BY STEVE HANF
SALISBURY POST

MOUNT ULLA— The result remained the same for the Salisbury girls soccer team.

The Hornets’ mood after losing to West Rowan for the second time in six days improved remarkably, however.

Salisbury followed up a 6-1 drubbing by the Falcons in the Rowan County Tournament with a 1-0 loss at West on Wednesday night. Allison Ruff’s goal in the 32nd minute held up as Salisbury battled down the stretch but just missed on several close scoring chances at the end.

“It took losing for us to get something started,”said Hornet senior Jennifer Bauk before teammate Anita Edwards interrupted.

“A butt-kicking,”she said of the 6-1 defeat. “We knew we had to play a lot better than last time. They’re a good team, but we played with heart this time.”

The Hornets applied plenty of early pressure, but a West defense led by Lauren Bucher, Angela Cruz,Tiffany Oliver and Jenna Burris didn’t allow many shots.

That was good, as it turned out. In goal, for the first time ever, was freshman Julia Hartsell. Regular keeper Nichole Peebles suffered a jammed hand and broken finger Monday at Robinson and was out of the net.

“I’ve never, ever played. I was really nervous and then I started to warm up,”said Hartsell, who netted her first save at the 24-minute mark. “That felt awesome. It really boosted my confidence. I thought I’d be able to do it the whole game.”

At the other end, Hornets Amber Wingerson, Kathryn Bauk and Edwards were keeping theFalcon offense at bay. Keeper Courtney Desorbo made a nice save on a Ruff shot 28 minutes into the match, then West put together a perfect strike.

Eight minutes before the half, Jodi Hatley made a nice pass to Peebles, who played in the field in each half. Peebles sent a pass down the left side to Ruff, who dribbled in alone and sent a perfect line drive toward the upper right corner for a 1-0 lead.

“She’s fast,”Edwards said of Ruff. “They had two people up on one player and did what they were supposed to do. It was a nice shot.”

West made several other nice breaks to the goal, including one four minutes before halftime that saw Desorbo come out and deflect a Jessica Matthews attempt. Matthews and Lauren Duffy teamed for several other chances in the second half but came away empty.

“The one big thing, besides the excellent play of Salisbury, was that we didn’t finish well,”West head coach Rich Erdman said. “We had some excellent opportunities to salt this one away, in the first half and the second half.”

Salisbury tried its best to take advantage of the one-goal margin. With 22 minutes left to play, Mandy Marcengill made a nice run and had her shot stopped by Hartsell. Kathyrn Bauk sent one high after a West turnover with 18 minutes to play. Over the final 15 minutes, Kathryn Bauk, Andi Steele, Anne Claire Thompson and Stephanie Kelly all kept the ball in West’s end.

The Hornets’ closest scoring chance came in the final minute, when freshman Brynn Dailey sent a long pass to Kathryn Bauk. The play nearly worked, but Bauk’s shot headed just over the bar under heavy pressure from the defense.

“I was trying to find Kathryn at the back post for one last shot to try to tie it,”said Dailey, who didn’t realize just how good her long pass was until it reached Bauk exactly as planned at the post. “I was like, ‘Wow, there it goes.’ ”

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NOTES: West lost 4-0 to Robinson for its first defeat of the season against three wins. Erdman described the new school’s squad as “a whole team of Lauren Duffys.”

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Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4256 or shanf@salisburypost.com .