Mt. Pleasant girls dispatch Shady Side Academy, clear quarterfinal hurdle

By: Ted Sarneso
Saturday, October 25, 2025 | 3:19 PM

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Third time’s the charm.

The past two seasons for the Mt. Pleasant girls soccer team ended in tough defeats at home in the WPIAL Class 2A quarterfinals.

But thanks to leading scorer Morgan Gesinski, the No. 4-seeded Vikings (14-4-1) were finally able to clear that hurdle Saturday, with a 2-1 victory over No. 12 Shady Side Academy (8-10) at Vikings Stadium in Mt. Pleasant.

“A big monkey off our back,” Vikings coach Rich Garland said. “We were outplayed in those two previous quarterfinal experiences, and we weren’t going to be outplayed today.”

The Bulldogs came in looking tostop Gesinski, and for much of the first half, the game plan worked.

“We knew we wanted to keep the ball out of our zone and out of the feet of Gesinski and get them back on their heels to create more scoring opportunities for us,” Shady Side coach Mary Lynch said.

But with less than four minutes remaining in the first half, Gesinski found herself with the ball and open field ahead of her down the left side and sped past defender Anna Schroder. She found Addie Cole all alone in front of the net.

“I normally check and scan to see where my teammates are in instances like that when we’re entering the attacking third because you need people with you,” Gesinski said. “Right before I crossed the ball, I looked and saw a defender was checking over. I picked my head up and fired the pass over to Addie.”

Cole took a beat to corral the pass and buried it past the left side of Maria Ravotti, tying the score 1-1 before the game went to the half.

Coming out of the half, Garland was looking for more from his senior playmaker.

“I asked her to get more creative with the ball,” Garland said. “She didn’t have a lot of touches in the first half and I told her, ‘I need the ball at your feet in the second half.’ She stepped up and started creating some dangerous stuff.”

It didn’t take long for Gesinski to create as she gave the Vikings the lead just three minutes into the second half.

As she was coming down the right side, Gesinski said she saw the ball come in off the foot of teammate Addison Czekaj and made a move around her defender.

“All I did was turn and then open towards the net, and all I had to do was place it past their keeper,” Gesinski said.

Shady Side stifled the Vikings attack for much of the first half, keeping them hemmed in their own zone and trying to prevent the Vikings from gaining any ground.

The Bulldogs didn’t have many offensive chances but capitalized on a huge opportunity near the halfway point of the opening frame.

After a defensive zone clear, Allison Shi picked up the ball behind the Vikings defense and headed toward the goal with teammate Sarah Kushnir coming with a full head of steam.

As both girls approached, Shi turned and passed it back to Kushnir, who dodged an incoming Vikings defender and fired one past Laurel Rummel at the 21-minute, 29-second mark.

“Shady Side’s always dangerous,” Garland said. “We just had to stay organized, and we were outside of that one mistake. We didn’t give up anything really threatening in the first half. You have to give Shady Side credit, they’re a quality team and they play a quality style.”

Added Lynch: “I think it was pretty even all around. We created some good scoring chances in the first half and then when we scored, I think we got a little complacent, more defensive-minded instead of continuing to push up into our attack.”

Both teams finished with five shots.

Mt. Pleasant advances to the semifinals for the first time since 2022 when it reached the championship game. The Vikings will play No. 8 Burrell, which upset No. 1 South Park, 1-0, on Saturday.

For Shady Side, it was a solid season of growth, spurred on by its senior leadership.

“We’ve improved so much, and a lot of it had to do with our four senior captains,” Lynch said. “They set the example for the younger players and once they started to play more with each other, things started to click at the end of the year.”

Tags: Mt. Pleasant, Shady Side Academy