By Alex Frazier
The unfortunate fact about soccer is that sometimes the better team doesn’t win.
Central Bucks South outplayed Emmaus in nearly every aspect of the game - except one.
Penalty kicks.
With the PIAA quarterfinal playoff game tied at one after regulation and two 15-minute overtimes, the two teams lined up at midfield to prepare for penalty kicks.
Emmaus goalie Shannon Doughty, who hadn’t played a minute of regulation, came in and made two great saves on South’s Ashley Saylor and Julia Goldsworthy, while the Hornets scored on their first one.
South keeper Sam Wood stopped Emmaus’ second attempt to keep the Titans in the game.
After the two teams traded goals on the next two players, Ashley McKenna booted her shot over the crossbar, and the Hornets swarmed the field as despair enveloped the Titans.
“We had every single opportunity, especially in the second half,” said senior midfielder Sarah Hasson. “I hit the crossbar. I think we had three crossbar hits in a row. We had no luck today. It was our game to win.”
A quick look at the stats shows that the Titans outshot Emmaus 18-7 and that Hornet keeper Alexa Nisiotis, who has only been playing in goal for nine months, made 10 saves to Wood’s two.
One significant stat is corners in which Emmaus led 7-4.
And interestingly enough, it was on one of those corners that the Hornets deadlocked the game.
Just over midway through the second half, Emmaus was awarded a free kick on a handball called by an official who had just taken over in the middle of the field (any number of “inadvertent” handballs had been waved off previously). Emmaus blasted the ball at the South wall and it deflected out of bounds giving the Hornets a corner.
Abby Kender lofted a perfect ball to Meghan Gilley at the far post, and she leaped above the South defenders to head the ball into the upper left corner.
“CB South generated more possessions certainly in the attacking third, but our goalkeepers were huge,” said Emmaus coach Robert Rooney. “We had them well scouted. They did everything we knew they were going to do. We knew all about their players, and certainly some of those kids are terrific players. Their centerback (Melanie Keer) is probably the toughest centerback we’ve seen. We talk to our girls all the time that post-season games are won on dead-ball situations.”
Gilley, who was a prime suspect all night, is an East Regional All-American and a two-time all-state player headed to Stoneybrook.
“We didn’t have her manned-up well enough,” said South senior Meredith Fox. “No. 8 can finish the ball really well with her head. We were manning her up the whole game, but that one play we didn’t have a chance to turn around and make sure she was really marked well.”
Emmaus came out strong in the first half with Alex Brosky banging a shot off the right post 48 seconds into the contest.
But the playing field evened out for most of the half as both teams had chances. South took the lead with 13:51 left to play when Ashley McKenna battled an Emmaus defender near the right endline and somehow got off a shot that found the upper left corner of the goal.
South dominated most of the second half, though the Hornets came on strong near the end. Wood had to hustle to beat Gilley to a 50/50 ball out near the one, and another Gilley header at 1:45 left just missed wide right.
The first overtime was all the Titans, as they fired off five shots without allowing one.
“We had our chances and didn’t finish,” said South coach Joe Bocklet, “and that’s what happens.”
Julia Goldsworthy nearly ended the game with just over a minute in the second overtime, but Nisiotis blocked her shot and then deflected another while lying on the ground.
“They certainly put a lot of pressure on us in the overtime, but our kids are battlers,” said Rooney. “Our kids have been behind in eight games this year. We’ve been in that situation before. They don’t panic. Our goalkeepers tonight were huge.”
“We could definitely pass better than they could,” said Fox. “They played a kick and gun game and we got into that. We’re more of a finesse team.”
Though the tears might have clouded their vision at the time, when the C.B. South girls can clearly look back on the season, they will be pleased with their accomplishments.
“We finished the season undefeated,” said Fox, who will be playing at UMass next year. “We made it through district playoffs. We won our first two games ever, and just being able to play in the state playoffs is great.”
South finished its season at 21-2.
“We can’t really be upset because we’ve gotten so far this season,” said Hasson.
Emmaus 1, Central Bucks South 1
(Emmaus wins 3-2 on penalty kicks)
Goals: Ashley McKenna (CBS), Meghan Gilley (E)
Assists: Abby Kender (E)
Shots: Central Bucks South 18, Emmaus 7
Saves: Sam Ward (CBS) 2, Alexa Nisiotis 10
Corners: Central Bucks South 4, Emmaus 7
Fouls: Central Bucks South 11, Emmaus 9
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