GCC girls maintain dominance in Section 1-A with win over Shady Side Academy

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, September 13, 2017 | 9:12 PM

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Greensburg Central Catholic's Samantha Felder was in a hurry to leave after Wednesday night's soccer game in Carbon.

Her coach yelled across the field for her to come back for an interview. The wide-eyed freshman came running but did not stay long.

“Sorry, I have homework,” Felder said. “Language arts and biology.”

Felder must have studied up on rival Shady Side Academy, too.

She scored both goals as the No. 2-ranked Centurions extended their section winning streak to 84 with a 2-1, Section 1-A victory over the top-ranked Indians at Centurion Stadium.

GCC has not lost a section game since a 2-1 setback against Springdale in 2010.

Mars' girls won 85 in a row, a streak that ended last year but is believed to be a WPIAL record.

Longtime foes have jostled for WPIAL Class A soccer supremacy for nearly a decade. And GCC (3-0, 3-0) maintained its control in section matches against the Indians (2-2, 2-1), the defending WPIAL champs, despite both teams being under the leadership of new coaches and fueled by the play of new names.

“This was my first time experiencing it,” GCC first-year coach Ashley Davis said. “I think this might be the first time they were ranked ahead of us. I think it just came down to our girls playing harder. I think I burned as many calories as they did.”

The teams have played 23 times since 2010, with GCC winning 19. Shady Side's four wins have all come in the postseason, including wins over the Centurions in last year's WPIAL championship and PIAA semifinals.

GCC had to regain control after it let the lead slip away just before halftime.

“We knew we could get it back if we kept playing together,” said Felder, who has six goals this season.

After Felder scored in the 16th minute on a dribble-and-shoot down the near sideline, bumping the ball ahead in traffic, Shady Side tied it 1-1 with about seven seconds left in the first half on a sneaky score that caught GCC off guard.

A crowd formed just right of the penalty arc as time grated down. Junior midfielder Krystyna Rytel emerged with the ball and found spacing to fire a shot high and right past GCC junior goalkeeper Bella Skatell, who was otherwise flawless, making seven saves.

Davis, a former Norwin, Westminster and Pitt-Greensburg player and coach at Westmoreland Community College and Penn State Greater Allegheny, said her team got too comfortable with the early advantage. They were resting when they should have been working the ball away.

“We have been working on that,” Davis said. “In our game against Riverview, we kind of fell asleep for the final 30 seconds. We have to get used to playing 80 minutes. And in a half, we can't play 39 minutes and 30 seconds. You see what can happen.”

The winner came in the 59th minute when junior Sarah Orndoff crossed to Felder, who headed the ball on the run to beat Indians goalie Trinity Murphy high and make it 2-1.

Sophomore midfielder Caroline Davis' shot nearly went in with 1:30 left, but it skidded across the top of the crossbar.

Felder knows GCC has had some outstanding goal scorers come through in recent years, Frannie Crouse (Penn State) and Bailey Cartwright (Notre Dame) among them, but she doesn't consider herself to be the heir apparent to Cartwright, the next big scorer.

Davis even said she hopes to spread the scoring around.

“I know about them,” Felder said. “It's not all about scoring goals, it's about whatever I can do to help us win. I couldn't do it without my teammates.”

Shady Side lost junior defender Gabriella White to a leg injury in the first half. She did not return.

Murphy had six saves for the Indians.

The teams play again Oct. 7 at Shady Side.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Shady Side Academy