SV rides early edge
BUTLER TWP — A quick start was just what Seneca Valley needed.
For Butler, that was something it could ill afford.
The Seneca Valley girls soccer team scored two goals in the first six minutes of play and three in the opening 10:27 en route to an 8-3 section victory over the host Golden Tornado Monday.
Melissa Lynskey powered the Raiders by tallying four consecutive goals to give the Raiders (4-5-1, 2-4) a 5-0 advantage early in the second half.
"She was a freshman last year and started as a defensive back all year," said Raiders coach Dave Sylvester. "A couple of games this year, we moved her to the outside middle and now she's up front.
"We've struggled to score this year," added Sylvester, whose squads have won two of the past three WPIAL Class AAA titles.
For Butler, it's been the same old story
"The first 20 minutes, we give up two or three goals each game. It's been a pattern," said Tornado coach Csaba Feher.
Butler fell into another early hole when SV's Amy Kolor took a corner kick from Lynskey and buried a shot past Tornado goalie Taylor Troyan 4:11 into the contest.
Just 1:43 later, Lynskey scored off a crossing pass from Misha Demchuk. Lynskey's second goal came with 29:33 left in the first half to stake the Raiders to a 3-0 cushion.
The goals were big for the Raiders, who were coming off a pair of 2-0 losses to North Hills and Hampton after a 3-1-1 stretch.
They had opened the season with two losses.
"We've talked about it. If we can just get something positive going, maybe we can build on it," said Sylvester.
"I thought we had something going a couple of times this year. ... We've outchanced everyone we've played, but we've struggled to score," he added.
Lynskey needed only 19 seconds into the second half for the natural hat trick, taking a deflected shot off a charging Troyan, then added her fourth of the night with 33:08 to play.
Butler (1-9, 0-6) sliced the deficit to 5-2 when Samantha Rossi and Christina Maticic scored in a 2:49 span, but the Raiders recorded the next three goals to ice the game.
An own goal, followed by two from Alex Bilka made it 8-2 with 2:25 remaining before Butler closed the scoring with 46 seconds left on another Rossi goal.
Both squads are in the middle of a rebuilding stage.
"We have a lot of underclassmen in there and some players are learning new positions," said Feher. "We knew we'd have to build from the bottom up, but the future will be bright."
"We've got them going in the right direction and teaching them," Sylvester said. "We've got good kids and something positive will come out of it."
