Nagy golden as BVA beats TJ
By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com
There was more than one big game between Thomas Jefferson and Belle Vernon Area scheduled this week.
The night before the two districts’ football teams take the field, the boys soccer teams went head to head as well, both entering undefeated.
But as they say, somebody’s “0” had to go.
The game lived up to the hype with the pendulum of momentum swinging furiously back and forth as the teams needed overtime to settle things.
Thursday, the hero was BVA’s Nick Nagy who scored the golden goal with 5:49 left in the first overtime to give the Leopards a 2-1 win to take sole possession of first place in Section 3-3A.
“It felt so good,” a winded Nagy said of the gamewinner. “All I remember is the hard shot in and the ball came to Ty. I just remember calling for it and sent it hard in.”
“I didn’t even see it,” Belle Vernon head coach Rob Miele said. “All I saw was the volley in then I saw everyone rushing the field.”
Belle Vernon Area (6-0, 5-0) started quick, dominating possession the first few minutes of the game with constant pressure in the Thomas Jefferson defensive end.
The persistence paid off as Daniel Gordon slammed home a loose ball after a corner kick to give the Leopards a 1-0 lead just over two minutes in.
“I thought early on we had the better play,” Miele said. “This was just a great game from both sides. It was two good teams, exactly what we expected. I have to give it up to these guys, though, because they never panic. They thrive in close games like this, I think we’re 3-0 now in one goal games.”
The Jaguars found consistency with their offensive flow near the midway point of the first half. They were buzzing all around the net, firing shot after shot but most went wide.
“I think we had about 15 chances throughout this game that we just didn’t have the touch on,” TJ head coach Doc Kulish said. “That’s a good team. Their keeper played well, but we just missed too many shots wide when we had chances.”
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