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By Todd Irwin
sports@altoonamirror.com
PHILIPSBURG -- The Bishop Guilfoyle girls soccer team met up with West Branch for the second year in a row in the District 6 Class A championship on a cold Thursday night at Philipsburg-Osceola's Mountaineer Stadium.
And for the second year in a row, they left the field heartbroken.
Undefeated and top-seeded West Branch earned its third straight district title by beating the second-seeded Lady Marauders, 3-2. Last year, the Lady Warriors beat BG, 2-1, for the title.
West Branch beat BG, 1-0, during the regular season.
"We're getting a little tired of it, to be honest," BG coach Joe DeLeo said of the losses to West Branch. "That's a good team. We've exceeded expectations. I wouldn't have originally thought we would have made this game, so we were happy with it.
"Once we were here, we had a lot of opportunities. Things could have gone either way. Sometimes it doesn't work out for you."
The Lady Marauders (12-7-1), who start five freshmen, scored the first goal at the 31:50 on a Lainey Farabaugh breakaway goal -- her 45th goal of the season. Farabaugh actually scored both BG goals.
"I thought in the first 15 or 20 minutes we were controlling the tempo," DeLeo said. "We've been working on attacking with two back there, and it worked out. (Mallory) Dolansky flipped it over to her, and Lainey made a nice goal."
That BG had a lead was big news for West Branch (20-0-1).
"It was the first time this year we were down," West Branch coach Angie Fenush said. "We knew they had it in them, but we didn't know if they knew they had it in them. I think it showed their resiliency. They relied on each other, and you can't ask for more."
The Lady Warriors responded as Jenna Mertz scored the first of her two goals with 24:35 left in the first half. Teammate Lauren Timblin followed by slipping the ball into the net with 12:45 left to give her team a 2-1 lead, which held up the rest of the half.
The Lady Warriors spent most of the second half fending off BG attacks. A Farabaugh shot on goal clanked off the top of the net at the 33:10 mark.
"The other thing we worked on all week was crossing into the box," DeLeo said. "That was a perfect cross. From here, it looked like it went in, but obviously it didn't. That was a great pass from (Clair) Cammarata as well."
West Branch got an opportunity when Olivia Straka's kick was stopped. BG goalkeeper Finley Steinbugl had eight saves.
Folmar caught a head-high kick from Mallory Dolansky with 27 minutes left.
"BG is a great team," Fenush said. "Lainey Farabaugh and Dolansky are so fast. They pressured us so much. They were excellent, but once again our defense withstood the test and did a great job."
BG nearly tied the game late when the ball slipped behind Folmar, who was up in the box. But Madison Kephart booted the ball away right before it reached the net.
"That one was going in," DeLeo said. "We had a couple chances on corner kicks that I thought we could have put in. I'm not taking anything away from them, but we had our chance tonight for sure."
The Lady Warriors got some breathing room when Mertz scored on a corner kick from Mariah Hayles with 4:13 left.
"It was an awesome corner from Mariah," Fenush said. "Mariah put it right on the spot, and Jenna just happened to be in the right spot at the right time. That's the team just knowing each other and trusting each other to be where they're supposed to be."
But the Lady Marauders kept the pressure on. Farabaugh responded by scoring 18 seconds later.
"That third goal hurt us, but we scored really quickly," DeLeo said. "That kept the last three or four minutes interesting for us, and probably the fans."
That was the last BG threat. The game ended with the Lady Warriors keeping the ball on BG's side of the field.
West Branch will now get ready to play its first state playoff game on Tuesday against District 9 champion Brockway at a site and time to be announced. BG's season is done. It was the last game for seniors Meghan Norris and Angelina Melgar.
"With starting five freshmen and only having four returning players, I felt like we exceeded all of our expectations this year," DeLeo said.
SCORE BY HALVES
Bishop Guilfoyle 1 1 -- 2
West Branch 2 1 - 3
First half: BG--Farabaugh (Dolansky), 31:50; WB--Mertz (unassisted), 24:35; WB--Timblin (unassisted), 12:45
Second half: WB--Mertz (Hayles), 4:13; BG--Farabaugh (unassisted), 3:55
Records: Bishop Guilfoyle (12-7-1), West Branch (20-0-1).