Allegany, Bishop Walsh draw 1-1 on Spartans' homecoming

Sep. 24—CUMBERLAND — Allegany and Bishop Walsh may have ended in a tie, but you wouldn't have known it based on the teams' postgame huddles.

On one end, the Campers were bitterly disappointed to not come up with a city victory they felt was theirs for the taking. On the other, the Spartans were celebrating as if they had won.

"It's a win, you can quote me on that," Spartans head coach Whitey Hoppert beamed. "This game for us was a win."

Despite finishing with zero substitutes after a pair of injuries and playing with a keeper in goal for the first time, the No. 5-ranked Spartans were able to hold on through a pair of overtimes to draw No. 3 Allegany, 1-1, on Friday evening.

"I've got three girls on the field today who have never played soccer," Hoppert said through tears. "I couldn't ask for a better group of girls. Goalie went down last night in a volleyball game, backup (Izzy Kendall) goes in and plays awesome.

"Girls playing out of position. ... As the game went on, they saw they could play with this team. Homecoming, our seniors wanted it bad enough."

The players and coaches weren't the only ones to regard the result as a win, as a nice Spartans crowd gave their team an ovation following the tie on Homecoming at Brother Stephen F. Paul Spartan Stadium.

Allegany remained undefeated with the draw at 4-0-2, but the Campers felt they should have gotten a fifth victory with a 12-4 edge in shots, several of which failed to cross the goalmouth by inches.

"If you outshoot somebody 18-2, it doesn't mean that the 18-shot team wins," Allegany head coach Adam Sterne said. "Hats off to Bishop Walsh. To not have as many subs and go injury, injury, and to have kids hurt on the field that have to continue to play 100 minutes of soccer.

"I understood for Homecoming it was going to be hyped. I tried to explain to them what a Homecoming means for any team. They're going to step up, and if you can't put them away early, it gives confidence to the other team."

Allegany had the lion's share of the possession and scoring opportunities, and the Campers maintained a 1-0 lead for much of the contest.

Adri Meadors fed a long through ball to Avery Miller, who slotted a shot from the left side of the box into the right corner past Kendall with 19:35 left in the first half.

That lead stood for nearly 45 minutes, until Bishop Walsh found Autumn Hoppert on the counterattack. Hoppert made her way into the box, where she was fouled by an Allegany back to earn the Spartans a penalty kick.

Cathy Cessna's PK wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to beat Allegany keeper Shylah Taylor to level the score at 1-all with 25:52 left in regulation.

Allegany had several chances to win the game late in regulation and in overtime; however, none were better than the sequence with around five minutes left in the first overtime.

A hard shot by Miller clipped the top of the crossbar, and she headed the putback on goal, but Kendall came out and made an impressive save. Both teams appeared fatigued in the extra period, and neither threatened the rest of the way.

"We had opportunities to score, we just could not get it in the frame," Sterne said. "We had a couple that came off the post. ... We felt that we controlled the game for the most part.

"They countered, and when they countered against us, we left the middle of the field open sometimes, and they were able to get the ball deep. That caused the fouls that happened late. That's the difference."

Both keepers had quality games. Taylor made three saves but stepped off her line to cut off several Bishop Walsh crosses, while Kendall made 11 saves in her first career start in place of the injured Bailee Greise.

"She made two unbelievable saves," Hoppert said of Kendall. "She hasn't played soccer since the eighth grade. She's one of my solid defenders that said in practice one day, 'If Bailee can't go I'd like to try it.'"

It doesn't get any easier for Allegany, which heads to No. 1 Mountain Ridge (6-1) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Bishop Walsh (2-2-1) will look to build off the positive result, but the status of injured Spartans Rianne Treadwell, Ariana Herrera and Greise — all vital to their defense — is still up in the air.

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.