Bridgeport boys edge Bees; East Fairmont girls score late to top Bridgeport

Khosa still scored a goal and helped the Bridgeport boys soccer team defeat East Fairmont 3-1 on Tuesday at Bridgeport.

And on the girls side, East Fairmont edged Bridgeport 2-1 despite being outshot 9-3.

The Indians struck first at the 11-minute mark as Khosa received a pass from Will Madden on the left side of the box near the goal and fired inside the left post.

“Will had a very nice cross in,” Khosa said. “The goalie hit it off of his hand straight to me, (and I hit it) straight in. (It was a) good finish in my opinion.”

Normally a defender — he has been a defender as a freshman, sophomore and junior — Khosa was moved up to center attacking midfielder tonight. His second goal of the season marks the most goals he has ever scored in a season.

“I think me being in the back is a good thing, but I think I could be better used in the front,” Burhan said.

Another goal, this time by John Dumas with 24:05 remaining, increased the Indians’ lead to 2-0.

“It wasn’t an own goal,” East Fairmont coach Eric Wright said. “We had a miscommunication out of the back between our goalkeeper and our defender, and because of the miscommunication, we didn’t play it out, and they had an easy put-in.”

With 15:57 remaining in the first half, an East Fairmont corner kick from the right was redirected with a header and cleared by a Bridgeport defender, but ended up at the foot of East Fairmont’s Braydon Christopher.

Christopher fired a shot from the 10-yard line inside the upper right corner of the goal, cutting the Indians’ lead to 2-1.

Following a first-half rain delay of approximately 30 minutes, neither team scored leading up to halftime.

The Indians increased their lead to 3-1 with 33:05 remaining in the second half as John Dumas finished a rebound off of a save from a previously-taken shot. Dumas’ shot was inside the left post.

The Indians had six shots on goal compared to five by the Bees. Bridgeport goalkeeper Levi Crayton saved four shots. East Fairmont goalie Nick Myers saved three shots.

East Fairmont’s Spain Lindsey fired a shot from the right side of the box with less than three minutes remaining, but Bridgeport goalkeeper Levi Crayton saved it.

“Tonight, in my opinion, was the most complete game they’ve played as a team,” Bridgeport coach Keith Dumas said. “They haven’t been, at times, all together but at the same time working together. This time, they all came together and worked together to make (it a team effort). They were working for each other tonight, not just for themselves or individual plays at times. We’ve been talking a lot about that, so if we can get that mentality, it’s going to change our game completely. We didn’t score beautiful goals tonight, but we got it done, and that’s what it’s all about.”

It was the Indians’ first loss to a Big 10 opponent since Oct. 20, 2018.

The Indians struck first with 30:04 remaining as LeeAnn Gaskins leapt over a sliding East Fairmont goalkeeper Zoe Boyles, who had initially made a save but had the ball roll past her, and took an uncontested shot into the goal.

A handball by East Fairmont gave Bridgeport’s Kylie Bender a free kick from the 30-yard line, but the shot was saved by Boyles.

With a little under 17 minutes remaining in the first half, Bender fired a shot from about 25 yards away towards the left post, but Boyles made the save.

With a little over 11 minutes remaining, Bridgeport’s Anna Hutchinson took a shot from about the 20-yard line, but Boyles played it on a bounce and stopped it.

Ally Mann’s shot from the left side of the box was stopped by a leaping Boyles near the right post.

Bridgeport took six shots on goal in the first half compared to one by the Bees.

“It was more about quality of shots,” Wright said. “They had a couple really good shots, but I thought we defended early. We defended hard, and they got some shots off, but we were trying to make them difficult — difficult angles, difficult shots — that way we had a better chance of defending it with our goalkeeper.”

Bridgeport took a corner kick less than two minutes into the second half that deflected off of a Bridgeport player and towards the goal, but was saved by Boyles.

With 33:27 remaining in the second half, the Bees scored the equalizer as East Fairmont’s Kierstyn Maxey received a pass from Maddie Lott on the left side of the field near the 15-yard line, dribbled into the box and fired a shot right of Bridgeport goalkeeper Emily Anderson.

“She (Maxey) controls everything in the midfield,” Wright said. “That’s why she’s the all-state player she is.”

Anderson, however, stopped a one-on-one shot from Lott with over 26 minutes remaining.

The Bees took a 2-1 lead with 20 minutes remaining on Leah Paugh’s shot from the box that sailed over the reach of a leaping Anderson and under the crossbar. Lott assisted that shot as well.

A shot by Bridgeport’s Gabby Reep from inside the box with approximately seven minutes remaining was saved by Boyles.

The Bees’ Carlie Ice took a free kick from the 10-yard line that was deflected wide by Adalynn Parilak with 4:56 remaining.

Boyles ended the game with eight saves.

“Zoe had a great game in goal,” Wright said. “She was tested; they got nine shots off. They had four or five quality shots that Zoe handled, and then there were a few plays that Zoe blew up before they even had a chance to get to the shot.”