Bay beats Bozeman in first girls soccer meeting
PANAMA CITY — The first meeting of Bay and Bozeman in girls soccer didn’t exactly parallel the shifting of allegiances within the so-called super conferences in college athletics.
The Tornadoes and Bucks have been aligned together for the first time in District 1-2A, so their matchup at Tommy Oliver Stadium Friday was an inauguration of sorts.
For the more established program at Bay (10-5-1, 7-2-0), the Tornadoes’ 6-0 triumph turned out instead to be a coronation for Jessica Harris. Not only did the left wing score four goals for the first time in her high school career, she unleashed 15 shots and could have had more.
Bozeman keeper Alyssa Delaplaine made some quality saves, and some misfires by Harris from close range early in the match prevented her from turning a special night into the sublime.
“It’s always that way, I’m just a long-distance shooter,” Harris said of the first half, when despite getting off eight shots she had just one goal. Harris converted a free kick from Katie Carroll into a 2-0 lead on a volley Delaplaine had no chance on.
“I definitely had other opportunities,” Harris admitted. “Especially when I calmed my shot down.”
Bozeman (5-6-1, 4-4-0) was overmatched in its initial venture against the much-larger enrollment county rival. The Bucks stayed within 3-0 at halftime, but only got off one shot during 40 minutes while Bay fired 23 in attempting to dent the beleaguered Delaplaine.
“We just came out and said we don’t know about this team, let’s just go out and play our hardest,” Harris said. “I felt like if I can get the shot I’m going to go for it.”
Harris scored three times in the second half, each coming from outside the 18-yard box. Delaplaine made nine second-half saves to prevent the mercy rule.
The Tornadoes had nine corner kicks in the first half, and the Bucks had a difficult time finding rangy defender Marley Peters. She opened the scoring when Harris’ corner was batted around in front of Delaplaine until Peters finally finished.
Peters had two more excellent chances in the opening half, drilling a header off the crossbar on Carroll’s corner and narrowly missing the lower-left corner at 26 minutes.
Following Harris’ first goal, Carroll made it 3-0 at intermission on a free kick from 22 yards.
Bucks coach Jennifer Shumate moved high-scoring forward Becca Hall to midfield in the second half hoping to win possession battles and get Hall involved. Bozeman was more competitive in that regard, Camille Johnson’s deep ball sending Hall in against Bay keeper Nikki King in the 69th minute.
King came off the line to smother Hall’s shot, the Bucks’ best scoring chance of the game.
The same teams meet again Jan. 5 at Bozeman.
- Bozeman 0 0 — 0
- Bay 3 3 — 6
- First half: 1. Bay, Marley Peters 12 minutes, 2. Bay, Jessice Harris (Katie Carroll) 32 minutes, 3. Bay, Katie Carroll, 38 minutes. Second half: 4. Bay, Jessica Harris (Sarah Judah), 5. Bay, Jessica Harris 55 minutes, 6. Jessica Harris 78 minutes.
- Shots: Bozeman 1-4-5, Bay 23-18-41. Shots on goal: Bozeman 1-4-5, Bay 6-12-18. Corner kicks: Bozeman 0-0-0, Bay 9-3-12. Saves: Bozeman (Alyssa Delaplaine) 3-9-12, Bay (Nikki King) 1-4-5. Yellow card: Bozeman (Amber Wade).
