Peters Township beats Butler to advance in WPIAL playoffs

The only familiarity the teams had with one another was through club soccer, but Butler coach Steve Perri knew the names of the players who could send the 11th-seeded Tornadoes home.
“(Hannah) Stuck and (Regan) LaVigna,” Perri said. “In the end, those were the two who scored.
The goals from the two potent offensive players for third-seeded Peters Township allowed it to recover from a one-goal deficit and defeat Butler, 2-1, in a Class 4A quarterfinal match Oct. 24.
“It is certainly a team effort, but you need to have your big players make big plays in big games,” said PT coach Pat Vereb. “They have done it all year and stepped up again tonight.”

Eleanor Bailey
Hannah Stuck heads a ball into the net for Peters Township’s go-ahead goal Wednesday night against Butler.
Peters Township (15-3) advances to play defending state champion Norwin, the second seed, Oct. 27 at a site and time to be determined.
LaVigna tied the score at 1-1 in the 44th minute when she ripped a ball from 20 yards and on an awkward angle to find the upper portion of the net.
With less than 25 minutes remaining, Stuck, who replaced LaVigna at forward after she left with a lower-body injury, soared above everyone else in the box to send a powerful header to the back of the net on a Kaila McFerran corner kick, giving the Indians a 2-1 lead.
“We started slow. It was probably our worst half of the season,” Stuck said of the first 40 minutes. “We knew we had the ability to fight back. Kaila is really consistent with her corners. It was a perfect ball and landed right on my head.”
The Indians were tentative for a majority of the first half after Gabrielle Boden gave Butler (11-6-2) a 1-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the match.

Eleanor Bailey
Peters Township’s Emma Cantwell, left, and Butler’s Gabrielle Boden look to control the ball during Wednesday night’s WPIAL girls Class 4A playoff match.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
“I don’t think we responded well to the goal,” Vereb said. “Once we gave up that goal, we stared to panic and look like a team that was scared. Halftime couldn’t come quick enough.”
The 10-minute break shifted momentum from one side to the other as the Indians controlled play most of the second half.
“It was a tale of two halves,” the frustrated Perri said. “I don’t think we got to our game for a single second in the second half. We didn’t play our game for a full 80 minutes. We didn’t deserve it in the second half.”