CB East defeated CR North 2-0 to advance to the PIAA Class AAA semifinals. CB South suffered a 2-1 double overtime loss to Upper St. Clair. Go to our gallery to view photos of the CB East/CR North game…CLICK HERE.
#1-1 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 2, #1-3 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 0
By Dan Beck
For the third time in three years, Central Bucks East will be playing in the state semifinals.
With a 2-0 win over Council Rock North, the Patriots will look to get over the elusive semifinal hump and play next Saturday for a state title. Before that, standing in its way is Cumberland Valley—the District 3 runners up.
Saturday’s quarterfinal was a close battle. The wind whipped hard around Souderton Area High School, creating a challenge for both offenses. CB East managed to put a pair of goals across late in the second half to surge past the Indians.
With the wind to its advantage in the first half, the Patriots applied heavy pressure. East forced a number of good scoring opportunities against North, but the defense and goalkeeping of the Indians kept it scoreless through the end of the first 40 minutes.
North keeper Jeri Belardo made five first half saves. Belardo stopped two beautiful shots off the foot of East’s Emma Loving to keep the Patriots off the board. The Indians sat back defensively, hoping to capitalize in the second half with the wind at their advantage.
With 17 minutes to play, East struck first. Loving penetrated the Indians defense inside the 18 and crossed the ball. It found the leg the of a North defender and deflected into the net for an own goal to give East a 1-0 lead.
“We practice getting crosses in and getting players in a lot,” said Loving, the Patriots leading scorer. “Our outside midfielders and our forwards are good at getting down the sidelines and getting balls across, and if you’re putting a good hard cross in, you know either one of your teammates is going to be there or it’s going to take a good deflection. Luckily today it took a good deflection.”
From there, North picked it up on the offensive end. The Indians generated some chances, but to no avail. With just over three minutes remaining, a Tori Hill shot went just wide of the net and North remained off the score sheet.
As the Indians drew their team up, Loving found some space. She poked a ball forward and was off to the races, running three quarters of the field past the North defenders and around Belardo, who came out of the net, for the open net goal with 1:52 remaining. It was all the Patriots needed as the clock ran out sending East to the next round.
“With the time running down, they have some really talented players in the midfield and up top –Tori Hill in the middle was putting a lot of pressure on us—but we were able to get that last one and I think that was a relief,” Loving added.
The difference in the second half for East was bringing more players up to contest some second chance opportunities on the offensive end.
“Finishing is huge and we really wanted to put a second ball or a second opportunity to finish the first chance,” coach Paul Eisold said. “We weren’t able to do that [in the first half]. In the second half, we made sure we had second or third runners coming in, so if the first shot didn’t go in, we would have runners. I think you see by the way we scored on the own goal that we were applying pressure on their backline and that allowed us to get the goal.”
Despite the wind in their face for the second half, that’s when East was able to get their goals.
“Our balls over the top in the wind weren’t getting anything because they’re usually pretty long,” midfielder Hannah Zach said. “So with the wind [in the first half], they would just go over and out of bounds or to the keeper. Against the wind it kind of helped us a little bit.”
When it counted most, it was once again Loving who was the difference maker for the Patriots. East has been on the winning end of numerous close games this year, and more often than not, it’s been a Loving goal that has put the Patriots over the top.
“She can dribble through so many players to get the ball across,” Zach said of her teammate. “She beat like half the team [on the second goal] and then put it in. You always know she’ll work her hardest and she always put forth her best effort.”
“Emma’s done the right things on a consistent basis,” Eisold said. “The thing that’s really great about this team is she doesn’t feel she has to carry the team because she doesn’t. She’s absolutely a clutch player, but the pressure is not on her to produce because she knows her teammates are going to pick her up.”
For the Indians, the heartbreaking loss closes out an impressive 2015 campaign. After a 2-3 start, North roared back to finish third in the District One AAA tournament. In the playoffs, the Indians picked up big wins against Upper Dublin, Bayard Rustin, West Chester Henderson, and Spring-Ford in the district playoffs. North beat Wallenpaupack 3-0 in the first round of the state tournament earlier in the week.
East will look ahead to the semis—familiar territory for the veteran group. In 2013, the Patriots fell to undefeated Neshaminy, and last year East lost to Canon McMillan. The 2015 team will look to change the course of history.
For Eisold, he’ll stick to the old mantra of one game at a time: “Not even looking to the finals. Just looking for our next opponent and we’ll prepare the same way we always do,” he said.
But rest assured, the motivation to get to finals is certainly there.
“The state semifinals are where we were last year, but I think we want to go so much further this year,” Loving said. “We’re here and we keep saying to ourselves ‘two more games, two more games.’ We’re not going to let the opportunity slip this year.”
Central Bucks East (23-0-1, 13-0-1 SOL) will face District Three runner-up Cumberland Valley in Tuesday night’s PIAA Class AAA semifinal game at Hamburg High School (7 p.m.).
Council Rock North 0-0 0
Central Bucks East 0-2 2
#7-2 UPPER ST. CLAIR 2, #1-5 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 1 (2 OT)
A magical postseason run came to an end for the Titans in Saturday’s state quarterfinal round. Upper St. Clair took a 1-0 lead in the 58th minute on an own goal credited to Brianna Murgi, but the resilient Titans had an immediate answer as Aleksa Peev converted a penalty kick in the 59th minute, setting the stage for overtime.
The game appeared destined for penalty kicks, but with just under two minutes remaining in the second overtime, the Panthers – after a throw-in – won it on a second own goal.
Central Bucks South closed out a successful season with a 15-8-2 overall record (7-5-2 SOL).
Central Bucks South 0-1-0-0 1
Upper St. Clair 0-1-0-1 2
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