Brock Netter, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
THE PLAINS — For 72 minutes and four seconds, Alexander and Athens battled at a grueling, gritty pace — the way a rivalry game should be played.
Both goalkeepers corralled any scoring chances and scoring threats were being cleared to avoid any potential breakthrough.
However, at 72:05, Arbor Albano happened.
The senior forward took her shot and found nothing but net, connecting with the middle-left side of the goal to send the Spartans (6-1) home with a 1-0 victory on Thursday.
CREDIT: Tanner Wright/SOSA
“I’m not going to lie, I had no idea it was going to go in. I took the first shot, but it hit off one of Athens’ players and came right back to me,” Albano said. “I figured that was my chance so I just kicked it as hard as I could, and watching it the whole way, I knew it was going in.”
The victory marks the Spartans’ best start to the season since 2018, a team that also started 6-1 and made it to a regional final.
The win marks Alexander’s sixth shutout of the season.
“We’ve all been working really well together defensively, and we’ve done a much better job of stepping to the ball,” Alexander goalie Brooklin Metts said. “In our loss to Marietta, we played scared and didn’t clear the ball out very well. We took control in this game, got the ball up the field and our defense played great.”
Athens (3-2-2) had a few chances to score early on, but none better than a 1-v-1 look at the goal from less than 10 yards out. The shot missed high into the night, keeping the game scoreless.
PHOTOS: Images from Alexander’s win over Athens
Alexander started to make a charge in the last 15 minutes of the first half, controlling the ball and getting deep into Bulldog territory, but only to miss left and be stymied by Athens’ Jordan Short in goal.
“The Marietta game showed us some gaps that we needed to work on. We’re closing down too fast and we gave up too much space at the top of the box,” Alexander coach Todd Norris said. “Our girls did much better tonight of closing that space down as well as having better off-the-ball movement and being creative with their runs to open the game up a little more for us.”
As the minutes continued to run off the clock, the game seemed destined to go 80 minutes without a score.
However, Albano changed that outcome with one shot off her right foot to send the Spartans’ fans into a frenzy and secure the victory.
“Both teams understand how important this game truly is and it’s the game we all look forward to the most,” Albano said. “It only makes the game that much bigger. A lot of us grew up playing together, so that’s a lot of a love-hate relationship with one another once we step onto the field. We pour everything into the game, so it’s definitely nice to come out on the winning side.”
Alexander returns to action on Saturday at New Lexington, while Athens aims to rebound that same day at John Glenn.
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