Central Bucks East & Central.Bucks South were winners in Saturday’s PIAA 4A quarterfinal action. Andrew Robinson recaps all the action. File photos courtesy of Tracy Valko. (CB South photos courtesy of Mike Tait/CB South soccer
PIAA 4A quarterfinals
#1-5 Central Bucks East 3, #7-2 Seneca Valley 1
The path traveled has been different, but the Patriots are back where they were a year ago.
For a second straight season, CB East has advanced to the PIAA Class 4A semifinals, but this trip has required a bit more from them. The fifth and final team into the state bracket from District 1, the Patriots have been playing for their season and their seniors for two weeks now, and they brought every bit of that intensity in Saturday’s quarterfinal against Seneca Valley.
Taylor Roumy carried the day with a hat trick, but there was a whole lot going on around and behind the junior forward that made sure East would get another shot at a state semifinal match.
“We never put our heads down,” Roumy said. “We always fight together and work with each other.
“It wasn’t our best game, but we still put in the right effort and we cared about winning. This means a lot, especially to our seniors, and I thought we just really fought for it and wanted it.”
East junior Mackenzie Peters may not cut an imposing figure as the smallest player on the pitch, but she’s just as tough as any of her teammates and covered a lot of turf on Saturday, battling to maintain possession. The midfielder is one of several first-year starters for the Patriots, and even after turning over half their starting lineup from last fall, they’ve established a strong camaraderie within this year’s lineup.
All season, whether it was injuries or even now in the postseason with some teammates ineligible to play, the Patriots are playing as a collective with one goal between them.
“We do it for each other,” Peters said. “It’s not for individuals, it’s for everybody on our team.”
Take Mia Forney for example. The junior forward is a Maryland recruit and more than capable of beating a goalkeeper by herself but instead of taking shots, she twice passed up the ball to get Roumy a better look in the first half and all it led to was a 2-0 lead midway through the opening half.
CB East felt like it could use its press effectively Saturday and did just that. Forney pounced on a short goal kick five minutes into the game, sliding a ball to the wide-open Roumy for the first goal then 15 minutes later, the forward picked the ball off a back and similarly did the same thing with the same result.
“Mia always finds someone,” Roumy said. “She’s great with that. She knows where everyone is, when we’re making those runs, she just knows how to find us.”
Peters felt the need to step in.
“You were also pressing insanely well today,” Peters said to Roumy. “You did really well cutting off the outside backs and making my life so much easier.”
Seneca Valley closed the first half on a tear. Cassie Leonard got the Raiders right back in the match when her shot from distance hit the crossbar, crashed down across the goal line and caromed out with 10:22 remaining.
Karly Majeski put a scare in the Patriots with just five seconds left when she rattled the crossbar again, but this time the deflection went away from the line and East was able to hold on.
“Our goal was just to keep them in front of us and not let them get shots,” senior center back Paige Dougherty said. “Those were our big points of emphasis going in and we used halftime to get back to doing them.”
Dougherty and the rest of the back line – Addie Langolis, Cece Hayes and Skylar Lipp – were able to keep Seneca Valley in check for much of the second half. Patterson also came up clutch for her team, including three pivotal saves in the second half while it was still 2-1.
“Everyone gave 100 percent and really worked hard out there,” Dougherty, a Pitt lacrosse recruit, said. “I think we had the higher intensity, in the second half especially, and we just wanted it a little bit more.”
After the shaky ending to the first 40 minutes, the Patriots played much more connected in the second half. Roumy felt like she and her teammates got back to playing to each other’s feet and not trying to do too much with the ball, the forward adding when they opted to go big, Seneca Valley tended to just boot the ball back down the field anyway.
“We needed to play our game,” Peters said. “We were very frantic, it’s the quarterfinals, it’s a big game and we want to get to the semis, we want to get to states but we just needed to take a breath – which we did in the huddle – and just settle down.”
Roumy did a lot of work and caused a lot of problems for Seneca Valley’s defense despite missing the last 23 minutes of the first half after tweaking her ankle scoring her second goal. The junior, a Richmond commit along with her twin sister Ella, didn’t even think about sitting out the second half too and kept testing Raiders keeper Brynn Houser. Roumy’s persistence paid off with 7:05 left when she was able to convert off a nice pass in tight quarters from Kiera Sleicher.
“Taylor gave a great performance with her hat trick,” Dougherty said, her teammate just a few feet away. “She worked really hard out there. Every time she got the ball, she’s really great in 1-v-1 situations and her technical skills and her shots are always great.”
CB East took a different path but still stands in the same place it did a year ago as one of the last four teams standing in Class 4A. The Patriots have played through their share of challenges this fall but stayed united.
It’s given them a chance to go at least one step further.
“We said at the beginning of the season it was our goal to get to a state final,” Peters said. “I think going to playbacks, it wasn’t a reality check because we knew we were still a really good team but it (was challenging). So winning playbacks, I think it showed our grit as a team.”
Scoring Summary
1st Half
CBE – Taylor Roumy (Mia Forney) 35:14
CBE – Taylor Roumy (Mia Forney) 23:41
SV – Cassie Leonard 10:22
2nd Half
CBE – Taylor Roumy (Kiera Sleicher) 7:05
Up Next: Central Bucks East will face North Allegheny, a 2-1 winner in overtime against defending state champion Downingtown West, in Tuesday’s semifinals at a site and time to be determined.
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 2 1 – 3
SENECA VALLEY 1 0 – 1
#1-4 Central Bucks South 1, #11-1 Nazareth Area 0 (2 OT)
In their first state playoff game, the Titans couldn’t stop scoring.
Saturday afternoon proved to be quite the opposite thanks to Nazareth Area and particularly the efforts of goalkeeper Emma Houchin. The senior, a team captain, pulled out all the stops to stifle the Titans and try to extend her team’s season.
Thanks in large part to Houchin, who denied South standout Riley Karpinski on a pair of breakaways, it took until deep into the second overtime for the Titans to keep their own dream season rolling.
“We definitely controlled the pace of the game and as a team, we continued to put pressure on their back line and goalie, who did a fantastic job,” Karpinski said. “In both overtimes, our midfielders fought hard and pushed the ball to the front line so many times that we knew the goal was coming.”
CB South has been a pretty good corner kick team all year and fittingly that’s where the match winner would come from. Tessa Hughes provided another ace service and this time it was Monika Daly on the finishing end, sending South through with a little less than four minutes left in the second overtime.
“Monika Daly came in clutch with a header goal off of a corner from Tessa Hughes to win the game,” Karpinski said. “I’m so proud of how hard our team fought tonight and we are going to enjoy the win, but we are focused on the next game to make sure we get to that state championship.”
Scoring Summary
1st Half
No Scoring
2nd half
No Scoring
OT
No Scoring
OT2
CBS – Monika Daly (Tessa Hughes)
Up next: The Titans will battle Central Dauphin, a 3-0 winner over Archbishop Carroll, in Tuesday’s semifinal round.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 0 0 0 1 – 1
NAZARETH AREA 0 0 0 0 – 0
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