Breaking News
Local Sports

South Williamsport girls lose heartbreaker to Moravian Academy in PKs

By Jon Gerardi 7 min read

ASHLAND — Moravian Academy’s Addison Etter read South Williamsport’s kicker perfectly and guessed right, leaping high and getting her hands on it to tip the penalty kick backwards above the goal and out of harm’s way.

Before the ball even landed on the turf at North Schuylkill High School, Etter already was sprinting toward her teammates to celebrate.

Moravian Academy and South Williamsport battled each other tough throughout Saturday afternoon’s game, and Etter’s clutch save in the penalty kick shootout secured Moravian Academy’s trip to the PIAA Class A semifinals with the 5-4 penalty kicks win.

As Moravian Academy players celebrated and cheered, tears were visible on South Williamsport’s bench. The Mounties wanted to get back to the state semifinals and South Williamsport had put together an incredible season, from an 0-5 start to being one of the final eight teams in Class A remaining.

A loss is always tough, but a penalty kick shootout loss stings just a little bit more.

“I couldn’t be more proud. We played well, we played a very solid team. They’ve been here a bunch of times,” South Williamsport coach Marc Lovecchio said. “Their goalie is outstanding. They have a couple of very outstanding players. They’re well-coached, they’re disciplined. It was a battle, it was a real battle.”

And South Williamsport was all familiar with Moravian Academy. This marked the third consecutive PIAA Class A quarterfinal matchup between the two. South Williamsport won the previous two matchups, but the Lions were able to win the third contest.

“We knew it (would be a battle). They were young last year and we knew they had mostly everybody back. They’re just a tough team as I said,” Lovecchio said. “They are very good in terms of controlling the ball. They’re very good in finding the open person. They’re very good in making decisions and they have some very good skill players. But I thought we competed very well.”

Penalty kicks are always nerve wracking and cause some anxiety for not only players, but fans alike, and Saturday was no different.

Etter and South Williamsport’s Lucy Binkley each made the first kicks to tie it at 1-1. Moravian Academy sent its second kick wide left before Maddy Breen drilled a shot low to the right for a 2-1 South Williamsport lead.

Both kickers missed in the third round to keep it 2-1. Elle Price of Moravian Academy converted her kick to the right and Olivia Loudenslager converted hers to give South a 3-2 lead going into the fifth and final round.

Angel Deluhery of Moravian Academy was able to drain her kick toward the right to tie it 3-3, and South’s shot was blocked by Etter to force more kicks.

In the first round of sudden-death, Moravian Academy’s Haley Sasso sent her kick to the left to convert, putting the pressure on South Williamsport. The Mounties responded though when Rogin Hamman came up with a good conversion to tie it 4-4 and force another round.

Chelsea Maund scored for Moravian Academy before Etter’s clutch block high on South’s attempt to seal the win.

“I said ‘girls, it’s fine.’ We’ve been practicing them. It happens it’s the way it works. You got to end the game somehow, somebody’s got to go on,” Lovecchio said of going into kicks. “I said relax and put the ball in the back of the net. … I actually thought we had a good chance when we went up by two, but then we missed two. But they’re kids, people who get paid millions of dollars a year miss penalty kicks.”

South Williamsport was six minutes away in regulation of moving onto the PIAA Class A semifinals. With a 1-0 lead, South Williamsport was playing strong, but sometimes all it takes is one key moment to shift momentum and that’s what happened. With 5:38 to play, Moravian Academy’s Price booted a corner kick into the 18 and after a bounce, it wound up at the feet of Izzy Tran, who wasted little time and was able to tap in a shot inside of the 6 to the left post. And, just like that, the game was tied up and heading into overtime.

“It did, it shifted the momentum to them. I thought we caught it back a little bit in the overtime,” Lovecchio said. “We made some adjustments, they made some adjustments. The problem is in overtime, neither team wants to lose, so you’re playing a little bit more conservatively.”

Neither team did much offensively in either overtime periods. South Williamsport didn’t record a shot on goal in either overtime, and including the second half, had just one shot on goal through the final 70 minutes of competition.

Moravian Academy’s Deluhery fired a shot from 24 out that she tried to send high, but South goalie Althea Street knocked it down and grabbed the loose ball before any follow-up shot could happen. That was the only dangerous moment in either overtime periods.

South Williamsport possessed majority of the second half despite having just one shot on goal. But the Lions kept pushing and trying to get something to fall and managed to finally score with 5:38 to play.

South Williamsport went ahead in the first half when Ella Moore made a spectacular play, sliding with defenders closing in and sending a shot to the far-left post for the 1-0 lead with 20:55 to play until halftime. After Moravian Academy controlled for majority of the first 15 minutes of the game, South Williamsport then took over and put a lot of pressure on Moravian Academy’s back line and goalie.

“It was a great goal from Ella. I thought the finish was fantastic,” Lovecchio said. “She got by one person and then made it. They got a little bit of the momentum and the last goal was just a killer. But that happens, it’s soccer.”

Moore nearly put in a second goal from 25 yards out when she sent a hard shot high as it sailed just over the goal. Loudenslager had a great look at the goal to give South Williamsport a 2-0 lead with 22:15 to play in the second half, but her shot from 10 yards out went just slightly wide to the left post.

With 13:10 to play, Cho almost put in an equalizer before her eventual game-tying goal when Cho was able to fire a shot 22 yards out that she sent high, trying to sneak into the upper-right 90. Her shot was just wide, however, and went out of harm’s way.

Moravian Academy had a great chance to put in an early goal with 25:22 to play in the first half. The Lions sent in a corner kick that Street managed to block, but the ball managed to stay in play and almost rolled in before a defender cleared it at the last moment to save a would-be goal and keep it scoreless early.

The loss stung for all of South’s players. Numerous Mounties were crying and upset as they walked off the field knowing the season was over. For Lovecchio, he’s more than proud of where this team ended up. After an 0-5 start, they were in the state quarterfinals, and that’s an impressive turnaround.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m the last person who thought we’d be here. I’m the last person who thought we’d be in penalty kicks to get to the semifinals,” Lovecchio said. “With a team we have that’s so young, so few seniors, so few juniors even — we only have four seniors, four juniors — and you know, it exceeds all my expectations. It really does. We caught fire at the right time.”

South Williamsport 1, Moravian Academy 1

(Moravian wins in PKs, 5-4)

SW-Ella Moore, 20:55. MA-Izzy Tran (Elle Price), 5:38.

Shots: SW 5, MA 10. Corners: SW 6, MA 6. Saves: SW 9 (Althea Street), MA 4 (Addison Etter).

Records: South Williamsport (14-9), Moravian Academy (16-7).

Starting at /week.