KC girls soccer ends season
KARNS CITY — Karns City weathered the storm early — but couldn’t reverse the momentum.
“If we could have just scored that first goal, this game might have been different,” Gremlins girls soccer coach Tracy Dailey said.
But that first goal never came. Bishop Guilfoyle sophomore forward Hailey Degol scored in the 32nd minute and freshman forward Emma Marasco added a goal in the 64th as the Lady Marauders upended, KC, 2-0, in a first-round PIAA Class 1A tournament game Tuesday night at Diehl Stadium.
“I thought we dominated play for the first 15 minutes, but couldn’t score a goal,” Marauders coach Joe DeLeo said. “That made me feel a bit uneasy. I wasn’t comfortable with what was going on at all.”
KC goaltender Savanna Prescott stopped a penalty kick by Nicole Hawk in the 19th minute to keep the game scoreless. Less than four minutes later, Hawk drilled a shot squarely off the crossbar as Bishop Guilfoyle missed another opportunity.
Prescott said she was always coached to “commit to one side” when trying to stop a penalty shot.
“You pretty much have to guess,” she admitted. “But I fully committed to the left corner and that’s where she (Hawk) was trying to put it.”
With 8:43 left in the first half, Degol and Marasco executed a give-and-go in which Degol passed to Marasco in front of the net, who then returned it to her toward the left side of the goal.
Prescott appeared to be in position to make the save, but the ball trickled past her,. into the net.
“I had it,” Prescott said. “It just got away from me ... rolled right through my legs.”
“We caught a break there,” DeLeo said. “That was a bit of a soft goal.”
The Gremlins (17-2-1) nearly scored twice in the first half. Aubrey Taylor collided with Bishop Guilfoyle freshman netminder CeCe Rumfola while trying to get off a shot, but arrived a hair late. A similar fate met KC’s Layla Colsey as she tried attacking the goal with 1:10 left in the first half.
“We came so close,” Dailey said. “It just didn’t happen for us. But this loss doesn’t negate our season. We”re a young team and these girls kept learning.
“We’ve got some talented eighth-graders coming up next year who are going to be fighting for positions on the field.”
Bishop Guilfoyle (20-1) scored its second goal when Hawk delivered a cross to Marasco, who was alone in front of the net. Marasco drilled a shot into the right corner of the net to give the Marauders some breathing room.
The Marauders had eight shots on net to Karns City’s seven. The Gremlins had three corner kicks, Bishop Guilfoyle two. A corner kick by Sarah Dodd clanked off the near goalpost.
“This was a well-played game,” DeLeo said. “We know how well Karns City is coached defensively. We practiced that give-and-go all week to try to open up some space because we know how quickly their backs get in position.”
Hawk leads Bishop Guilfoyle with 28 goals this season. Degol has 23 and Marasco 21.
Karns City does not have a senior on its roster.
“I’m glad this entire team is coming back,” Prescott said. “We exceeded all expectations this season. We played hard all year and we played hard tonight. We keep improving and I’m excited about next year.”
