Freeport overcomes nerves, blanks North Catholic in WPIAL first round

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, October 20, 2018 | 6:45 PM

Freeport battled nerves and a strong wind through much of the first half of its playoff opener Saturday.

Both Mother Nature and the Yellowjackets calmed down in plenty of time for the team to continue its recent run of postseason success.

Sidney Shemanski scored twice, and Carli Giori added another goal as Freeport overcame a nervy first 15 minutes to post a 3-0 victory over No. 9 North Catholic in a Class AA girls soccer first-round game Saturday at Mars Athletic Complex.

“It’s all mental,” said Shemanski, a junior. “I know from my past years of being in playoffs … it’s definitely mental. Whoever scores that first goal, you have to be strong and keep going as the game goes on because a lot of girls just quit if you give up the first goal. They get down on themselves.”

The Yellowjackets (11-6-2), who lost several starters after advancing to the Class AA semifinals each of the past two seasons, nearly gave up that crucial first goal. But one of their most untested players stood tall: Senior goalkeeper Maddie Wagner, an addition to the soccer team this fall who didn’t even begin the season as the starter, made four big saves in the opening 20 minutes.

North Catholic’s Tehya Dave had a pair of strong chances, and Alexis Wateska had a partial breakaway, but Wagner came through.

“Maddie Wagner, I can’t say enough about what she did for us today, just keeping us in it long enough to get something going,” Freeport coach Brittni Grenninger said.

Freeport was playing into a stiff wind throughout the first half — “We were running so hard, (and) we weren’t going anywhere,” Shemanski said — but the Yellowjackets broke the scoreless tie when Shemanski took a pass from Autumn Kriebel and put a left-footed boot past goalkeeper Andrea Bean with just less than six minutes left before halftime.

“Once we got that first goal, we got that confidence and knew that we were able to keep more and get the pressure up,” Shemanski said.

Emma Check sprang Giori for a breakaway that made it 2-0 in the 11th minute of the second half, and Shemanski added a header goal on a Kylie Hoffman corner kick about two minutes later, a score Grenninger said she thought “kind of took the wind out of their sails.”

From there, Freeport clamped down on North Catholic, holding the Trojans (9-6-1) to one shot on goal in the second half.

“I told my girls, every team I’ve coached walking into playoffs, playoffs is a different story, no matter how you play the whole season, no matter how you did previously against a team,” North Catholic coach Christyn Bobak said.

“Every team is going to bring new elements and a new passion and a new heart. But no matter what the score is at the end of the game, these 22 girls, I’ve never coached a team that has had more heart or more class.”

Freeport advances to the quarterfinals, where the Yellowjackets face top-seeded South Park on Wednesday at a site and time to be determined.

“I’m happy, all in all, with everything,” Grenninger said. “After the first 15 minutes, I’m happy.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Freeport