WPIAL Girls Soccer Semifinals Monday Recaps 2010

By: Bruce Markey
Monday, November 1, 2010 | 12:00 AM

The WPIAL held six games on Monday night to set up the Super Soccer Saturday finals for the girls. The many surprises that have occurred in the girls tournaments didn’t stop in the Final Four. Here are recaps from the two Semifinals in all three classifications.

Thanks to Brandon Rebel, Adam Hoerner, Greg Kuntz and Greg Warnock for their help on these recaps.

WPIAL CLASS AAA SEMIFINALS:

Norwin Knights 2 – Hampton Talbots 0

A tight contest early turned into a lopsided 2-0 victory for the Norwin Lady Knights in this girls Class AAA soccer semi-final match. Hampton applied pressure in the first and last ten minutes, but the 60 minutes in between belonged to Norwin with their smothering defense and measured attack. Hampton was held to only four shots in the second half and their best chance came on a corner kick that almost became an “own-goal” after a Norwin defender headed a ball off of their own post. Norwin held fast, though, and stormed back with goals from Elizabeth Debo (from Janelle McIntyre) in the 32nd minute and Rachel Dellefemine (from Lauren Closser) in the 55th minute. Dellefemine iced the game in Norwin’s favor with her highlight-reel goal, a brilliant right to left crossover that she proceed to curl into the bottom left corner of the net past a diving Haley McDonald. Norwin will face Peters Township in the AAA Finals.

Peters Township Indians 4 – Pine-Richland Rams 0

Peters Township (18-2-0, 11-1-0) and Pine-Richland (18-3-0, 11-1-0) had very similar seasons, right down to identical final scores in their respective first round and quarterfinal victories in the 2010 Class AAA WPIAL Playoffs. Something had to give, though, and in the end it was the sparkling performance of a freshman forward which enabled the second-ranked Indians to triumph 4-0 over the third-ranked Rams at Chartiers Valley High School on Monday night. It was quiet for most of the first half with Peters dominating the offensive play until Veronica Latsko fired a postage stamp shot into the top left corner and gave her team a 1-0 lead in the 35th minute. Four minutes later, it was Lasko again, this time with a low shot into the bottom right corner, and the Indians were up 2-0 at halftime. Everyone in the stadium knew Pine-Richland needed a big start to the second half, including Latsko, so she figured completing the hat trick in the 41st minute was a great way to squelch that, this time blasting one into the top right corner off a feed from senior Hannah Caso. The Rams would pour it on from there, but senior goalkeeper Brittany Hoffman was equal to the task, turning aside several quality chances to preserve the shutout. In the 72nd minute, Latsko capped what was already a career night when Caso sprung her behind the defense, and she literally ran through sophomore keeper Haley Wessel to seal the victory. Peters advances to face Norwin for the Class AAA championship on Saturday.

WPIAL CLASS AA SEMIFINALS:

Beaver Bobcats 2 – South Park Eagles 1 in Overtime

The South Park Eagles had given up only four goals all season long and were fresh off a 2-0 shutout over Deer Lakes.  Beaver had defeated Southmoreland, 5-0, to set up this WPIAL Class AA Semifinal matchup with a spot in the Finals at stake.  South Park was a heavy favorite being the #1-seed with Beaver as the #12.  Both teams played stellar defense in the 1st half with South Park getting the better of the scoring chances, but Bobcats’ keeper Brianna Hellier made some key saves to keep her team in the hunt for the win as both teams went into the half scoreless.  However, in the 58th minute, Taylor Barum put a shot past Hellier to give the Eagles the edge, 1-0.  Not phased by falling behind, Beaver’s persistence defensively would eventually pay off as less than 4 minutes later, the Bobcats would turn a direct into an indirect free kick which was shot on goal.  Eagles keeper Sierra Davis would make the initial save, but she could not handle the rebound, and Shelby Lloyd would put the rebound shot high past Davis to tie the score.  The solid defense would continue into overtime, but just in the 2nd minute of the extra period, after both teams exchanged scoring chances, the Bobcats’ leading scorer, Erin Hogan, took a pass and fed Lloyd on a lead pass which split the South Park defense.  Davis made an attempt to challenge Lloyd, but Lloyd sidestepped Davis and put a soft shot into the empty net to give the Bobcats a stunning 2-1 upset victory over the top-seeded Eagles.  Thus both #1 seeds in Class A and AA were eliminated at Newman Stadium, and Beaver is on to the WPIAL Class AA Finals where they will take on the Mars Planets, who dominated the Hopewell Vikings to punch their ticket for Super Soccer Saturday.

Mars Fighting Planets 8 – Hopewell Vikings 0

The #2 seed Mars Planets looked to stay undefeated and advance to the WPIAL Championship Monday night, and they did so in a hurry. In the matter of 4:44, the Planets led 3-0 and were in cruise control. The first goal came from Alanna Haefner and was followed by two quick goals from Karli Paracca. The first half was really dominated by Mars, as they scored 7 of their 8 goals and rarely faced a shot from Hopewell. Goals came from several players to increase the lead, including Amber Fichter, Crysta Ganter, Paracca (her 3rd of the game), and Samantha Brueckner. Coming out of the second half Hopewell tried to piece together some sort of comeback, but a Patricia Glavin goal with 30:24 remaining took all the air out of the game to seal an 8-0 win for the Planets. Mars will move on to the WPIAL Finals with an 21-0-0 record and Hopewell move on to the PIAA tournament with an 11-10-0 record.

WPIAL CLASS A SEMIFINALS:

Shady Side Academy Indians 3 – Springdale Dynamos 2 in Overtime

For the third time this season, Class A Section 4 rivals Springdale and Shady Side Academy matched up at Newman Stadium at North Allegheny High School, but this time, the stakes were much higher as a spot in the Class A Finals for Super Soccer Saturday was on the line.  The Springdale Dynamos had won the first two meetings, but it was the Indians who struck first in the 36th minute as Margaret Scott blasted a shot from 25 yards out past Springdale keeper Erica Roney to take a 1-nil lead.  In the 58th minute, Scott cashed in again on a header which was set up by Makenna Krebs to put the defending AA champs on the ropes, 2-nil.  From that point, SSA looked to protect its lead, but less than two minutes later, the Dynamos got on the board as Erin Gilmartin took a feed from Kayla Harmon and beat Indians’ keeper Aubrey Jaicks to cut the lead in half, 2-1.  Springdale kept the pressure on the Indians’ defense going, and the persistence paid off in the 78th minute of regulation as Krista Edwards scored to tie game and force it into overtime.  Both teams played great defense in both the extra frames to force to decision via penalty kicks.  Anna Overly scored for Springdale to take an early 1-0 lead, but Krebs answered to tie it at 1.  Both Julie Bentley and Chelsey Adams had their shots stopped by Jaicks, but Molly Magovern scored to give SSA the edge 2-1. Kaylee Derringer eventually answered Magovern’s goal to even it at 2 a piece, but Katherine Prochownik answered that to give the Indians a 3-2 advantage.  Krista Edwards was the last shooter for Springdale, but her shot was stopped by Jaicks, and the Indians move on to the WPIAL Class A Finals where they will face Sewickley Academy, who was victorious over Greensburg Central Catholic Monday night.

Sewickley Academy Panthers 3 – Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions 2

The Playoff atmosphere was thick as these two schools battled to a 2-2 tie through regulation and both overtime periods. It came down to a shootout, and 8 rounds later the Sewickley Academy Panthers advanced to the first Class A Girls championship on Saturday. In a turbulent and exciting shootout round Meghan Torrence threaded home what turned out to be the winning shootout goal, but it was two consecutive misses off of a post that did in GCC’s playoff aspirations for good. Regulation goals were scored by Sewickley Academy’s Nicola Limbach (from Haley Vaccarelli) in the 17th minute and Haley Vaccarelli on a penalty shot in the 57th minute. GCC goals came from the leg of Blair Bolden (from Frannie Crouse) in the 27th minute and Claire Gongaware in the 53rd minute of play. Sewickley will face Shady Side Academy in the A Finals.