Canon-McMillan beats Peters Township in a shootout, 2-1
Abigail Gillespie (No. 15) heads a ball away from the Canon-McMillan goal area during WPIAL Class AAA girls’ quarterfinal playoff action against Peters Township. Gillespie scored the decisive goal during the Lady Macs’ shootout victory against the Indians, 2-1.
Addison Oddi (No. 11) and Madison Schwerzler (No. 14) battle for the soccer ball during WPIAL Class AAA girls’ soccer action. Oddi helped Canon-McMillan defeat Peters Township, 2-1, in a shootout. Oddi initiated the Lady Macs’ first goal in regulation. Though the Indians knotted the contest on a goal by Laurel Carpenter, Canon-Mac won the match with a 4-3 advantage on penalty kicks in the shootout, which came after 110 minutes of play.
Upper St. Clair defender Heather Godwin (No. 23) goes after the soccer ball during WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinal action against Penn-Trafford. Despite Godwin’s efforts, USC dropped a 2-1 decision to the Warriors in overtime.
In a shootout, Canon-McMillan defeated Peters Township, 2-1, and advanced to the semifinals in the WPIAL Class AAA girls’ soccer playoffs for the first time in recent history.
With the win, the Lady Macs improved to 15-3-2 overall. They will play Moon, a 1-0 winner over Plum, in the semifinals set for Oct. 27. The victory also clinched a PIAA playoff berth for the Lady Macs.
After 110 minutes of play, including two, 15-minute overtimes, the Lady Macs settled the contest on penalty kicks. Abigail Gillespie scored the decisive goal, CM’s fourth in the series. Sydney Keremes, Cheyenne Trest and Ashlyn Whipple registered the first three goals.
“The girls put their whole hearts into this game,” said C-M skipper Dave Derrico. “It’s a relief to finally be on the right end of this,” he added after as many as eight unsuccessful attempts to beat the Lady Indians in recent memory.
The Lady Indians, who had twice beaten the Lady Macs in the regular season, 2-1, and 1-0, won the Section 4 banner with an 11-1 mark, losing only to Moon, 3-2. Peters Township, which was a WPIAL finalist last year and three-time state champions prior to that, finished the season at 16-2-2 overall.
Of losing in a shootout, Pat Vereb said, “it’s a brutal result but that’s the way it’s played. In previous years, we needed shootouts to make it to championships. This time around we weren’t so lucky.”
Indeed, twice attempts by the Lady Indians sailed high of the net. Laurel Carpenter, Maddie Santo and Madeline LaVigna, however, did make their penalty kicks.
Luck certainly was not on the Indians’ side in the regular field of play, particularly in the second half and overtime frames. Twice Peters Township had wide-open shots on the net but failed to convert.
Carpenter did strike paydirt and knotted the contest, 1-1, on a direct kick midway through the first half.
The Lady Macs scored first. In the game’s opening minutes, Allison Oddi initiated the action off a corner kick. The Peters defense had a hand in putting the ball in the net on an own goal.
In other quarterfinal playoff action, Penn-Trafford also needed overtime to advance to the semifinals. With 41.9 seconds left in the first extra 15-minute frame, Maggie Mastrogiacomo scored her second tally of the game to lift the Warriors over Upper St. Clair, 2-1.
After nearly 77 minutes of scoreless action, both teams exploded for goals to push the game into overtime. Penn-Trafford took a 1-0 lead with 3:04 to play on a Mastrogiacomo’s tally. However, with 74 seconds to play, Brianna Erdman netted the equalizer to knot the score for the Panthers, 1-1, forcing the overtime.
The loss ended USC’s season. The Section 5 champions finished the year with a 12-3-5 record.
South Fayette also ended its season. The Lady Lions dropped a 3-2 decision to Yough in overtime. Tori Valachovic and Autum Heineman scored for the Lions.
In the Class A playoffs, Seton-La Salle succumbed to Mohawk, 3-2.