High School Girls soccer

Lady Eagles win overtime thriller

D6 2A girls soccer

There's a common message which Tyrone girls' soccer coach Rita Kendziora is consistently teaching to her players in practice and on gameday.

"We talk about crash the net, and we crashed the net," she said. "That's what we needed."

Both fifth-seeded Tyrone and fourth-seeded Central traded opportunities for much of the evening, and that took both teams into overtime in the District 6 Class 2A quarterfinal Tuesday night.

Early in the extra session, the Lady Eagles crashing of the net finally paid off.

Olivia Newlin set up Maya Plummer for what ended up being the game-winner to lift the Lady Eagles to the 1-0 triumph in overtime at Mansion Park.

"I saw Olivia Newlin with the ball and I knew she was going to hit it," Plummer said of the game winning goal "Luckily the goalie just tipped it and I was right there to put it in.

"We just had to keep possession, keep passing and moving around. Their defense was getting tired, and they were going to break down, and we found it."

Their reward is a trip to Patton where they will take on top-seed Cambria Heights, which shut out No. 8 Westmont Hilltop, 2-0, in the other quarterfinal game Monday at a time to be announced.

The Lady Eagles got one of those key scoring chances early in the second half as Allie Blaska aimed one for the lower left corner, but Kaylin Gahagan pumped the brakes on that opportunity.

Minutes later, the Lady Dragons got a chance of their own as Sophia Keith took the feed, but was denied by Tyrone's Pyper Sparklin with around 28 minutes left in the second half.

"We had so many seniors out there playing, and I know they wanted it really bad," Central coach Randy Trexler said. "I knew they were just spent. I thought we could last the two overtimes if we made it that far. Ultimately, it was a little but unlucky there at the end."

Five minutes later, Central looked like it was going to break the ice before Mya Long was blocked by Sparklin.

"Central gave us a great game," Kendziora said. "We came into this knowing that both teams were going to play great soccer, and in the end it was going to be who wants it more. That's what we talked about before the playoffs. We got the win.

"I told them you need to keep wanting it, keep shooting it, and keep your head up when the ball does not go in, and that's what the girls did" she added.

Tyrone did have one more prime scoring chance in the final six minutes of regulation as Kadence Berry came up with a steal, but her shot went wide right.

"It was a great effort on our part, and I thought these guys pressured really quickly. That was a big difference from the first time we played them. It's just how it goes. We've been here before, and we know the things that can happen in that first round," Trexler said.

Kendziora is looking forward to seeing how her team embraces their shot at redemption against a Lady Highlander team that beat Tyrone earlier this season.

"We didn't come out the way we should've that game," she said. "We're ready to come out and show the team we truly are as Tyrone and Bellwood."

The loss brought the end of the line for nine Lady Dragon seniors as the season ends with a 7-7-5 record. Trexler knows it will be challenging having to replace nine seniors that have meant a lot to the program.

"We're losing quite a few seniors, and we're just going to have to rebuild next year," Trexler said. "Losing them, we have all of that experience that's going to leave, but we have to rebuild and keep working."

SCORE BY HALVES

Tyrone 0 0 1 - 1

Central 0 0 0 - 0

Overtime: T - Plummer (Newlin), 81:39

Records: Tyrone (8-8-3), Central (7-7-5)