PIQUA — If a state championship were on the line, the heart and effort wouldn’t have been any better.
Piqua and Sidney went toe-to-toe for 80 minutes on Tuesday on the Wertz Stadium soccer pitch, with neither team able to score in a 0-0 tie in a Miami Valley League boys soccer crossover game.
“We just could not find the back of the net,” Sidney coach Jamie Fridley said. “We had plenty of opportunities, but with no results.”
The biggest play of the night involved both goalies.
Piqua was called for a foul in the box with 18:31 to go in the first half and Sidney goalie Trey Werntz took a penalty kick.
Piqua goalie Deacon Buechter was up to the challenge — as he was all night. Werntz went for the lower left corner of the goal and Buechter made the diving save.
“I was kind surprised the goalie was taking the kick,” Buechter said. “I figured he didn’t have a lot of experience (with PKs) being goalie. I just followed his eyes. Normally, you can’t do that (they won’t kick it where they are looking), but I was able to make the save.”
Buechter had four saves and was under fire a lot in the second half, as Sidney had eight corner kicks. Things got frantic a couple times late in the game.
On one, he was able to deflect a free kick and a Piqua defender knocked the ball out of play.
“It was pretty scary out there,” Buechter said with a smile about the last 10 minutes.
Piqua’s only shot on goal came early in the game, but the Indians were unable to convert.
“We outplayed Piqua in all phases of the game, possession was probably 70 percent to 30,” Fridley said. “They only had a hand full of shots against our stout defense, not to mention our stellar goalkeeper Trey Werntz.”
Piqua went 2-2-1 overall and 0-1-1 in MVL play with the tie, while Sidney is now 1-2-1 and 1-0-1 in MVL play.
Sidney returned to action on Wednesday when it traveled to Urbana for a nonconference game.
