Mt. Pleasant girls roll past McGuffey in soccer playoffs, get rematch with Burrell

By: Ted Sarneso
Tuesday, October 22, 2024 | 9:36 PM

When the final horn sounded on the Mt. Pleasant girls soccer victory over McGuffey on Tuesday night, there wasn’t much in the way of celebration from the Vikings bench.

The players had the look of determination, that this win was just a box checked on their journey to the WPIAL Class 2A final.

“Right now, we’re focused on the finals, and anything short of the finals will be a disappointment for this group,” Vikings coach Rich Garland said. “I haven’t needed to stress that fact to them. They have taken it upon themselves to be motivated towards that goal.”

The top-seeded Vikings (15-1) again lit up the scoreboard and were stiff defensively in an 8-0 win over No. 16 McGuffey (8-7-1) in the first round at Viking Stadium in Mt. Pleasant.

As they have done all year, the trio of Rylin Bugosh, Maddie Barrick and Morgan Gesinski left their fingerprints all over this contest.

Bugosh scored the opening goal and tallied two assists, and Barrick and Gesinski recorded hat tricks.

“Rylin’s a workhorse,” Garland said. “She’s the kind of kid you can’t keep up with because she doesn’t stop. Maddie and Morgan are the beneficiaries of that and vice versa. It’s really fun to watch.”

The Vikings used their speed and skill to possess the ball for nearly the entire time. McGuffey could muster only one solid possession in each half.

“That’s a quality team,” Highlanders coach Vince Schmidt said. “There wasn’t much we could do. You try to keep track of them, but they have players coming from all over the place. We knew that coming in.”

“The big thing with us is our speed,” Garland said. “We’re a talented group, and if we stay focused, stay intense and increase our speed, we’ll be tough to play against. If we have lapses, then we’re going to face challenges.”

Mt. Pleasant struck right from the opening whistle as Bugosh dribbled her defender into McGuffey goalkeeper Miranda Weaver, and as the two Highlanders collided, Bugosh pushed the ball into the open net.

Just two minutes later, Gesinski deposited one to the back of the net off a beautiful feed from Barrick, who later would score off an outstanding feed from Bugosh.

Coming down the middle of the field, Gesinski was pushing toward the net when Bugosh yelled for her to drop the ball. Bugosh then cut toward the middle of the field and somehow found Barrick sneaking in behind the Highlanders defense. Barrick fired one past Weaver.

“That’s something those three have really been working on,” Garland said. “When they first came in, we knew they were talented and could score goals. But to be dynamic and unselfish up front that was what we needed them to develop.”

With 12-and-a-half minutes left in the first half, Gesinski struck again, this time with a bullet from 20 yards for a 4-0 lead.

Seconds later, Barrick tapped the ball past the goalie after a feed from Regan McCormick, who took her time to dissect the defense before dropping a touch pass.

Barrick then scored her hat trick goal off a corner kick from Fullman, and the Vikings led 6-0 heading into the half.

The second half opened with Gesinski scoring her third goal, and, 16 minutes later, Jaden Kantorik picked up a McGuffey clear and fired the ball toward the net from 30 yards, and Gwen Podolinsky got her foot on it to deflect it past Weaver.

The Vikings milked the time away for the rest of the game and came away with the expected victory.

It was a tough loss for McGuffey, but Schmidt allowed some time for reflection on his team’s season

“We’re pretty happy with how the season went,” he said. “We have nine underclassmen and only four seniors graduating. Our freshmen and sophomores are very good and we can see the balance coming up for next season. We look forward to a lot of growth for next year. The goal will once again be to make the playoffs and we’re looking forward to it.”

For Mt. Pleasant, a familiar foe awaits in the quarterfinal round Saturday. The Vikings will host No. 9 seed Burrell in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinals. The Bucs beat Mt. Pleasant, 2-1, in overtime in that game.

“It will be a nice match for us, give us a reason to focus up again and avenge last year’s loss,” Garland said. “They’re well coached, and we want to make sure we present that intense, fierce game that lets them know it’s going to be a challenge.”

Tags: McGuffey, Mt. Pleasant