Planets pushed
ADAMS TWP — It's not that the Mars girls soccer team couldn't play with a one-goal lead — it's just something they are not accustomed to doing.
The Planets used an early goal by Sabrina Edwards in Wednesday's WPIAL Class AA quarterfinals playoff game, but needed a late goal to seal a 2-0 victory over Quaker Valley.
With the win, Mars (17-1-1) will face Belle Vernon in Tuesday's semifinals at a site and time to be determined.
“It's always nice to get the first one out of the way with the nerves,” Mars coach Blair Gerlach,” whose team had a first-round bye. “It's athletes against athletes.
“The thing that's nice is we haven't had a whole lot of game where the girls had to push for 80 (minutes). So, it was nice to get this game under them. It was a great way to prepare,” he added.
Quaker Valley (16-3-1) entered the game as the top No. 2 seed as the top seven seeds had at least a share of the section championship (due to ties) and had the task of facing a Mars team that's looking for its third consecutive WPIAL title.
“It's always tough to go out early,” Quakers coach Mike Pastor said. “I tell the team we want to face good teams like this. I sure would have liked to have faced them a little later.”
Edwards' goal came off a nice slide pass in front of the net by Bethany Perri, who buried the shot past Morgan Felt just 7:36 into the game.
“We tried to man mark their forwards,” Pastor said. “We wanted to stay as tight as we possibly could with them.”
“We played them last year and they did something similar,” Gerlach said. “They take a defensive position. When we crack the first one in, we think we can open it up.”
From there, however, the Planets had several golden opportunities to add to the lead, but Felt came up with several big stops, particularly in the second half, when she made seven of her 10 saves.
The Quakers had one chance in the first half on a header off a corner kick by Katie Hughes with 8:35 to go, but the ball sailed just over the net.
In the second half, Felt made three brilliant saves in a six-minute span, including a leaping catch from a shot from the wing with 31:30 left in regulation.
“Morgan's been phenomenal,” Pastor said. “She's been a staple of the team. She's a four-year starter and she kept us in it. She's definitely been the rock of the team.”
“I know Morgan,” Gerlach noted. “She played on a team I coached a year or so ago that was in a tournament out in Las Vegas,” Gerlach said. “It was a privilege working with her and some of the other (Quakers on that team).
“Without her, it's a few more in the net. It's fun to watch a player, a keeper like that who goes above,” Gerlach added.
Gerlach was finally able to take a deep breath when Karli Paracca shook off a defender up front an crushed a hard ground shot past Felt to double the Planets' advantage with 14:32 remaining.
The defense of Jordyn White, Erica Schwab, Shea O'Connor and Amber Fichter helped the team ring up its 13th shutout of the season.
“We had a couple of hiccups today, but all and all, we won,” Gerlach said. “We have another level of soccer to play.”
