,” Dumas said.
Crayton and the defense took care of the rest. The other senior on the team, Burhan Khosa, played a huge role in that aspect as the Indians’ back line and center area started strong and just got stronger in the second half.
There wasn’t nearly as much drama in the girls game. Kaylee Reed scored on an unassisted goal about 3 minutes in and the Indians just kept scoring and scoring. They had 22 shots on goal in the first half, converting on 13 of them and finished with a season-high 15 goals scored.
The team’s three seniors – Kylie Bender, Anna Hutchinson and Gabby Reep – had a huge hand in the scoring. Bender finished with four goals, Hutchinson had two and Reep added three more, giving her a team-high 17 on the year.
“That’s three really good players,” BHS girls coach Sam McKinney said. “We don’t have a lot of seniors but we have three really good ones. Kylie is usually the one stopping other players from scoring and Hutch is the one setting up everyone to score so it was nice to see them get some goals.”
Bria Smell also had two goals for BHS, which is now on a three-game win streak where they have outscored their opponents by a combined score of 25-0.
BHS outshot Lewis County, 26-0, and although she didn’t have a save, goalkeeper Keira Klingensmith notched another clean sheet.
The BHS boys bounced back from a 4-0 loss to Region I foe Wheeling Park on Saturday. Crayton had seven saves against the Patriots.
Prior to the Wheeling Park match, the Indians picked up their fourth tie of the season, 2-all against Grafton as well as a 4-0 shutout victory against Preston.
Zane Wagner had a goal and an assist against Grafton and Madden added a goal with Crayton getting eight saves.
Against Preston, John Dumas and Khosa each had a goal and an assist. Wagner and Jackson Cogar each had a goal and Crayton picked up the clean sheet in goal.
Reep had a hat trick in a 7-0 victory against Preston. Bender and LeeAnn Gaskins each added a goal and an assist. Smell and Elisa Dinaldo each scored a goal. Jalin McKinney, Hutchinson and Ally Mann all had assists. Klingensmith notched two saves.
The Indians saw their four-game win streak end with a 3-0 loss to regional rival Wheeling Park. Klingensmith had eight saves.
The BHS girls picked up back-to-back shutout victories, 6-0 against Grafton and 4-0 against North Marion.
Maria Day had two goals in the win against Grafton and Reed had three assists.
Reep and Smell both had a goal and an assist. Gaskins and Emily Anderson added goals and Hutchinson had an assist. Klingensmith had six saves.
Reep had another hat trick in the victory against North Marion and Gaskins added a goal.
Hannah Jeffers, Day, May and Hutchinson all added an assist and Klingensmith had four saves.
Both BHS soccer teams return to action on Thursday at Philip Barbour.
Editor's Note: Top photo of Madden and bottom photo of Bender courtesy of Joe LaRocca.
