Game of inches
CLARION — Inches.
That's how close the Karns City girls soccer team came to playing in the state quarterfinals.
With the score tied at 2 late in the first overtime of Tuesday's PIAA Class A first-round playoff at Clarion University's Memorial Stadium, the Gremlins had two point-blank shots at Shady Side Academy's goal.
The first, from Emily LoPresti, was headed toward an empty net when an Indians' defender retrieved the ball just in front of the goal line. Her desperation boot sent the ball to KC's Abby Wolfe, whose attempt was saved by SSA goalkeeper Samantha Morlacci, who had regained her position.
Just two minutes later, the Indians' Sarah Hacke ended KC's season with a goal in the 93rd minute.
“The ladies did an amazing job tonight,” said Gremlins' coach Tracy Dailey. “They did everything asked of them. Unfortunately, things didn't work out for us.”
The Gremlin boys also suffered a close defeat, falling to Vincentian Academy 1-0.
The winning goal in the girls' game came after the Indians sent the ball toward KC's net from 35 yards out. Gremlins' goalkeeper LeErin Jones had been playing outside the inner goal box and had to retreat to get to the ball, which was an arching shot. It bounced once just yards in front of the net, and Jones, with her back toward the rest of the field, swatted the ball and it ricocheted off the left post as she fell to the turf.
Hacke was the first SSA player to arrive and she made it count by scoring the deciding goal.
Jones had made four saves in overtime prior to the winning score.
The Indians (18-4) trailed 2-1 at halftime and scored the tying goal in the 67th minute on a free kick from 35 yards by Jackie Cepicka.
“That goal gave us the momentum entering overtime,” said SSA coach Mary Lynch. “At halftime, we talked about winning more 50/50 balls and making the easy passes. I felt we did that.”
The Indians scored first on Elizabeth Harper's tally in the 12th minute. KC had put Morlacci under heavy fire early and scored the equalizer just 90 seconds later on a long shot from senior forward Emily LoPresti, who scored again on a free kick in the 34th minute for a 2-1 edge.
Even with the lead at halftime, the Gremlins had several close chances not result in a goal that would come back to haunt them.
Megan McCartney challenged Morlacci with a pair of shots a minute apart early in the first half, but the keeper made the stop both times. McCartney also had a shot from 25 yards out sail just over the crossbar in the 26th minute.
“We could've finished better, but take nothing away from Shady Side. They're a great team,” Dailey said.
Both keepers stopped 10 shots in the game.
Though their bid to extend their season fell just short, this year's Gremlins proved worthy of the program's great tradition by winning the District 9 title.
“I'm ecstatic,” said Dailey, who was in her first season as the team's coach. “The players did a great job with the changes I made. We sure are going to miss our seniors, but I'm looking forward to getting the rest back next year.”
<B>Vincentian Academy 1, Karns City 0</B>The Gremlins' best scoring chances came early in the game, but Vincentian goalkeeper Cameron Fuller and the Royals weathered the storm.Fuller made five saves in the game, three of them coming in the first 12 minutes. He was staked to a 1-0 lead when Nate Hodder scored the contest's lone tally in the 35th minute.Aside from the stops Fuller made early, the Gremlins (18-3-1) had other shots sail wide or high of the net.“We probably made more mistakes in the first 10 minutes of the game than we had all year,” said Royals' coach Mike Haberman. “Cameron played well and kept us in the game.”The second half brought with it far less offensive push for Karns City. The Gremlins tallied just one shot on goal in the final 40 minutes — a shot from 30 yards by Spenser Myers in the 77th minute. Earlier in the half, Noah Pollock had a header go wide and high of the net. Otherwise, the Royals (19-3-1) clamped down defensively.“In the first half, we were able to find the seams,” said Gremlins' coach Jim Grenninger. “But in the second half, we started to panic. We got away from our passing game and tried to pass a lot of long balls. They (Royals) moved an extra player into the midfield and we weren't able to mark him as well.”David Olszak had eight saves for Karns City, which won the District 9 Class A title this season for the first time since 2007.“We upgraded our schedule a bit and the guys lived up to it,” said Grenninger. “Sometimes the journey is a lot better than the end result.”
