Pine-Richland wins in OT
Standing 8 meters away and staring at the Fox Chapel net with a free position, Caitlyn Byerly knew she had the WPIAL Class 3A girls lacrosse championship on her stick.
“I was really nervous, I know that,” Byerly said. “But I also knew it was my opportunity to take it away for my team because we worked so hard, and this was my chance.” And she made no mistake. Byerly took three strides and whipped a low shot past Fox Chapel goalkeeper Makenzie Miller with 23 seconds remaining in overtime for her third goal of the match to give Pine-Richland a 12-11 victory against the previously undefeated Foxes and give the Rams their first WPIAL title.
In a game that featured six ties and as many lead changes, Pine-Richland trailed, 11-9, with less than three minutes remaining in regulation before Byerly picked up her second of the game at 22:16 and Marina Miller notched the hat trick with 2:03 remaining to tie the score.
“The girls have a lot of heart,” Pine-Richland coach Brittany Adams said. “They’ve been in these situations where we’ve been down and they don’t lose a step. They mentally reconvene and they’re ready to go and I’m so proud of them.”
Fox Chapel got five goals, including four in the second half, from Georgetown recruit Megan McCrady, but the team could not get the ball to her at the two most critical times of the game.
After Pine-Richland scored the tying goal, the Foxes got the ball off the faceoff and set up a four-corners offense deep in the PineRichland zone looking to set up a final shot. After working the ball around, for nearly two minutes, though, the Foxes ran out of time and threw a desperation shot at the Rams net that went awry.
In the overtime, Fox Chapel once again got the first possession, but could not get it to McCrady. Instead, sophomore goalkeeper Abigail Levier made a critical save, which allowed the Rams to break out and eventually set up the winning play.
“I think as a coach you always second-guess, did we do the right thing and that kind of thing and, at the end of the day, they didn’t execute what was being asked of them and certain plays that were being called to them,” Fox Chapel coach Katie Lundberg said. “But those things happen. It’s a game. It didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but we’re extremely proud of them.”
Class 2A
Oakland Catholic pulled off the improbable when it handed top-seeded Quaker Valley its first loss of the season in the WPIAL Class 2A semifinals. A second upset in the final just wasn’t in the offing.
Jocelyn Coholich and Caroline Larkin each scored four goals and Melinda Maers chipped in three as No. 2 Hampton (20-1) won its first title in a 15-5 romp against the Eagles.
“We haven’t played this team before so we didn’t know what to expect,” Hampton coach Kelsey Viets said. “We knew they were a very quick team in transition, and it was all about winning the draw.”
Hampton was able to take advantage of its quickness and scoring touch while jumping to a 4-0 lead, including goals on each of its first three possessions.
Rachel Hurst, Yelena Kaminski and Julia Wolf scored in the first 3:13 as the Talbots jumped out to a 5-0 lead.
“Their defense was giving us a lot of room outside to work the ball and pass it around,” Coholich said. “Because of that we were able to move the ball quickly and effectively.”
It didn’t help that Oakalnd Catholic was being thwarted at every turn by Hampton goalkeeper Mia Commendatore, who recorded nine saves, including seven in the first half as Oakland Catholic pushed the attack and tried to get back into the game.
“Mia’s a phenomenal player, a four-time all-section player and we’re going to miss her,” Viets said. “But a lot of our starters are juniors and sophomores and it shows that we’re going to be back with a vengeance next year for the same thing.”
Though Commendatore kept Oakland Catholic at bay early, the Eagles were able to mount a bit of a comeback as Natalie Cyterski scored two of her three goals in the first half and Maggie Halferty popped one in at the buzzer to cut the Talbots lead to 6-3 at the intermission.