Mars girls soccer defied own expectations to make PIAA semis: ‘I didn’t think we’d make it this far’
WEXFORD — This is what they call playing with house money.
Mars girls soccer (19-3) heads to Altoona’s Mansion Park Stadium on Tuesday night for a PIAA Class 3A semifinal clash hoping to earn a ticket to Friday’s final.
The Planets’ season should’ve finished a few mile markers short of the upcoming state semifinal against Lower Dauphin.
“We’ve probably overachieved by about four or five games at this point,” Mars coach Blair Gerlach said after Saturday’s 1-0 PIAA quarterfinal win over South Fayette. “That doesn’t mean that I don’t think that we’re a competitive team. I just think that the expectation wasn’t there, and I love the underdog thing. ... The girls have embraced it.”
“If you’d asked me in August, I didn’t think we’d make it this far,” striker Meredith Ashbaugh said after the victory at North Allegheny’s Newman Stadium. “As a senior, I didn’t think we were going to win this game. It’s pretty big that we’re going to the semifinals.”
From Aug. 30, 2019 to Nov. 5, 2022, the Planets posted a 78-0-2 record. They claimed three consecutive WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A championships during that unbeaten streak.
This team hasn’t had such a juggernaut reputation, as evidenced by Gerlach’s reference of the training montage in Rocky IV.
“Sometimes, you’ve got to roll your sleeves up and get your job done,” Gerlach said. “Rocky’s training in a barn and (Ivan) Drago’s in state-of-the-art facilities. It doesn’t matter what you have or where you come from. It’s what you’re willing to do. If you’re willing to put yourself out there the sake of your team, good things can happen.”
The Planets face another challenge Tuesday.
The District 3-champion Falcons enter with a 20-2 mark. Senior Ashley Economopoulos is a large offensive threat for Lower Dauphin and is committed to play collegiately at Old Dominion.
Mars fields a freshman goalkeeper in Ciara Spaun. She shined in the win over the Lions after coming out on the wrong end of a penalty kick shootout in the teams’ encounter last month. The defenders in front of her are willing to take shot after shot to their bodies.
“We’ve been using the analogy of the Penguins’ Game 7 years ago against the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup,” Gerlach said. “We were up by a goal and there was a minute left and bodies were just diving across the face of the goal to block shots. I said, ‘Guys, if we can play with that urgency — scramble but stay under control — we’ll have a chance.’”
The Planets, of course, are thrilled to still be competing at this juncture. One more win, and they’ll play Friday in the state championship game.
“We hoped to, but it wasn’t an expectation,” Gerlach said. “The expectation was if we do everything we can, every moment, we give ourselves the best chance to surprise some people.
“I think we’re certainly in the surprise category at this point.”
