Perfect placement
BUTLER TWP — Both offenses struggled to mount scoring chances in the first 27 minutes of Wednesday night's Section 2-AAA girls soccer clash between Seneca Valley and Butler.
Emily Cekella was more than happy to break the ice.
SV's junior midfielder headed in a corner kick with 12:29 left on the first-half clock, sparking the visiting Raiders to a 2-0 victory.
Up until the goal, Butler goalie Mackenzie Troyan was forced to make just one save. The scoring sequence came on Seneca's fourth corner kick of the game and first from the right side.
It came off the foot of Alicia Hart and sailed to the left side of the goal, where Cekella was waiting.
“Everybody likes to run toward the middle (on a corner kick), but I know where Alicia plays the ball and I stayed back,” Cekella said.
By the end of the half, the Raiders had extended their lead to 2-0, thanks to a goal from junior Sarah Anderson, who chased down a ball after a shot from the right side skipped across the goal-face.
Meanwhile, Butler's offense continued to come up empty-handed.
The Golden Tornado's first shot on goal came in the 52nd minute of play when Hannah Hays got to a ball 30 yards from SV's goal.
The shot was easily saved by Jess Neill, who made one more stop later in the game to get the shutout.
“I had seen a couple of Butler's games this year,” said SV coach Dave Sylvester. “They like to spread you out and come through the middle. I thought we did a nice job of defending against that.”
Butler did earn a pair of corner kicks in the second half.
“If the game had been 0-0, we would have played with some defense in mind,” said Golden Tornado coach Steve Perri. “But being down 2-0, we had to push it.”
Troyan finished the game with seven saves, including five in the second half.
“She's a three-year starter and has done very well,” said Perri. “We're working on her communication with the players in front of her and she continues to improve.”
The win keeps the Raiders (8-0, 6-0) undefeated.
“It's still early in the season,” Sylvester said. “We need to stay grounded and can't get ahead of ourselves.”
Butler is now 3-5 overall and 3-3 in section play.
“Our three wins came against teams (Hampton, Shaler and North Hills) that we expected to beat,” said Perri. “But two of our losses (North Allegheny and Pine-Richland), I thought we could have played much better. To get into the playoffs, we have to beat those teams.”
Both teams will be back in action on Saturday.
Seneca travels to North Allegheny and Butler hosts Hampton.
