Early Explosion
JACKSON TWP — The WPIAL paired the Seneca Valley and Penn-Trafford girls soccer teams together in the first round of the playoffs, tagging the Raiders as the eighth seed and the Warriors as ninth.
Judging from those seedings, the game should have been close. But the scoreboard disagreed.
Six different Raiders scored as SV routed the Warriors, 7-1, at NexTier Stadium Monday night.
SV took command by scoring four goals in a 22-minute span of the first half.
“Penn-Trafford (5-6-2) is a very defensive-minded team ... really good defense and a good goalkeeper,” said SV coach Mark Perry. “We wanted to attack as much as we could early on.
“Once we got the nerves out of the way, we did well.”
Seneca Valley (8-3) will next travel to top-seeded Peters Township (10-1-1) for a quarterfinal game Thursday at 6:30 p.m.Junior forward Liv Senff began the scoring spree when she booted a deflected shot past Warriors' goalkeeper Taylor Lloyd in the 17th minute.Olivia Kamarec followed with a second goal just 70 seconds later.Many of SV's scoring chances were generated from junior Zoe Simpson's ability to create opportunities from the outside. Her centering passes led to SV's third and fourth goals, scored by Kendall Walton and Natalie Matthews, respectively, late in the first half.“From watching film, we saw some mismatches we thought we could take advantage of,” Perry said. “With Zoe's speed on the outside, that was one of them.”Lloyd made several spectacular saves. The junior finished the game with 15 stops, but SV's consistent pressure led to three more goals in the second half as Waltman scored for the second time and teammates Emma Maloberti and Simpson also found the net.“It's nice to have other players get involved in the scoring instead of just one or two,” said Simpson. “Our forwards did a great job of finishing. Players from our bench got in the game late and got some good experience.”The Warriors' lone tally came in the 45th minute off a corner kick from Sydney Sullivan.SV goalkeeper Virginia Fronk, a sophomore, made two saves in the game and thwarted several other scoring chances by cutting off centering passes.“Our goalie is young, but we have a really strong defense in front of her,” said Perry. “Center-backs (Kamarec and Chloe Leonard) and Lauren Balla and Sydney Smith on the outside.”The Raiders placed third in Section 1 behind Butler and North Allegheny.“We play in a tough section and that helps prepare us (to face strong teams),” said Perry. “Peters Township is very good, but we welcome the opportunity to play them.”
