Sudden test
JACKSON TWP — Oakland Catholic’s Emma Lowery hit a rocket shot four minutes in that let the Seneca Valley girls soccer team know its WPIAL Class AAA first-round playoff game Saturday at NexTier Stadium wasn’t going to be a walk-through.
The shot especially got the attention of Raiders’ sophomore goalkeeper Jessica Pollaci, who was making her first playoff start. Pollaci lunged toward Lowery’s shot, deflecting the ball with her hand into the post. The ball went spinning along the goal line before it was cleared away by a defender.
Pollaci quickly settled in, making eight stops to help fourth-seeded Seneca Valley earn a 1-0 win over the 13th-seeded Eagles.
“I didn’t know what to expect from this team,” Pollaci said. “I heard some things, but you can’t always believe what you hear. I just took a couple deep breaths and focused. I told myself I can’t let this team down and I have to win it for them.”
Every member of the Raiders, who are the two-time defending WPIAL champions, had to buckle down against Oakland Catholic (11-8). Seneca Valley coach Dave Sylvester was pleased with how the Raiders were challenged.
He knows they will face a similar test in the quarterfinals against Peters Township Wednesday at a site and time to be determined.
“This was awesome because we’ve had first-round games before that were three, four, five, six to nothing,” Sylvester said. “This was a very good test. Oakland Catholic played well and they gave us a good game.”
The Eagles pressed early and forced Pollaci to be active. Oakland Catholic finished with 10 shots, including eight on goal.
“We had a gameplan and it worked pretty well,” Eagles’ coach Rich Mader said. “We changed a lot of things around for today and it was working in the beginning and it worked the whole game. We just couldn’t get the shots.”
Getting shots wasn’t a problem for Seneca Valley (15-3), but finishing those opportunities was a struggle for the Raiders.
Part of it was Eagles’ goalie Michaela Reinhart, who made eight saves. Seneca Valley also couldn’t find a way to stay onside. The Raiders were caught out of position six times, including five times in the first half.
“I think we had some good chances early on and didn’t finish and we got frustrated by it,” Sylvester said. “I think we lost our composure. I kind of scolded them in the huddle after the game, because that’s not us. They are hard-working kids and they’ll give you everything they have.”
Sarah Anderson, who got caught offside four times, finished on her fifth try. She got forward and slotted a shot that went inside the post with 2:40 remaining before halftime.
“You have to adjust, I guess,” Anderson said. “I learned after I got called off a couple times.”
After halftime, Seneca Valley kept pressing, but couldn’t add another goal. Lauren Sileo had two headers off corner kicks that floated over the crossbar.
Maddie Seibel and Emily Cekella also hit shots that went just wide of the post for the Raiders. Oakland Catholic’s best chance came in the 60th minute. Essence Canady got in on net and hit a shot that Pollaci punched over the crossbar.
Seneca Valley’s defense never allowed the Eagles to get too close.
“We communicated a lot better and we got everything out we needed to get out,” Pollaci said.
Seneca Valley did enough to sink Oakland Catholic.
The Raiders know moving forward that every team will be eager to take them on. Seneca Valley is just focused on keeping its composure.
“We just try to take it game by game,” Anderson said. “We don’t try to look ahead. We definitely have a different team this year, we lost a lot of good seniors, but I think we’ll have a good run.”
