Article published May 6, 2007 GOALIES' DELIGHT Canton, Plymouth kickers battle to scoreless draw BY ED WRIGHT STAFF WRITER There were no goals (at least ones that counted) in Wednesday's Plymouth-Canton girls soccer game, but there was more than enough suspense. The two cross-campus rivals battled to a 0-0 draw in a contest that was coated with drama and late-game controversy. The tie left Canton's record at 4-3-2 overall and 3-1-2 in the Western Lakes Activities Association's Western Division. Plymouth is 3-4-4 and 4-0-2. Both teams celebrated what they thought were second-half goals, only to have their momentary joy dashed by the referee. Plymouth's non-score came with 17:23 left when Canton goalie Bree Bellovary leapt high to snare a shot headed for the back corner of the net. When she landed with the ball in her grasp, Bellovary came down near the goal-line -- close enough to spark a premature celebration by the Wildcats, who thought the ball was across the line. "I could see that the ball was over the line from where I was," said Plymouth coach Jeff Neschich, "but the official ruled it wasn't. Then we dodged a bullet late in the game with the offsides call." The ruling Neschich was referring to occurred with 1:40 left when Canton's Becci Houdek launched a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box. Plymouth net-minder Brittany Warner jumped high to deflect the ball straight up and into the cross-bar. The ball then rolled in front of the goal before Canton's Megan Staub right-footed it into the net. The Chiefs celebrated -- until they realized the official had called offsides against Canton prior to Houdek's free-kick. "I thought our girls did a great job of pressuring, pressuring and pressuring late in the game," said Canton coach George Tomasso. "We needed a win tonight -- a tie does nothing for us -- so we switched our formations around a little and kept attacking. "We got a goal called back against us the first time we played them (a 1-1 tie two weeks ago), which I agreed with. I totally disagreed with the offsides call tonight. We had a great effort and the girls deserved better than the final outcome." Plymouth came within inches of scoring a first-half goal and within a head -- Hannah Mills', to be exact -- of scoring with 18:03 remaining. Val Klemmer hit the post with a shot mid-way through the first half. Mills then saved the Chiefs' shutout mid-way through the second when -- with Bellovary still recovering from a previous save -- she headed a shot off the foot of Megan Quinlan out of harm's way and over the cross-bar. "Hannah did a great job of closing down on that shot," said Tomasso. Both goalies came up big in every pressure-packed situation they were confronted with. "I thought our pace was a little slow tonight," said Neschich. "At moments we were good; other moments we weren't. It was a pretty even game. We had three or four good scoring opportunities. Neschich praised the defensive efforts of Brittany Hengesh, Chelsey Quinlan and Casey Webb. "Clare Baptist made a lot of things happen out there tonight, too," he added. Baptist sent a charge through the Plymouth crowd when she rushed up the right side with the ball as the clocked ticked down inside 10 seconds. Her shot from the right wing was cradled by Bellovary as the horn sounded.