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Burrell falls to Archbishop Wood in PIAA girls soccer championship OT heartbreaker

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Friday, November 14, 2025 | 10:15 PM

MANCHESTER — Intensity, physicality, dangerous scoring chances, high-level defensive plays.

That is what one would expect from two high school girls soccer teams going after a PIAA championship.

Burrell and Archbishop Wood delivered on all of those Friday night as both came to Northeastern York High School seeking their first state title.

In the end, the Vikings, the District 12 champions, prevailed.

Wood senior forward Kylie Wiest scored with 14:12 left in the first 20-minute overtime to lift her team to a 2-1 victory. It was the Vikings’ sixth shot on goal of the game and seventh overall.

Burrell (15-8-2) tied the score 1-1 with three minutes left in regulation on a goal by sophomore co-captain Parker Moore. But elation for the Bucs and hope in the extra session turned to sudden heartbreak.

“Wood is a good team,” Bucs coach Frank Nesko said. “They had us under the gun for a lot of the night. But for us to show the heart and desire to come back with three minutes left where most teams might give up, I was proud of the girls for that and really proud of the way they played the whole game.

“There is heartbreak and tears now, but I am sure that will soon turn when they have the chance to reflect on all they accomplished this season, especially with our run to the (PIAA) title game.”

Burrell rebounded from a loss to rival Freeport in the WPIAL championship game at Highmark Stadium and beat three district champions, including the Yellowjackets in the semifinals, to punch its ticket to the title game.

Archbishop Wood (16-6-1) played in a PIAA title game for the third time.

The Vikings lost the 2010 Class 3A championship to Peters Township and the 2020 Class 2A final to Moon. Both were played at Hersheypark Stadium.

“To be honest, I don’t think we had another 40 minutes in us,” Wood coach Maria Kosmin said. “I think you could see it in both teams. Both exerted so much effort and energy (in regulation). We needed to end it quickly, and we talked about needing to attack. We couldn’t play safe.

“This is such an amazing feeling. This doesn’t just happen over the course of one season. Players and coaches from before set the groundwork. For this year’s team to be the one to get that first state championship … I said it from the beginning of the season that this team is special.”

Burrell came out strong in the second half of the scoreless game with three shots in the first 10 minutes, the final one unleashed by freshman Kendall Coury from the right wing from 15 yards.

Archbishop Wood started to gain a majority of the possession at the midway point of the half.

Vikings senior midfielder Paige Eckert, a New Jersey Institute of Technology commit, had a dangerous chance up close with 15:20 left on the clock. Wood maintained possession deep in the Bucs end and Eckert converted with exactly 15 minutes on the clock.

It was Eckert’s fifth goal in her team’s final three PIAA games.

“They got what I would consider a really good goal,” Nesko said. “There was nothing that we did wrong. She just made a nice play to score.”

Burrell didn’t give up and pushed hard to get the possession back in the Vikings’ end of the field. The Bucs earned a corner kick with three minutes left. Junior Eva Wilson delivered the ball into the box, and Moore redirected into the back of the Wood goal to tie the game.

“Eva placed a really nice ball, and Parker did a good job to get a piece of her body on it,” Nesko said.

The Burrell faithful erupted.

Both teams tried to get the game-winner over the final three minutes, but the defenses held firm.

As expected, with teams as unfamiliar with each other as Archbishop Wood and Burrell, there was a feeling-out process over the first 10 to 15 minutes. Each team owned their share of possession, but nothing dangerous materialized.

Sophomore Allie McMahon fired off the game’s first shot on goal, an attempt from about 25 yards in the second minute.

Wood set up for a free kick in the seventh minute, but the kick by Vikings sophomore Molly McConnell was turned away by the Bucs defense before it made it to junior keeper Leah Waldsmith.

Burrell had a free kick of its own in the ninth minute, but the shot from Wilson sailed out of bounds to the left of the Wood goal.

The Vikings’ first shot came in the 11th minute, but Waldsmith was right there to make the save.

Eckert set up for a free kick at 40 yards with 17 minutes left in the half. Her dangerous rocket shot left the field a foot above the Burrell goal crossbar.

Bucs junior McKenna Miller had a solid chance of her own in the 30th minute. Her point-blank attempt from 15 yards was stopped by Wood junior keeper Catherine Gabel to keep the game scoreless.

Another free kick from Wilson got in on the Wood goal with 50 seconds left in the half.

“(Wood) does a good job of playing soccer the way we play soccer, so we were kind of looking at a mirror image of ourselves,” Nesko said.

“A feeling out process was a good way to describe it, and that can get you frustrated. Both sides were feeling that frustration. A lot of the game was being played between the 18s, especially early on.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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