Late goals spoil Avonworth’s bid for first title
HERSHEY, Pa. — Avonworth spent more than 74 minutes of the PIAA Class 2A girls soccer final clinging to a one-goal lead against AllentownCentral Catholic.
Then, with less than three minutes remaining before the Antelopes claimed the first state title in school history, disaster struck. Twice.
Allentown Central Catholic (17-33) junior midfielder Madalyn Szoke got behind the defense and scored the tying goal with 2:43 remaining in regulation. Just 1:02 later, sophomore Sammy Roth poked one past Avonworth (19-4-1) goalkeeper Maggie Pappas with 1:41 remaining in regulation to give the Vikettes a 2-1 victory against the Antelopes at Hers hey park Stadium.
Both teams were making their first appearance in the state finals.
“The girls battled and the wind was a huge factor,” Avonworth coach J.C. Mahan said. “We got one in the first with the wind and they got two in the second. They just worked hard all the way to the end.”
It certainly wasn’t luck that Allentown Central Catholic had a blustery 20 mph wind at its back in the second half. The Vikettes took a strategic gamble when they won the coin flip to take the wind in the second half.
“We felt that if we could keep it close, that we’d have the advantage in the second half,” Allentown Central Catholic coach Rob Spatzer said. “We paid for it early when the wind caught that initial ball [on the Avonworth goal], but we felt good coming out at halftime that we had kept it close.”
Avonworth had the wind at its back to start the contest and took full advantage
Sophomore Minah Syam settled the ball near the 20-yard line and launched a shot that just missed going in under the crossbar. Allentown Central Catholic goalkeeper Armani Brickhouse got a piece of it, but the ball deflected off her hand and the crossbar and back out in front.
When the ball popped back out, senior forward Ava Wert pounced. She shook off a defender and tapped home a left-footed shot from about 2 yards away for her ninth goal of the season to give the Antelopes a 1-0 lead just 3:09 into the match.
“I don’t know if the keeper touched it, but it went off the crossbar and I got to it,” Wert said. “I was hoping it would go in and it did.”
That was how it stayed for the next 74 minutes and 8 seconds until Szoke tied it with 2:43 left.
“There were three minutes left and they were in our half of the field the whole time,” Wert said. “They worked hard, they were two good goals and we just got beat.”