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Bedford's Kaitlyn Richardson scored two goals in the first 23 minutes of Monday's District 6 Class 2A semifinal game at Mansion Park, and the Lady Bisons never looked back from there.
Top-seeded Bedford scored five more times on the night on its way to punching a ticket to the district championship, and a spot in the PIAA Tournament, in a 7-0 victory over fourth-seeded Cambria Heights.
"This is a good team win," Bedford coach Jeff Thomas said. "We definitely came out and played Bedford soccer tonight and possessed the ball right from the get-go. That's what we needed to do."
As for Cambria Heights, the playoff experience was a good one for Nikki Spanik's squad that features just one senior on the roster, and started five sophomores and two freshmen on Monday night. The Lady Highlanders picked up a 4-2 victory over No. 5 Central Cambria in the quarterfinals last week.
"Bedford is a little more established as a team, and we're still building our foundation," Spanik said. "Overall I'm really proud of these girls. We went downhill tonight, but we never gave up. I'm just happy they got here. It just was not the outcome we wanted."
Richardson got things going at the 8:25 mark with a goal off a corner kick to put the Lady Bisons up 1-0. She added another one at 22:52.
"This is my senior year, so I want to end this on a good note and at least get (to the district championship)," Richardson said.
Bedford's Makayla Ford also scored with just 12 seconds left in the first half to put her team up 3-0 at the break. The Cambria Heights keeper nearly made the stop, but the ball trickled in.
Ava Sipes made a long boot from the 20 to get the Lady Bisons their first goal of the second half. Paiton Gillum added two more goals, while Katie McDevitt punched in the last one for the Lady Bisons.
Bedford will meet third-seeded Central in the 2A championship on Thursday at Hollidaysburg at 7:30 p.m. The Lady Dragons knocked off No. 2 seed Forest Hills, 2-0, in the other semifinal on Monday.
"It's always great to see these kids get to the district championship," Thomas said. "We need to keep building and moving forward."
Cambria Heights finished the season at 11-8.
"We worked hard to get where we're at," Spanik said. "No one whines or complains about a loss. The first (playoff) win at a home game was pretty good. Hopefully next year we get more."
SCORE BY HALVES
Cambria Heights 0 0 -- 0
Bedford 3 4 -- 7
First half: B — Richardson, (unassisted), 8:25; B — Richardson, unassisted, 22:52; B – Ford, unassisted, 39:48
Second half: B – Sipes, unassisted, 49:23; B — Gillum, unassisted, 59:33; B — Gillum, unassisted, 67:34; B — McDevitt, unassisted, 69:25
Shots on goal: Cambria Heights 6, Bedford 22.
Saves: Cambria Heights (Maria Wendekier) 13, Bedford (Rebekah Costal) 6.
Corner kicks: Cambria Heights 2, Bedford 5.
Records: Cambria Heights (11-8); Bedford (16-4).