Leopards stun Rams in double overtime

BVA’s Trevor Kovatch connected with Jackson Pressel on a pass that led to the game-winning goal.

Goals have been hard to come by for the Ringgold boys soccer team lately.

Just four days after dominating possession and generating far more chances than Bethel Park in a 2-0 loss, the Rams (5-3-1) had a few scoring chances against Belle Vernon and again couldn’t find the back of the net as the Leopards (45) won the match 1-0 just 4:50 before it would have ended in a draw.

In the second half of extra time, Trevor Kovatch put in a cross that Ringgold goalkeeper Donovan Fortuna parried into the path of Jackson Pressel, who buried the winner for the first and only goal of the match.

“I feel like the competition’s been tough all year, and we needed a bounce to go our way,” Belle Vernon coach Al Yeschenko said. “I’m glad that we were able to get something against a really good team. They were really solid, and they played the full 95 minutes.”

Much like the last loss, Ringgold coach Rob Fabean was left frustrated that his squad couldn’t put the ball in the net.

“We had 13 corner kicks to their two, about 14 shots to their two, but we just haven’t found a way to score a goal,” he said. “

It’s almost impossible at this point. I mean, we can’t expect our defenders to just keep playing 80 minutes and not giving up any shots and corner kicks. We don’t give up any of them, but it hasn’t mattered because we’re not scoring.”

The Rams began the match attacking down the left through Cody Scheponik, and he had success generating chances for Ringgold.

He helped Michael Stasko fire a shot just wide and drew a corner for the Rams, but the Leopards did well to make sure that nothing came of those chances. With 10 minutes gone, Scheponik decided to have a go and hit a laser that went just above the crossbar and onto the football uprights.

It was all Ringgold early, but the next chance came to Belle Vernon and it was the best one up to that point.

There was 24:05 left in the first half when Brandon Yeschenko got a ball down the left flank and squared it across goal, but the strike from about eight yards out was thundered onto the crossbar to save Fortuna in goal.

Izaiah Wilson forced the first save from Bryce Burkhart three minutes later as he hit a shot right at the BVA goalkeeper to make for a comfortable stop to another mounting Ringgold threat.

Both squads generated a few more chances from set pieces before the end of the half, but it remained scoreless after the first half of play.

The Leopards opened the second half on the front foot with an opportunity on a header early, but it went wide and never challenged Fortuna.

BVA’s Jesse Sobczak almost had the next chance after a Ringgold free kick was cleared into his path, but the Rams stayed with him in the back and just managed to poke the ball away from him and towards Fortuna to collect. Sobczak made it tough on the Ringgold defenders during his quick shift for the first few minutes of the half as he almost got in behind once again, but he was just unable to reach a pass that Fortuna dispatched.

The next big chance went to Ringgold after a really strong passing exchange that led to Scheponik being set up in front of goal, but his shot went wide of the Belle Vernon goal as 20 minutes remained in regular time.

With 15:47 left to play, a set piece for Belle Vernon was flicked in the path of Trevor Kovatch and he had a chance right in front of goal, but he got under his flick and ended up putting the ball over the net to keep the match scoreless.

Kovatch was again played in at a tough angle on the right a few minutes later and his strike went wide before the Rams put a threatening free kick right into the hands of Burkhart. The Rams kept up the pressure with under seven minutes left as Scheponik hit a shot that would’ve gone in for the first goal of the match if it wasn’t saved on the line by Logan Metzger.

Marco Mucci came up with a big challenge minutes later as the Rams hoped to counter and spring Scheponik down the left side. The center back’s perfect slide prevented the dangerous winger from having a shot on goal as less than three minutes were left to play in regular time.

After Wilson hit one final shot wide, the match went to extra time still scoreless.

Halfway through the first half of extra time, Zach Whaley was up in Belle Vernon’s box for a corner and had a half volley towards Burkhart, but he made a nice save to ensure that the action continued.

Immediately after, Deydon Soto got a pass about 18 yards from goal and fired a shot towards Fortuna that he was able to collect to keep Belle Vernon from winning the match.

A minute later, Scheponik found Nick Evans who dribbled deeper into the 18-yard box and had a shot that forced the best save of the night for Burkhart as he stuck his right hand out and just prevented the effort from finding the back of the net.

Evans hit a shot just wide right of Burkhart before the end of the first half of extra time.

In the second 10 minutes, the Leopards had the first chance to score after two and a half minutes. Kovatch played a great pass to Yeschenko before he set up Chris Showman in acres of space from about 25 yards out. The freshman kept his composure, took a good touch, and curled a strike that looked like it was going past Fortuna, but it nicked off the crossbar and went out for a goal kick.

Finally, with 4:50 left to play, Kovatch got on the ball and beat his defender before putting in a great cross that Fortuna knocked away into the path of Pressel. Despite being 6 yards away, his strike almost went over the net, but luckily for the Leopards it hit the bottom of the crossbar and went into the back of the net to end it at 1-0.

Ringgold will hope to rebound against Albert Gallatin tonight while Belle Vernon will look to get a section win at Uniontown at 7 p.m. Yeschenko said that he’s hopeful that the win, especially against a rival, can help boost their spirits as they play through Section 3-3A teams once again.