Pirates erase three-goal deficit in second half, earn tie with Parkway Central

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Hannibal girls soccer coach Eric Hill was pleased with how his team played during the opening 10 minutes of their Lady Pirate Invitational game against Parkway Central on Friday.

“We were passing the ball, we were keeping possession,” he said.

Then things unraveled.

Parkway Central scored three goals in nine minutes to take a 3-0 lead with 21:45 left in the first half.

Oncebeing shellshocked wore off, the Pirates found their stride. They rallied for three goals in the second half to earn a 3-3 tie at the Veterans Sports Complex.

“We talked about it at halftime, let’s start finding feet again, let’s have a purpose with our passes instead of just sending a ball up and hoping for the best,” Hill said. “The girls did a great job of executing that in the second half, really looking for passes, looking to connect something.”

The Pirates’ first goal came just 1:30 after halftime, as junior Ashley Davis scored off of a Kegan Greening corner kick. 

Greening and Davis connected on another corner chance three minutes later, but only after the ball deflected off multiple players in front of the goal, at which point Davis headed it in to cut the deficit to one.

“Right place, right time,” Davis said of the goal. “They did a lot of zone marking in there, so I just went in there and tried to get what I could.”

The equalizer came as a result of a penalty kick, though not in the traditional sense.

A handball in the 18-yard box rewarded the Pirates with a chance from the penalty spot. Parkway Central goalkeeper Jamie Sevasko made a sprawling stop on junior Abbie Martin’s initial shot, but the rebound squirted back to Martin, who tucked into the back of the net to tie the game.

“She got on it, she read me right,” Martin said of her penalty kick. “But then I just followed up and made it.”

Said Hill, “We want to put the PK away, but sometimes the keeper makes a good save. But when they make a good save, they’re usually sprawled out and on the ground, and if it bounces right and we follow up, there’s a good chance to go ahead and put that thing back in.”

Hill said while a tie is not an ideal result, the Pirates can take some solace in the fact that they were able to salvage a result after trailing by three goals.

“We feel a lot better after this game than Parkway Central does,” Hill said. “Being up 3-0 and coming out with a 3-3 tie is a bit different than coming out with that result after being down 3-0.”

The Pirates (8-1-2) will face Southern Boone at 9 a.m. Saturday before a 4 p.m. match with St. Charles West.

Both Hill and Southern Boone coach Wade Vandelicht said their game will be a test of physicality.

“Southern Boone is an aggressive team,” Hill said. “They’re going to be physical. We’re going to have to come out and match that and hopefully top that.”

“They’re fast, they’re physical, probably bigger than us,” Vandelicht said of Hannibal. “We’re just going to have to step up and shield balls, draw fouls, and not get amped up and try to do things that we’re not capable of doing.”