GCC girls can’t stop ‘loaded weapon’

Southern Columbia rolls to Class 1A title

HERSHEY, Pa. — Greensburg Central Catholic knew it had to find a way to slow downjunior sniper Loren Gehret to have any chance of beating Southern Columbia in the PIAA Class 1A girls soccer final.

“She’s hard to game-plan for,” Greensburg Central Catholic coach Olivia Kruger said. “She’s a loaded weapon andan amazing player.”

A weapon that made her shotscount.

Gehret scored the first of her two first-half goals 1:29 into the match and Southern Columbia rode the early lead to a 4-0 victory Saturday at HersheyparkStadium.

“Usually when we put in the first goal, it builds our confidence and we keep shooting and shooting,” Gehretsaid. “Applying pressure on the keeper and the defense is our main goal and I thought we did that really well.”

Gehret finished with two goals and two assists despite spending most of the second half on the bench as younger players got on the field.

It is the second consecutive title for Southern Columbia (19-7-0) and its third in four years. The Tigers also defeated Greensburg Central Catholic, 2-1, in the 2020 final.

“One’s got to lose and one’s got to win,” Kruger said. “We’rejust thankful we got to come back here and do it all overagain.”

In the 2020 match, Gehret scored two first-half goals and Southern Columbia shut down Greensburg Central Catholic defensively in the second half. The Tigers were able to use the same game plan this time around with a 3-0 lead at intermission.

“It’s really hard to beat a team twice, especially at states, especially with two great teams,” Gehret said. “But our determination was insane.”

Southern Columbia wasted no time getting the ball to Gehret and she made her opportunities count.

Early on, Greensburg Central Catholic (18-3-0) turned the ball over on the defensive third of the field and Southern Columbia counterattacked with a lob into the box from about 20 yards. The ball had some backspin on it and instead of heading toward Centurions goalkeeper Lyndsey Szekely in the net, it bounced almost straight up.

Gehret headed it home from close range to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead just 89 seconds into the contest.

She added a second goal at 4:40 on a wide-open shot in the box from about 12 yards. She didn’t score the Tigers third goal, but she did set it up when she found Cassidy Savitski on a 3-on-3 for a wide-open tap-in and a 3-0 advantage with 21:14 remaining in the first half.