SV's happy, Mars is sad
JACKSON TWP — Thomas Jefferson's speed was the biggest concern for the Seneca Valley girls soccer team, but the Raiders had the perfect game plan for it.
TJ forwards Allie Geary and Tonya Fabian and midfielder Julia Napolitano found the middle of the field clogged with Raiders defenders most of the night as SV defeated the Jaguars 5-0 in a WPIAL Class AAA first-round playoff game Tuesday night at NexTier Stadium.
Five different players scored in the victory for the Raiders.
SV will face Southmoreland (14-1-2) in a quarterfinal showdown Saturday at a time and site to be determined.
"We saw (TJ's) game against Montour last Saturday," SV coach Dave Sylvester said of the Jaguars' 5-1 play-in round victory. "We knew they liked to work the middle of the field and that's what we focused on.
"We had a couple of shaky moments early, but settled down after that," he added.
Raiders goalkeeper Keara Lydon needed to make only three saves in the win.
"Seneca Valley is a high-quality team," said TJ coach Sharon Sumansky. "They did a good job of playing the ball wide to their strengths."
In the first 10 minutes of the game, the Raiders (18-0-1) had several scoring chances, but one hit the crossbar, another ricocheted off the right post and another was stopped by Jaguar goalkeeper Brooke Burnett.
Each near miss frustrated Sylvester.
"I think we should score every time we get a good opportunity," said Sylvester. "That's the way I coach and that's the way our girls play."
Misha Demchuk finally put the home team on the scoreboard when she received a pass from Kate Kelly and beat Burnett, who made 10 saves, in the 26th minute.
The Jaguars (12-6-2) kept their deficit at one goal until SV's Shayna Elser scored on a pass from Morgan Williams in the 54th minute.
Kelly (goal and another assist), Mandy Kasperski (goal and assist) and Madison Kozlowski (goal) closed out the scoring.
It was the Raiders' first game since a 2-1 win over Butler Oct. 19. Many of SV's players were just coming off the flu in that game.
"We went back to what we do in August: conditioning," Sylvester said of his team's layoff. "We did that for about three days."
