Balance gives SV the edge
WEST VIEW — Every goal is important no matter how early it comes.
That proved to be good news for the Seneca Valley girls lacrosse team in Thursday's WPIAL Division I Championship.
The Raiders built a 5-1 lead — with goals coming from five different players — in the first 4 minutes, 36 seconds of the game and withstood a late charge by Sewickley Academy to prevail 12-11 at Martorelli Stadium.
“Definitely, we're a harder team to defend,” said Seneca Valley coach Dina Hughes. “Teams will look at us and say, ‘who's their top goal scorer?'”
The Raiders have four players that could be top scorers for other squads — Sam Struss, Taylor Mayeda, Morgan Midkiff and Paige Carothers.
Those four each scored a goal after Kelly Cundiff opened the scoring just 47 seconds into the game as the Raiders built the early lead.
The Raiders (15-4) held a seemingly safe 11-5 lead with 15:03 to play before the Panthers (12-7) tallied five goals in less than seven minutes to make it a one-goal game.
“Basically, we tell the kids the little things to change and it'll turn around,” said Panthers coach Cheryl Ann Lassen. “We've been coming from behind an awful lot.”
“I wouldn't necessarily say we let down,” said Hughes. “Maybe we were a little tired. Sewickley Academy was on a roll.
“The thinking on the sidelines was we definitely needed every goal in the end. A lot of girls contributed to that ... We don't rely on one person.”
Still, Seneca Valley never gave up the lead although the Panthers never let the Raiders pull away.
After an Alexis Bosilovi score made it 5-2, Struss and Corathers answered with back-to-back goals for a 7-2 lead with 7:12 left in the first half.
Sewickley Academy's Olivia Ahearn countered with a pair of goals, the latter with three minutes left to make it a three-goal halftime deficit.
Midkiff started the second half with a goal before Erin Keller netted her second goal of the evening to make it 8-5.
Seneca Valley looked to take control by scoring the next three goals — from Struss, Corathers and Struss again — to open up a six-goal advantage.
The Panthers, however, were also not going to let the chance of their first title slip away so easily.Carolina Ross and Bosilovi scored before Ahearn registered three goals in a 78-second span to make it 11-10 with 8:16 to play.“It shows that nothing is safe,” said Struss. “Sewickley Academy is a great team. ... We always kept that lead, which was good. It was starting to get a little antsy when it got to one goal.”Mayeda would double the Raiders lead when she scored with 7:09 left.Ahearn, a senior midfielder, had one more goal left, her sixth of the game, with 3:58 to play.“A lot of heart, a lot of passion, not letting it end this way,” said Lassen. “Our seniors stepped up.”With time running down and Sewickley Academy looking to strike near the Seneca Valley goal, a loose ball was scooped by sophomore midfielder Misha Demchuk and taken back across the field, where the Raiders would run out the clock.It's been a year since the Raiders fell in the Division I championship game, a 15-7 decision to Franklin Regional.“We all didn't want to lose,” said Struss. “Last year we were so excited to be here. This year, we were levelheaded.”“I might have said, once or twice, ‘Remember what it was like standing on the sidelines last year with silver medals around your neck,?' Hughes asked.“We came in here with confidence,” she added.And they left as WPIAL champions.“At the beginning of the game, I saw a rainbow and I said there's gold at the end of the rainbow,” said Struss. “This is what we started out to do.”<B>Notes:</B> Lauren Moran made five saves for the Raiders while Chrissy McGinn had three ... The Raiders defeated the Panthers 8-5 on April 7 and 9-8 on May 3 ... The Panthers saw their five-game winning streak snapped ... Seneca Valley will face the winner of the Penn Manor-Cumberland Valley winner in the opening round of the PIAA playoffs next week. Penn Manor knocked the Raiders out of the state quarterfinal playoffs last year.
