Published: October 10, 2008 12:10 am      

Finishing strong

West girls stay unbeaten; boys fight to tie

RACHEL — While things aren’t close to finished, both the North Marion and West Fairmont girls’ soccer teams can sit back, take a deep breath and look at all they’ve accomplished thus far.

Yes, the Huskies’ regular season ended with a loss, 3-1, to the visiting Polar Bears Thursday night, but the team managed to post a 9-3-3 mark and crack the top 20 of the wvsoccer.net state rankings.

West, which closes the regular season with a home match Saturday morning against Robert C. Byrd, has been even more impressive. The Polar Bears are 13-0-4 , ranked first in the state in Class AAA and have rattled off eight shutouts.

Not that either is content. Coach Debbie Cattafesta hopes to get West’s passing game going in preparation for next week’s North Central Athletic Conference tournament. The veteran coach thinks a brief break in the team’s hectic schedule could be the perfect remedy.

“(North’s) field is a little challenging to play on; it’s harder to maneuver,” Cattafesta said. “We just weren’t making the connections and couldn’t get the passing game going.

“But we’ve been playing three games a week. Their legs are a little tired. Their dream has always been to go all the way, and they don’t want that dream to die. They’re ready to get started (for the playoffs).”

Still, the Polar Bears did more than enough to add another notch in the win column.

They finished with 22 shots on goals, held a 10-5 edge after halftime and kept the Huskies’ chances to a minimum.

North netted its lone score with two minutes left, as Tiffany Nicholson knocked in a penalty kick.

“We didn’t want to get shut out and, thankfully, we didn’t,” North coach Josh Barker said. “Tiffany did a good job knocking in the penalty kick. We’ll take that and try to build on it.”

West got a solid offensive effort out of seniors Tai Cattafesta and Laura Dalton.

Cattafesta had the Polar Bears’ first two goals, the latter with an assist from Lauren Retton, on a close-range shot to help cap the opening half. Dalton, meanwhile had an assist and added a goal that caught the far left corner of the net at the 24-minute mark of the second half.

In the boys’ contest, West and North battled to a 0-0 deadlock. The Polar Bears had a 9-3 advantage in shots in the first half. No further details were available when the Times West Virginian went to press.

“We wanted to have a winning season and get in the top bracket in the NCAC tournament,” Barker, who coaches both the boys’ and girls’ squads, said. “We’re feeling positive going into the playoffs and think both teams have got what it takes it make a run.”

North recognized 16 (nine girls, seven boys) senior soccer players prior to the start of Thursday’s nightcap.

E-mail Nick Cammuso at ncammuso@timeswv.com.