CB East fell to Upper St. Clair 2-1 in Saturday’s PIAA Class AAA championship game at Hersheypark Stadium. Check back to view photos of the game.
By Mary Jane Souder
HERSHEY – “10…9…8…7…6…”
The countdown of the game’s final seconds by the public address announcer served as a cold reminder that a special season was coming to an end. For the first time in 26 games, the Central Bucks East girls’ soccer team found itself on the short end of the score at the final horn, falling to Upper St. Clair 2-1 in the PIAA Class AAA title game at Hersheypark Stadium on Saturday.
Making the loss especially difficult to swallow was the fact that the Patriots had the better of play throughout the contest.
“I think I’m going to always want this game back,” senior Emma Loving said. “It’s going to be hard to deal with.”
Part of the disappointment after Saturday’s loss was the fact that the team will lose 14 seniors to graduation.
“They’re all my best friends,” junior Hannah Zach said. “I’m so close with all of them, and we get along so well, and that makes it so much easier on the field.
“We communicate, we know how they play, and we know they’re there for us. If we’re not playing well, they’ll pick us up. Next year it’s going to be really difficult without them just because there’s so many of them starting and so many that come in and fill roles. We’re going to have to work through it as a team and find people who work up to their standards so we can come back even stronger.”
Morgan Duncan – who saw her final high school season end when she underwent surgery for a foot injury early in the preseason – reflected on the season just completed.
“Obviously, it’s very upsetting, and I think we could have gotten it,” she said. “Our season has been amazing. It’s something that we’re definitely proud of.
“Everyone has worked for this game, no matter what part of the team they’re on. If they’re a sub or playing the entire game, I think everyone put their full heart into this. In the end, we have to look at it positively for the entire season, not just this game.”
Asked how she hoped her senior class would be remembered, Duncan had an immediate answer.
“I think we should definitely be remembered for our heart,” she said. “No matter what, we’ve always played through (it), we’ve played as a team.
“Obviously, we have our strength in certain teammates, but we’ve always played together. We are as one. If you play or (don’t play), our senior class has been so together and so tightly-knit throughout the years, and it’s amazing how far we’ve come all together.”
It looked as though the season might have a storybook ending as the Patriots controlled play from the outset, but there were early signs that goals were not going to come easily. Freshman keeper Nikki Gibbons stopped a Loving shot less than 10 minutes into the game, and the Patriots couldn’t manage a shot on back-to-back corners midway through the half.
The Panthers, meanwhile, never threatened until – on their first shot with 6:18 remaining in the first half – Emma Hasco’s rocket from long range found the upper corner of the net. Upper St. Clair took that 1-0 lead into halftime.
“I thought the whole game we had a lot of momentum,” coach Paul Eisold said. “We knew they were dangerous, we knew they countered well, and you saw that 24 (Hasco) pretty much took us apart, which is very atypical of our defense, but she got it done tonight. All credit to her.”
The second half followed a similar pattern until finally – on their seventh corner of the half – the Patriots hit paydirt when Loving headed a Hannah Zach corner kick into the net to knot the score in the 64th minute.
“I had a couple of corners before that, and no one really got on the end of it,” Zach said. “Once we had that corner, we knew we had to get it in if we wanted to stay in this game.
“I just served the ball like I normally would, and she was there and played a perfect ball into the goal. It couldn’t have been any better.”
Ten minutes later, Hasco (Rachel Witte assist) connected for her second goal of the night, and this one turned out to be the game winner as the Patriots never really threatened the rest of the way.
“I think one of our weaknesses today was our lack of coming together on offense,” Loving said. “We’d often have just a few players up in the box, and that was frustrating.”
Loving closed out a stellar senior season with 33 goals, and while it’s not unusual to see the dangerous forward attract a crowd – as she did in Saturday’s title game, it was unusual to see the Patriots struggle to generate dangerous scoring threats.
“Their defense – they were exceptional,” Eisold said. “That was something we heard. They were big, they were strong, and they defended well – a lot of head balls, and we knew that going in.
“I thought our services could have been a little more direct on the corners. We let it hang there, and they were able to adjust, and we just weren’t able to get in.”
The Patriots’ coach went on to credit his players for their effort.
“I think they all played to their potential to the fullest,” Eisold said. “You play that game again, and I think you get a different result, but the bottom line is – they did it tonight. Tonight was when it mattered.
“Upper St. Clair was able to get in, and they scored two brilliant goals. I’m a little upset that we allowed (Hasco) to stay with the ball so long, but both finishes were great.”
While the Patriots would love to rewrite the ending, they had the kind of season most teams wouldn’t even dare to dream about.
“It’s been awesome,” Loving said. “To take everything one game at a time, and to go from August to November with your best friends – winning games, winning the district title, winning the league title, it’s been an incredible experience. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“Obviously, we’d have wanted this game to end differently. I’ll always look back – I know I’m going to want this game back, and that’s going to stink to have to deal with that, but it’s going to be a cool experience to look back on.”
EXTRA SHOTS: The Patriots held an advantage in shots (8-3) and corners kicks (9-1), but that didn’t translate into goals. “You could tally the corners, you could tally the shots – I’m sure we got more shots than them, but the bottom line – in the game of soccer, you’ve got to put it in the back of the net, and they did that tonight and we didn’t,” Eisold said…Hannah Zach paid tribute to the leadership of senior captains Loving, Maddie Myrtetus, Emily Horn and Paige Weiss. “Our captains were strong and consistent throughout the whole year,” she said. “They carry us. Our coaches aren’t on the field with us, but our captains are, and they really helped lead us as one unit.”…the Patriots close out a memorable season with a 24-1-1 record.
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