80-game streak ends painfully
Mars absorbs a crushing blow in Moon victory
Mars players milled around in the shadow of the Highmark Stadium scoreboard after the WPIAL Class 3Achampionship match.
Some limped off the field nursing various bumps and bruises. Others cried and stared in blank disbelief.
It wasn’t the fact that there wasa zero on the board.
It was that it was next to their goal total.
Tessa Romah slammed home a rebound past Mars goalkeeper Kate McEnroe 12:33 into the match for the only goal Moon needed as the No. 2 Tigers(20-0-0) pulled out a 1-0 victory against topseeded Mars (17-1-0) to win the WPIAL Class 3A girls soccer title.
“It feels great. We were all getting ready and preparing for this game,” Romah said. “We knew it was going to be a tough one even though we moved down.”
This might have been the most anticipated matchup of the eight championship games. Mars came in as the three-time reigning WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A champion, while Moon won the WPIAL and PIAA Class 4A titles before dropping down in classification.
“We were the underdogs coming in and I thought the kids fed off that,” Moon coach Bill Pfeiffer said. “They were prepared, they were focused and they took the game very seriously.”
Moon’s victory ended Mars’ 80-game unbeaten streak that saw the team go 78-0-2 since the start of the 2019 season. Mars last loss was a 1-0 defeat against Blue Mountain at Bald Eagle Area in a 2 018 PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals.
To put it into perspective, no Planets player had lost a game in high school. Now they have to recover and prepare for the state playoffs on Tuesday.
“We’ve got a bunch of kids limping out of here after a pretty physical game,” Mars coach Blair Gerlach said. “Certainly the player that didn’t play for us today is huge.”
Mars was without all-state defender Gwen Howell, which forced the team to rotate leading scorer Piper Coffield into the midfield and minimizing the team’s best scoring threat.
“It’s a big deal when you have to put players in different places. It’s not ideal,” Gerlach said. “You have to start the game uncomfortable and you don’t want that on a finals day.”
Mars, though, did have several chances to tie, the best being a scrum around the Moon net with 31:18 remaining in regulation. The Planets had the ball sitting on the goal line, but Tigers defender Ayva Wiech cleared it away before Mars’ Ainsley Ray could poke it home.
It was not surprising. Moon has only allowed one
goal all season, which came in a 3-1 victory against Butler on Sept. 10, and has shut out its past 17 opponents and outs cored them 78-0.
Class 2A
Fiona Mahan is making a habit of bringing home titles for A von worth.
Mahan ripped home two goals – including the eventual game-winner at 23:32 of the second half – to lead the fifth-seeded Antelopes to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory against No. 2 Mount Pleasant.
“It was exciting,” Mahan said. “I feel that we all just worked together really well and we knew that, if we keep working, we’re going to get one.”
Both of the goals she scored against the Vikings were almost carbon copies of the one she fired into the back of the net with 9:40 remaining in double overtime against North Catholic in the 2021championship match.
“It’s a great thing to think about,” Mahan said. “But we’ve been working so hard for this that it’s just part of thegame.”
Mount Pleasant was making its first appearance in a WPIAL final and gave Avonworth something to think about when freshman forward Morgan Gesinski ripped a shot into the top-left corner of the net past goalkeeper Elena Zimmerman just 2:05 into the match. But the Vikings couldn’t find way to solve her the rest of match despite prolonged pressure.
“We got a lot of time in the attacking third,” Mount Pleasant coach Rich Garland said. “We were getting chances, but we just weren’t building and moving right in spots to get goals.”