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By Ted Sarneso
For the Mirror
Bishop Guilfoyle had to wait a bit longer than it would have liked to advance in the PIAA playoffs.
The noon start of the second round matchup between District 6 champion Bishop Guilfoyle and WPIAL Class A champion Freedom was delayed by about 15 minutes.
The Bulldogs bus driver took a wrong turn, causing the team to arrive around 11:45 a.m.
"I was having a panic attack for them because I would not want to have to be rushed like that," BG coach Joe DeLeo said. "Letting them have enough time to warm up was certainly the right thing to do."
Bishop Guilfoyle was not fazed by the delay, outplaying Freedom to a 2-0 win at Norwin High School.
"I thought we came out pretty sharp," DeLeo said. "Thought we could have put one in early, but we didn't and that happens."
Bishop Guilfoyle did a strong job of controlling the ball and hemming Freedom in its own end for much of the first half.
"Our defense played very well. Their forwards are really, really good," DeLeo said. "We spent a lot of time going through the film to get ready for that."
Early on, Freedom tried to capitalize on one of the few times it was able to escape its own end.
Shaye Bailey sprung Mackenzie Mohrbacher down the middle of the field with a nice feed but freshman goalkeeper CeeCee Rumfola stepped up to snuff out the shot.
"We didn't play well today," Freedom coach Colin Williams said. "On the day, whoever plays the best wins. Bishop Guilfoyle has a pretty good team there."
After a defensive battle for much of the first half, the Marauders struck first at the 25th minute.
Senior captain Nicole Hawk took charge down in front of Freedom's net, attacking the loose ball with a header, and putting it past keeper Trinity Vojtko.
"I knew that we needed to go to the ball and that they were good up in the air," Hawk said. "We had to be better. I just went straight at the ball and took my shot and it went in."
"She certainly doesn't have any problems being aggressive," DeLeo added. "She gets through a lot of people with her physicality, talent and speed."
Freedom had a chance with one minute left in the first half as junior Olivia Henderson lined up for a free kick, but the shot sailed high and hit the crossbar, leaving the score 1-0 at halftime.
The second half saw Bishop Guilfoyle play tighter defensively, not wanting to yield the equalizer. Anytime Freedom got the ball in Marauders' territory, Guilfoyle's defense sent the ball out immediately.
"Defense was great today," said DeLeo. "We were packing it in during the second half, to be perfectly honest. We didn't hold possession quite as long as I would have wanted."
After an infraction by Freedom, Hawk struck once more for the Marauders depositing a free kick into the top right corner of the goal at the 23:30 mark.
"I wasn't aiming for the top corner," laughed Hawk. "I was just trying to get the ball as close as possible to any part of the net."
It may have been a tough loss for Freedom, but coach Williams was proud of the way his girls played all year. He just knew it wasn't his team's day.
"I think we played well on the season. We won the WPIALs back-to-back which was pretty nice," said Williams. "We didn't play a team that wouldn't have been able to beat us. I think they had their chances and took them. It's over with for this season. A lot of teams have gone out way before us, so we're not disappointed."
Bishop Guilfoyle will take on WPIAL Class A runner up Riverview (20-4) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at Price Field at Westmont Elementary in Johnstown at 7:00 p.m.
"We'll watch the game film and we'll come up with the best plan that we can," DeLeo said. "It won't be too dissimilar from what we've been doing for the last couple of weeks."