Working late pays off
JACKSON TWP — After 80 minutes and about as many near misses, the Butler and Seneca Valley girls soccer teams found themselves in a scoreless tie in a pivotal section matchup.
But suddenly, the Raiders got the break they were looking for.
Seneca Valley junior Ashley Rea broke free of the Butler defense four minutes into overtime and punched a shot past a diving Tornado keeper Anna Voelker into the right side of the net to lift the Raiders to a 1-0 win Monday night at NexTier Stadium.
“Both teams were 2-2 in section, so this was a must-win for both of us,” said Seneca Valley coach Mark Perry. “Both teams played hard. It was a defensive battle and finally we got the break in overtime.”
The Raiders (7-3, 3-2) haven't gotten many breaks this season. Their three losses have all come by one goal.
But they got the biggest good bounce of the season when Rea scored on a breakaway.
It ended a three-match scoreless streak for Seneca Valley against Butler (5-5, 2-3).
“We're not playing the way we need to play,” Perry said. “For a team that has everybody back, we need to play better in the second half.
“This is the first time we've had a little luck go our way,” Perry added. “So we were due.”
After combining for just five shots on goal in the first half, both teams had a plethora of opportunities in a wild final 40 minutes of regulation.
Early in the half, Butler's Brittnie Spithaler had a couple of shots sail just wide of the cage.
With a little more than 13 minutes remaining in regulation, Seneca Valley had several chances during a scrum in front of the goal mouth, but were ultimately turned away.
Butler's Gabrielle Boden took a deep shot that rattled off the top of the crossbar with a little more than six minutes remaining in the second half.
Spithaler again had the best chance to break the deadlock a minute later with a shot that banged off the left post and right to Seneca Valley keeper Bella DeFabbo, who was sprawled chest-down on the turf after making a diving attempt at the save.
“Both off the post — it's a matter of inches,” said Butler coach Steve Perri. “We created plenty enough opportunities to win the game. I've seen my team score those goals, but they didn't go in tonight.”
The win puts Seneca Valley alone in third place in the section behind 4-1 North Allegheny and 5-0 Pine-Richland.
The loss puts Butler in a hole in their quest to win the section.
“It does (put us in a hole), but it's not impossible; we've climbed out of a hole before,” Perri said. “NA came to our place, and I felt like we should have won the game. I don't think we go to NA with a feeling of anything other than we can win the game.
“Seneca has to come to us,” Perri added. “Pine-Richland has to come to us. Yes, we have grass and other teams hate it. It's not an advantage for us, it just makes the game harder for everyone else.”
Seneca Valley is hoping this win will launch it forward to another strong stretch it enjoyed in the second half last season.
“We could very easily be 10-0,” Perry said. “We have to build off of that. We have the second half now and we're still alive in the section race. We have to win out. But you never know. I hope this will give us some momentum.”
