Four For No. 4: Kusic Powers Wheeling Central To State Soccer Championship Match
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BECKLEY — In a match “four” the record books, Wheeling Central Catholic junior midfielder Loni Kusic — who wears No. 4 — scored four goals Thursday morning as the Maroon Knights defeated James Monroe 6-0 in the state semifinal match of the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission Class AA-A state soccer championships.
Wheeling Central’s girls are the defending Class AA-A state champions, and they will now face Lincoln for the state championship Saturday after the two-seeded Cougars defeated No. 3 Sissonville 3-1 in their own semifinal game.
Kusic, who now has a school-record 43 goals on the season, started the scoring in the fifth minute for Wheeling Central by corralling a rebound off James Monroe’s keeper and burying it into the net. She started the scoring in the fifth minute for Wheeling Central by corralling a rebound off James Monroe’s keeper and burying it into the net.
Seven minutes later, a free kick from Central defender Maddie Steele from midfield proved troublesome for the James Monroe keeper, with the wet conditions playing a role. Kusic was there to clean up and secure her second goal.
In the 33rd minute, Kusic and Elah Konkle played keep away from the defense, moving the ball between each other before Kusic netted her third goal. Konkle scored four minutes later on an excellent move through two defenders, blasting a shot off her left foot to make it 4-0 at intermission.
Kusic netted her fourth goal five minutes into the second half, off a pass from Elizabeth Steele. The final goal came 15 minutes later when Kusic fed a corner to Maddie Steele, who curled the ball into the far right corner of the net for a 6-0 lead.
Kusic said her teammates executed a perfect game plan on Thursday. “We’ve been working hard in practice, and we just have such a strong team culture and chemistry,” she said. “We executed our game plan really well today.”
Wheeling Central goalkeeper Bella Fitzsimmons made several saves to earn her clean sheet, the 50th for her career. Her best save of the match came in the 28th minute when she first stopped a point-blank shot off a corner, and then, from a free kick just outside the box, used her fingertips to swat away a shot headed for the top right corner.
Wheeling Central head coach Bill Konkle commended his girls for the strong effort Thursday.
“We had some time off coming into this game, so it was good to get back on the field against a strong opponent. It took us a little time to get going, but once they started connecting on passes, good things happened and we were able to open the field,” he said.