Shady Side Academy shuts out section rival Apollo-Ridge in 1st round

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, October 23, 2017 | 9:00 PM

Apollo-Ridge faced a manageable one-goal deficit with halftime in its sights. Then came the score that helped turn the Vikings' chances at their first postseason victory into a washout.

Krystyna Rytel scored with 2 seconds remaining in the first half, and No. 5 Shady Side Academy pulled away in the second half for a 4-0 victory over No. 12 Apollo-Ridge in a WPIAL Class A first-round game Monday night at Penn-Trafford's Warrior Stadium.

“Our girls played a heck of a game, some of the best soccer they've played all season,” Apollo-Ridge coach Matt Ross said. “They played hard. They played their hearts out in this game.

“I think they took it to Shady Side. I think they gave (Shady Side) something they didn't know they had.”

Rytel's goal opened the figurative floodgates. She and Christina Davis both scored their second goals of the game in the second half under a literal floodgate of torrential rain.

“That's huge,” Shady Side Academy coach Leah Powers said. “I think that just set the tone to start the second half.”

Apollo-Ridge (10-5), in its third season as a member of the WPIAL and making its second playoff appearance, was seeking its first postseason win. Shady Side Academy won the WPIAL Class A title last season and finished second in the state.

The Section 1-A opponents played twice during the regular season. In the first meeting, Shady Side Academy (11-3) rallied from a 2-0 deficit to post a 3-2 win. In the second, the Indians posted a 7-0 rout.

“I feel like we knew what their strengths were, and we were able to defend their strong forwards, and we knew how to play up top to beat their strong defenders,” Powers said.

Davis gave Shady Side Academy a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute on the first shot of the game, but Apollo-Ridge goalkeeper Madison Galinac made a pair of strong saves on Rytel to keep the score that way as the end of the half approached.

Then came Rytel's buzzer-beating goal.

“That didn't change anything for us,” Ross said. “Those girls played to the buzzer. There's no quit in that team.”

Rytel scored in the eighth minute of the second half as the steady rain began to turn sideways, and Davis added another about six minutes later.

“(The rain) was another factor I was worried about,” Powers said. “We haven't played in the rain all season. This was very different for us. It took us about a half to figure out how the ball was going to skip, but they caught on.”

Galinac made three saves before leaving midway through the second half after colliding with a Shady Side player.

Shady Side Academy advances to play No. 4 Sewickley Academy in the quarterfinals Thursday.

Ross praised the work of his senior class, who helped bring girls soccer to Apollo-Ridge as a club sport in 2014 before the Vikings joined the WPIAL the following season. They helped lead the program to back-to-back WPIAL playoff appearances.

“Every year, this gets better,” Ross said. “This group here, I've been waiting to get these girls all together. It was a great season with these girls. I can't say enough good about them. They're a good bunch of kids.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Shady Side Academy