Lola Abraham does it again, scoring 4 to send Riverview to state championship game

By: Michael Love
Tuesday, November 14, 2023 | 10:09 PM

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The Riverview girls soccer team’s second trip to the Johnstown area in a week’s time was just as successful as the first.

Senior Lola Abraham tallied all four goals for the Raiders in a 4-1 victory over District 6 champion Bishop Guilfoyle on Tuesday in a PIAA Class A semifinal at Westmont Hilltop’s Price Field.

“Coming out on top in this game, it’s such an amazing feeling,” Abraham said. “We’re all so excited to be playing for a state championship. We continue to make history with this team. I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls to go with on this ride. It has been a team effort the whole way. Every girl contributed to this win and also throughout the playoffs and the season.”

Riverview will travel to Mechanicsburg for Saturday’s title game against District 1 champion Dock Mennonite (20-1-2).

Mennonite punched its ticket to the state final with a 4-0 victory over District 11 champion Moravian Academy on Tuesday.

“The ultimate goal for this group is to get to states and win a state championship,” Riverview coach Sean Abraham said. “The girls are one game away from that. They have to stay focused in their preparation. Practices and training sessions have been really good this whole time. They are not even close to the point where they want to fizzle out. They are a close group who has fun playing together.”

Bishop Guilfoyle saw its season come to a close at 21-2 overall.

“This was our deepest (state playoff) run ever,” BG coach Joe DeLeo said. “We had a great season.”

The Marauders played without their full complement of players for the better part of the game. Senior defender Sarah Geishauser left the game with a knee injury in the 14th minute.

Then late in the first half, BG senior and leading scorer Nicole Hawk, a Pitt-Johnstown commit, was whistled for a hard tackle and received a yellow card. It was raised to a red as the official ruled dissent on her after his original call.

“It was tough to lose Sarah that early. She had never missed a minute in her four years,” DeLeo said. “When we lost Nicole, it made it difficult to play down a player.

“But I was super proud of the girls. They fought really hard. I couldn’t have been any prouder for the way they fought through everything. We felt we had a good game plan, but it kind of fell apart with the injury and the red card. But (Riverview) is a very good team. I don’t want to take anything away from them.”

Riverview held a 1-0 lead at the half, came out with pressure and got a shot off in the first minute.

About a half minute later, Abraham gave the Raiders a 2-0 cushion with a goal from 27 yards out.

She hit from about the same spot three minutes later to make it 3-0.

Abraham scored her fourth of the contest and 77th of the season with 12:13 left. She was taken out of the game after her final goal.

Freshman Hannah Hudack finished with two assists, while sophomore Isabel Chaparro also assisted on one of Abraham’s tallies.

“It was nice to have the lead at the half, but we came out of halftime wanting to keep that intensity up, and we did that,” coach Abraham said. “They were able to stay focused and play like it was a 0-0 game. We knew (BG) was going to keep fighting.”

BG avoided the shutout as sophomore Delaney Lechner scored with 1:01 left.

Riverview ended the game with a 13-7 advantage in shots and 10-3 in shots on goal. BG freshman keeper Cece Rumfola made five saves for the Marauders, while Raiders senior keeper Chiara Brun stopped two shots.

BG almost had the lead in the second minute of the game as sophomore Hailey Degol rang one off the post.

Freshman Emma Marasco had the Marauders’ only shot on goal of the first half a couple of minutes later.

BG was unlucky again as a shot deflected off the crossbar from 35 yards out with 13:25 left in the first half.

Abraham had all four Riverview shots in the first half, with three of them on goal.

Two of the shots were boomers from 42 and 37 yards that sailed right in the open arms of Rumfola.

Abraham’s first goal of the game came with 15:27 left in the half. She took possession near the edge of the box on the right wing. Rumfola came out to make a play, but Abraham maneuvered around her and a couple of defenders to right in front of the goal and deposited the ball into the open net.

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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