Flyers, Tigers battle to draw in 1st ever meeting

IRONTON — In the intra-city battle of the big school vs. the little school, the winner is…no one.

The St. Joseph Flyers hosted the Ironton Fighting Tigers Tuesday in a non-league soccer game that ended in a 2-2 tie.

"Our midfield looked sluggish all game and our spacing wasn't the best, which (Ironton) took advantage of," said Flyers coach Mike Balestra. "Make no mistake that was a good Division 4 team and they're intensity was there all night."

Ironton (7-3-2) got a break and took a 1-0 lead at the 22-minute mark of the first half on an own goal.

The scoring play happened when Luke Turley fired a shot from near midfield and a Flyer defenders' header went backwards, over the reach of the goalie an into the net to break the scorless tie.

But St. Joseph (7-3-2) tied the game a minute later when the Flyers were awarded a penalty kick after a foul was committed in the box.

On the kick, Jack Whaley's kick into the right bottom corner got past a diving Liam Almekinder to even things.

"That was a big goal for us because we hadn't done a good job up until that point of getting good looks offensively," said Balestra.

In the second half, the Flyers came up with a turnover and turned it into a goal when Whaley fed a pass to Sophie Rowe and Rowe ripped a shot from their left wing to give the Flyers their first lead of the game just two minutes in.

However, Ironton tied the game on an unassisted goal by Brayden Neal at the 30-minute mark.

Neal had a chance to put his team ahead just past the midway point of the second half, as he got ahead of the defense going up the left side, but Neal was unable to get a clean shot off towards the net.

One of the Flyers best scoring chances came just two minutes later when Barrett Waginger fired a shot from up top and the ball banged off the cross bar.

The Flyers had one final chance where the ball was bounced around following a corner kick from Whaley and Mason Weber tried to volley one into the net, but Almekinder to sweep the ball away from the right side to keep the game even.

St. Joseph took a total of 26 shots with 15 on goal. Ironton had 13 shots with five on goal.

On Thursday, the Flyers visit New Boston at 7 p.m. in a Southern Ohio Conference-1 game while Ironton travels to Portsmouth for a 6 p.m. clash.

Ironton 1       1       =       2

St. Joseph 1       1       =       2

First Half

Irn — Own goal (St. Joseph hits ball into own net; Luke Turley last touch by Ironton) 22:00

SJ — Jack Whaley penalty kick 21:00

Second Half

SJ — Sophie Rowe (assist Jack Whaley) 38:00

Irn — Brayden Neal (unassisted) 30:00

———————

Total Shots — St. Joseph 26, Ironton 15

Shots on Goal — St. Joseph 13, Ironton 5