Pennridge captured its program’s first ever PIAA 4A state title with a 1-0 win in double overtime over North Allegheny. Photos provided courtesy of Althea Tomlinson/Pennridge Soccer.
PENNRIDGE 1, NORTH ALLEGHENY 0 (2OT)
HERSHEY – For whatever reason, HersheyPark Stadium had been anything but a well of goals for Pennridge.
Shut out in their previous trips to the state final in 2011 and 2018, the Rams endured 100 more minutes without a goal as the second 20-minute overtime started on Saturday. The drought, both in terms of scoring and state titles, would soon be over.
It was the right foot of junior Leah Malone that finally brought home the program’s first PIAA championship as her perfectly-struck shot bent into the net with 13:43 left in double overtime.
“Honestly, it’s all a blur at this point,” Malone said. “It just feels so good. It’s surreal, it’s like it didn’t even happen yet.”
Rams coach Audrey Anderson, who picked up her first win in the state final in her third try, had a premonition it would be Malone to score the winner. The thing is, that premonition was going on two years old.
“I had a dream two years ago, in 2018, that she scored the game-winning goal,” Anderson said. “I guess I was two years too early. It’s just incredible. They fought so hard this season for every game.”
North Allegheny, the back-to-back WPIAL champion, was making its first appearance on the expansive playing surface in Hershey but didn’t seem fazed by the moment or venue. Led by Pitt recruit Sarah Schupansky, the Tigers needed little time to start asking questions of Pennridge’s defense.
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Not even seven minutes in, NA forward Lucia Wells put Pennridge under pressure, squeezing off a shot that keeper Sierra Shaeffer was just able to parry. Pennridge escaped trouble when a back booted the rebound away for a corner, but the Tigers weren’t going away.
“There was always a player open in the middle, and in the first half, we had a problem with that,” Shaeffer said. “In the – I can’t even say second half, this whole second part of the game, we covered a lot better.”
Between Shaeffer in goal and center backs Cady McKean and Anna Croyle, the Rams may have set a words-per-minute record in a PIAA final. McKean, the senior and Croyle, the freshman, both took turns dealing with the crafty Schupansky while the other provided cover.
“I felt like I was annoying them, I talked nonstop,” McKean said. “It just worked out, we were all talking through it the whole game.”
“I felt the same, glad it wasn’t just me,” Croyle added.
After taking the early storm in stride, the Rams started to threaten. Malone’s header off a cross by Kera Dam was saved by goalkeeper Megan Miller a few minutes before the junior forward rattled the crossbar on a long-distance shot. The Tigers’ keeper proved to be a formidable obstacle all evening,
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North Allegheny’s tough backline made things tough for the Rams’ attackers all game as well, but senior Lindsey DeHaven felt her team’s tough-minded approach was able to keep them from panicking when shots didn’t go in early.
“It’s definitely frustrating and it could have been our downfall in this game, but we understand there’s time on the clock,” DeHaven said. “We know we’re going to get more opportunities. She may have made a great save on one, but if we keep working, there’s more coming after that.”
Pennridge withstood another rush by the Tigers to close the half, with Shaeffer catching a drilled free kick by Schupansky and getting a break when Brianne Torchia headed a ball over the goal off a great cross.
DeHaven noted the Tigers had success offensively by playing in reverse. Normally, a defender chalks up a win if they get their mark to play the ball backward, but Schupansky thrived by playing negative and it led to some of NA’s better chances going forward off her long passing.
“My goal was to not let her turn,” Croyle said. “I stayed behind her when she received it, but then she would start to dribble backwards, and in the first half, I kept following her and it left a gap in the back. At halftime, we talked about it and we decided I would try to keep her from winning it .jpg)
out of the air and Lindsey did a great job coming back so I could then drop and fill the gap.”
DeHaven put forth a massive effort in her last game. The co-captain tweaked a hamstring during the contest but never subbed out, getting a healthy bag of ice on her leg postgame as a reward.
“I’m speechless, I’m overwhelmed a little bit, it’s like I can’t believe it happened and I keep telling Leah ‘I can’t believe you just did that,’” DeHaven said. “It’s amazing, I’m so proud of this team right now.”
Miller had her best moment with 25 minutes left, denying a blast by Liv Grenda and a follow-up by Joey Tomlinson in quick succession.
Shortly after, the Tigers earned a corner kick that led to their best chance of the night. The ball, hit by Schupansky, dropped right in the sweet spot of the six-yard box, but the Rams just sold out on their goal line as a mass of moving legs prevented it from getting across the goal line.
“I saw everyone just kicking back and forth so I stood on the goal line waiting for something to come out so I could block it,” Croyle said. “It was just chaos.”
It was so chaotic that Shaeffer and Croyle didn’t remember how they ended up clearing it out.
“It was insane,” Shaeffer said. “It hit my leg, there was a clearance by one of the defenders, every time it came into the box, someone cleared it out. It took my breath away, afterwards I thought ‘I can’t believe that just happened.’”
Anderson hoped the result would end any questions about Shaeffer’s capabilities. The junior, who planned to contend for a role in the midfield before offering to play goal, posted her eighth clean sheet of the fall and again earned high praise from her teammates.
“I was thinking about 2018 and it was that same goal where we got scored on and I couldn’t be happier that we had that much hunger to clear that ball out,” Anderson said. “Sierra has come up so big for us the past couple games, and if anybody says she’s not a keeper, they need to go watch these game films. She stepped up in a major role when the team needed her and she wanted to win as much as the rest of them.”
A shot by Riley Hepler went right to Miller at the second half buzzer, sending Pennridge to overtime in the state final for the second time in three years.
“Going into overtime, I was thinking ‘here we go again,'” Malone said. “Pulling up here today, it was an overwhelming feeling, almost negative, like I still had that pit in my stomach from losing two years ago. We wanted a different outcome. As soon as I stepped on the field, I thought back to where I was standing when that goal went in and said I couldn’t let it happen again.”
DeHaven had the best chance of the first overtime, ripping a tough-angled shot from the right edge of the box but had the take well-saved by Miller.
Pennridge didn’t have an easy road through the postseason after topping Great Valley in the first round of districts. Battles with Pennsbury, Abington, Spring-Ford and Parkland and finally the Tigers of North Allegheny only steeled the resolve of the Rams to reach their goal.
“It just feels crazy, I don’t know what to think,” McKean said. “It was like watching all our hard work pay off and I was just so happy. It was the best feeling in the world, I wouldn’t know how to describe it.”
Even the second overtime was fraught with danger. Shaeffer had to make a stop on a hit by Schupansky, and Wells was unlucky to drive a ball into the outside of the net just a few minutes before the Rams’ breakthrough.
Pressure helped Pennridge win the ball, with freshman Tori Angelo slipping an angled pass in to Malone and setting off the final sequence. North Allegheny’s defense, already stretched, had to account for a run by Grenda and left Malone plenty of space.
After a couple touches, with teammates imploring her to shoot, Malone unleashed by driving the ball off her right foot and just inside the far post for a historic goal.
“I found the ball at my foot, and in a game like this, especially with time running down, you have to make the most of all your opportunities,” Malone said. “I found myself outside the 18 with a little bit of space and you might as well test your luck and take a shot at the point. I got a lot on it and hit it pretty well.”
PENNRIDGE 0 0 0 1 – 1
NORTH ALLEGHENY 0 0 0 0 – 0
Goals: P – Leah Malone
Against all odds – Coach Audrey Anderson isn’t kidding when she says her Pennridge squad overcame adversity on its way to conference, district and state titles. There was the not-so-little matter of the COVID-19 pandemic added on to the pressure of living up to the lofty expectations that go hand in hand with playing soccer for the Rams.
Throw in the fact that the Rams were without a goalie – a problem that junior Sierra Shaeffer remedied when she moved from the field into goal and excelled, but the biggest setback was unquestionably the loss of not one but two of the team’s four captains to torn ACLs.
Senior center back Maddie Angelo tore her ACL in January and knew her final high school season was over before it began.
“I knew that I was going to have to take up a different role,” the Youngstown State bound senior said. “This is still my team. I’ve played with this group of seniors since I was eight years old, so I wanted to still be a part of it.
“I knew that just by being a big presence on the bench, by helping Aud as much as I could, that was the way I was going to contribute this season, and I think it worked. I’m just so proud of everyone, watching everyone get better and better each game. It’s made me really proud to be their captain and be a part of this team.”
Junior right wing Emily Kriney had no inkling that she’d also be watching from the sidelines. Until, that is, she went down in the Rams’ game against Central Bucks South on Oct. 6.
“I went to go take a shot, and I landed wrong on my left and I heard my knee pop,” Kriney said. “The second I heard it I knew my season was over. It’s been hard for me because seeing them go through this – I just want to be with them.
“I think the players knew that they needed to fill both mine and Maddie’s roles. They took on those roles and did perfectly doing it. I just thought it was amazing to see – especially Tori (Angelo) as a freshman to step in that role and play so well, and Joey Tomlinson had a really good game.”
Listening to their coach tell it, both were huge losses, but both are key pieces of this year’s magical postseason run.
“It was tough knowing we were coming into the season without Maddie Angelo, who’s been a starting player since her freshman year,” Anderson said. “We knew it was going to be tough to replace her, but she has been the person sitting behind me every single game talking to me. She was that sounding board for me, letting me know what the players were feeling, what they were thinking. She played a huge role in the season even though she wasn’t on the field.”
Losing Kriney – one of the Rams’ top goal scorers who played opposite Leah Malone – was another major loss the squad had to overcome.
“When you lose a player like her that’s so dynamic, it hurts the team,” Anderson said. “It hurt us right out of the gate – ‘Oh my god, what are we going to do?’ I think because of how hard she works the people who were playing behind her knew they had to fill in those shoes.
“Just the looks on their faces after the game today – they were happy, but I know how badly they wanted to play and be part of it, but without them, we wouldn’t be here. This trophy is just as much theirs as anybody else’s.”
Angelo, who was cleared for non-contact Wednesday, was in uniform on Saturday in Hershey.
“I warmed up and dressed, but as soon as I saw the way the game was going, I knew that the best thing I could do for them was to be that presence on the bench and be the one consistently cheering them on,” she said. “Me going in wasn’t going to do anything for them.”
When Leah Malone scored a golden goal they’ll remember for a lifetime, Kriney and Angelo were in the middle of the celebration.
“I couldn’t be happier for everyone on the team,” Kriney said. “This was one of my favorite teams and just to do it together was amazing. Even though I was on the bench, it was so fun. Everyone made me feel like part of it.”
“It just made me so proud,” Angelo said. “I’ve seen how hard they worked all season. I saw how much goes into it. We were here every day. We practice on weekends when no one else is practicing. We stayed at school until six o’clock some nights when it was dark out just to get in as much work as we could.
“This was the ultimate goal. Coming into preseason the first day, we all said we wanted to win the state championship, and not being able to play, you still want to do it, so when Leah (Malone) scored that goal with an assist from Tori, my sister, it made me so happy to see everyone living out their dream. To go out this way as a senior, there’s nothing more I could ask for.”
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