Academy talent Kat McGuire’s late second half strike earns Steel City FC women a 1-1 draw at Flower City 1872

Photo courtesy Steel City FC

Steel City FC women’s squad battled Flower City Union FC to a 1-1 draw on Sunday, at Rochester Community Sports Complex, in Rochester, NY.

With the tie, Steel City FC (4w-0L-2D, 11 points), remain in contention for postseason berth in United Women’s Soccer league, while Flower City (3-3-1) were eliminated.

In the 15th minute, the hosts were awarded an indirect free kick in the penalty area after the Steel City goalkeeper Payton O’Malley (Chartiers Valley/Bowling Green) touched a back pass with her hands in the penalty area. Maria Karipidis took the kick and passed to Chloe DeLyser, whose attempt was cleared off the line.

In a match that was fairly evenly played, Steel City was on the front foot at times in the first 45 minutes, but came up short on three quality chances, including two from Audrey Bianco (Hampton/CMU).

After Bianco snatched a ball away from Courtney Carter in the 25th minute, her 20-yard effort from the right side that bounced off the crossbar. In the 34th minute, Flower City 1872 goalkeeper Sam Haley had to save another Bianco shot, then, Marissa Salisbury (formerly WVU/Riverhounds Academy) put the rebound over the bar.

At the break, Head Coach Tom Ovenden tweaked his team’s shape, but they were still unable to find the go-ahead goal, eventually conceding to Flower City at the 70th minute mark as Maya Ikewood, moving on up from her center back position, intercepted a pass and fed Bridget Merkel a through ball.

Merkel slotted a left-footed shot into the lower right corner for her second goal of the campaign past keeper O’Malley. It was Ikewood’s first assist of the year.

In the 86th minute, after getting some momentum Kat McGuire’s strike from 24 yards out had enough pace to beat Flower City’s diving goalkeeper Sam Haley into the far corner.

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With momentum from the equalizer, Steel City FC nearly scored again in the 88th minute, but the goal was waved off due to a foul call on SCFC.

With a goal coming from a homegrown player (McGuire. rising Senior at Butler HS), Ovenden was excited to see player from Steel City FC’s Academy program make an impact on the first team.

“Kat played a game with such maturity today. As a single pivot she controlled big parts of the game and eventually scored the equalizer from 24 yards,” Ovenden said.

“(She’s) a real talent from the SCFC academy. Her ceiling is very high indeed, looking forward to watching her continue to develop.”

Special Thanks to Steel City’s Marikaye DeTemple and additional match detail courtesy Front Row Soccer’s Michael Lewis.  

Full Match Replay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB3QxfiYBeY