Bentworth ousts Greensburg CC girls from soccer playoffs

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, October 27, 2018 | 7:15 PM

The end of the road in Greensburg Central Catholic girl’s soccer team’s quest for a back-to-back WPIAL Class A championships came at 1000 Weigles Hill Road Saturday afternoon at Elizabeth Forward.

The Centurions were in a battle against an opportunistic offense that scored two quick first-half goals and a goalkeeper who was at the peak of her game as No. 3 seeded Bentworth upset No. 2 Greensburg Central Catholic, 2-1, in the semifinals of the Class A playoffs.

“This was not how I anticipated this game,” GCC coach Ashley Davis said. “Just from history, if we get down and don’t score first, it hurts us a little bit. We just couldn’t finish them.”

Bentworth (17-2) moves on to Highmark Stadium to play in its first WPIAL girls soccer championship. The Bearcats will face top-seeded Freedom (19-1), which needed overtime to get past No. 5 Shady Side Academy, 2-1. Greensburg Central Catholic (12-3) will face Section 1-A rival Shady Side Academy (12-5) in the third-place game Wednesday at a site and time to be determined. The Centurions split the regular-season series with the Indians.

“The stars had to align,” Bentworth coach Tyler Hamstra said. “I knew that we would get our opportunities and then I knew that once we did, we would just have to defend our brains out for a long time.”

The Centurions dictated pace for much of the game. Shots narrowly missed wide right or wide left, and three shots hit the crossbar over the 80-minute match. Centurion sophomore forward Samatha Felder brought early pressure on Bentworth goalkeeper Candalaria Kossel but couldn’t find the back of the net.

The Bearcats scored on a breakdown in the Centurions defensive zone when Jocelyn Timlin fed Paige Marshalek, who beat GCC keeper Bella Skatel to her right to give Bentworth a 1-0 lead with 29 minutes, 11 seconds remaining in the first half.

Bentworth came right back just over a minute later when junior midfielder Rori Schreiber scored off another Timlin assist to put Greensburg Central Catholic in an unfamiliar position down 2-0.

“I think, in general, we get down on ourselves if we don’t score first,” Davis said. “Fortunately, we don’t get scored on first but when it does happen it takes a while for the girls to kind of compose themselves again.”

Freshman midfielder Tatum Gretz had an opportunity on a breakaway with 1:17 remaining in the first half, but it was another Centurion shot that missed just wide left of the goal.

The Bearcats took the lead and momentum into halftime. Hamstra gathered his Bearcats around and put them at ease.

“They came in and got around me with these serious looks on their faces, and I said, ‘Are you doing anything interesting today?’ “ And they just laughed,” Hamstra said.

Holding a two-goal lead, Bentworth parked the team bus in front of Kossel by dropping seven and sometimes eight players into the defensive zone during second half. Kossel finished with 16 saves.

Junior midfielder Samantha Nemeth finally put Greensburg Central Catholic on the board when she buried a shot past Kossel into the right corner of the goal to bring the score to 2-1 with 25:43 remaining. Nemeth came back with another shot with 15:44 on the clock, but the crossbar got in the way again.

“I think that they can learn form this. They can’t take any team lightly, and a couple simple mistakes can cost you a huge game,” Davis said.

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Bentworth, Greensburg C.C.