18-0 Mars girls point toward postseason
JEFFERSON TWP — The Mars girls soccer team achieved perfection Monday.
With an 8-0 win over host Knoch, the Planets completed an unblemished regular season at 18-0, 14-0 in section play, and have outscored their opponents 131-7.
"One of our goals is to remain as consistent as we can from game to game," said Mars coach Blair Gerlach. "Our record is a testament to how prepared our girls are."
On a soggy field, it took Mars just 28 seconds to get on the scoreboard when Audra Sitterly tallied the Planets' first goal.
Just under eight minutes later, Kristen Check scored on a pass from Karli Paracca to make it 2-0.
Alanna Haefner and Crysta Ganter each added a goal before intermission.
"A lot of little things contributed to this loss," said Knoch coach Steve Perri. "Simple things like mistakes with passing and throw-ins. Not all of Mars' scoring chances were due to our mistakes, but a lot of them were."
Ganter ended the game with three goals while Paracca and Nicole Soose each added one tally in the second half.
The Planets' defense, which has played an integral role in the perfect season to date, once again was led by Jordyn White, Beth Perri, Erica Schwab and Haefner.
Mars senior goalkeeper Meghan Kelly tallied five saves before Sarah Dailey closed out the game.
Junior Liz Hallahan totaled 12 saves for the Knights. Storm Hajek made two stops late in the contest.
The Knights (10-5-1, 9-4-1), who finished second in the section behind Mars, close the regular season Wednesday against Plum before taking part in the WPIAL playoffs.
As for the Planets, Gerlach is not sure his team will get the top seed in the postseason.
"I don't know, South Park (13-1-2) was ahead of us in the rankings," he said. "If we have one subpar day, we could be in trouble (in the playoffs).
"But as long as we don't get away from playing the game the right way, we should be OK."
The WPIAL playoff pairings will be released Wednesday.
