One was the magic number for the Odessa High girls soccer team.
The Lady Bronchos needed only one goal to defeat Abilene Wylie in their 1-0 win Tuesday night at the Ratliff Turf Fields.
A Yareli Barrera goal in the 11th minute ended up being the only thing that separated both teams in the home opening win.
“I thought we played pretty well and I thought we moved the ball pretty well against a good Wylie team,” Odessa High head coach Cecilia Kellar said. “They always are defensively pretty sound. We did a good job of keeping possession and creating opportunities for ourselves. We just need to be able to finish.”
Even though Odessa High (6-3-1 overall) managed just the one goal, the Lady Bronchos controlled the majority of the match, dominating possession and creating scoring opportunities.
An opportunity from Abilene Wylie’s Shaeyln Ward in the game’s 12th minute on a free kick was saved by Odessa High goalkeeper Bayleah Garcia. That proved to be one of the few chances the Lady Bulldogs had at finding the back of the net in the first half.
Odessa High’s Gia Nunez nearly doubled the lead in the game’s 21st minute but her shot was saved by Lady Bulldogs goal keeper Arianna Taylor.
Taylor would later keep out another shot on goal, this one coming from Cassandra Ramirez late in the first half.
Odessa High kept coming with chances in the second half as Malarie Ramirez had a good scoring chance turned away by Taylor four minutes after halftime.
Abilene Wylie (4-4-1) earned a corner kick with 30 minutes left in the game but the Lady Bronchos managed to clear the ball out of the box.
Odessa High would go on and control the ball for much of the second half just like it did in the opening half.
The Lady Bronchos continued to create numerous scoring chances for the remainder of the game but were unable to add on to their one-goal lead. But the Lady Bulldogs were unable to mount a serious attack for the rest of the night.
“I think we were able to make good decisions with the ball,” Kellar said. “We will be able to build off of that, going forward, especially with our young players. We got some good looks tonight.”
After opening the home schedule with a win, The Lady Bronchos will head back on the road to take on San Angelo Central at 7 p.m., Friday in San Angelo.
>>Follow Michael Bauer on Twitter at @OA_Michaelba
