Burlington C., Richmond battle to draw

Ninety minutes of soccer produced only one good scoring opportunity Tuesday night.

Fortunately for Burlington Central, goalkeeper Taylor Martin was able to make a diving save and preserve a 0-0 tie against visiting Richmond-Burton in Big Northern East play.

With 25:40 remaining in the second half, Richmond-Burton’s Elizabeth Wertz hit a right-footed shot. Martin dove to her right and got a hand on the ball. The ball hit the post and was cleared from danger.

“Our goalkeeper made a great save in the second half, which was a key factor to us staying in the game,” Central coach Stephen Berry said.

Central (6-0-1, 3-0-1) attacked with the wind behind it in the first half and controlled possession much of the half. But the possession didn’t result in scoring chances. Central had only one shot on goal, which also was its total for the match.

Attacking into the wind in the second half, Central had better possession than R-B (4-0-1, 4-0-1) did when it attacked into the wind. Central just wasn’t able to connect on a final pass to created a scoring chance.

“It was more productive for us to go against the wind,” Berry said. “Obviously sometimes you can’t get out of your own end for a while. We just never could get that final penetrating pass. Richmond’s defense was solid.”

Richmond-Burton sacrificed some offense for defense because of Central’s speed up front. High-scoring sophomore Amanda Hogland played as a central defender as one of Richmond-Burton’s usual starting central defenders was out with an injury.

“Really proud of the way the girls played in that first 40 minutes (keeping it 0-0),” Richmond-Burton coach Chris Wagner said. “A little disappointed how we played the last 40. We wanted to push, but couldn’t quite figure it out.”

Neither team had much of a chance during the two 5-minute overtime periods.

Martin finished with 4 saves, all in the second half, for Central. Hannah Koenig needed to make just 1 save for Richmond-Burton.