High School Girls soccer

Historic season ends roughly for CC girls soccer

PIAA Class 2A first round

EBENSBURG -- There was a point in the regular season when the Central Cambria girls' soccer team was in a position where even making the district playoffs was in doubt.

However, the Lady Red Devils closed out the regular season with three straight wins and used that momentum heading into the district playoffs before winning two games there to capture the first ever girls' soccer championship.

The reward was also the program's first ever appearance in the PIAA state playoffs.

Unfortunately, the stay was short lived as CC ran into a buzzsaw of a team in Lancaster Catholic, which dominated every facet of the Class 2A first round game, as the Devils' historic year came to a screeching halt with a 9-0 loss at home on Wednesday night.

"Halfway through the season we weren't really sure where we were headed -- are we even going to make the playoffs," Central Cambria coach Gary Simmons said. "Once we won those last couple of games and clinched that berth, we went through districts. I hope, if they don't understand it yet, I know they will at some point see the historical things they did."

The precision passing, speed, winning nearly every 50/50 ball and overall skill set of the Lady Crusaders was more than the Lady Devils could keep up with.

For the contest, Lancaster Catholic ripped off 48 shots, 28 of which required saves.

CC goalkeeper Julia Murphy made 26 of those stops, while backup Kaija Graham had two.

"They came out after the district final ready to practice on Monday," Lancaster Catholic coach Emily Fix said. "We worked a lot on our touches and just being together. For them to come out like that tonight and be so precise with it was absolutely fantastic. It's a testament to how they've been working all season for sure."

The Lady Crusaders put on a show with their passing as they used the entire field to set up one another for prime scoring chances.

The pinpoint accuracy and control of the lead and through passes was spot on for Lancaster, and set Central Cambria on its heels all night trying to keep up.

"Theys (Lancaster Catholic) are just so strong," Simmons said. "I give all the credit to that team. We haven't seen a team like that all season."

The first goal of the night came on a corner kick from Chloe Pelotte that hit off Murphy's hands and bounced to Clare Bolesky who headed it in at 33:54 of the opening half.

Nearly eight minutes later, the Crusaders got a give-and-go going with Clare Bolesky giving off to older sister Harper Bolesky who then touched it back to Clare who fired it in to the right of Murphy.

One of Central Cambria's deepest drives into the attack zone in the opening half came as Kaydence Sinclair took the ball into the box but had it stolen and deflected out to Harper Bolesky.

Harper carried the ball up beyond midfield where she gave it up to Clare Bolesky, who then one-touch fed it over to Isabella O'Reilly who found the back of the net for a 3-0 advantage with 12:44 left.

"We knew we were going to have our hands full," Simmons said. "We talked about trying to contain No. 22 (Harper Bolesky). They (Lancaster Catholic) overwhelmed us at times. We were on early but I think they were just finding the cracks. I think our girls gave it their best, but they exposed some things that other teams this year have not."

The fourth goal came at 9:38 when Harper Bolesky, a Division 1 commit to American University, was unmarked in the middle of the box where she took a pass, settled and easily put the ball into the net.

The Lady Crusaders continued their strong team play in the second half as five more goals were accounted for: Harper Bolesky got the first two, Adriana Foreman had the third, while Gianna George and Celia Bolesky tallied the fourth and fifth of the half to set the final tally.

"They are all sisters," Fix said of the three Bolesky girls scoring goals. "... For them, this is huge because Celia is a freshman, Clare is a sophomore and Harper is a senior."

While the end result certainly isn't what Central Cambria hoped it would be, it can hold their heads high and be proud of the level it helped the program reach and the standard it sets for the group next year.

"I'm so proud of these girls," Simmons said. "I show up to try to help them be successful. It's about them and what they can do. When they realized what they could do, we see really good things come out of them. ... They worked so hard."

The Lady Red Devils lose four seniors in Murphy, Hallie Amenti, Marjwok Ohja and Maggie Springer.

"The seniors were all captains and showed a lot of leadership."

Central Cambria finished its year with a 10-10-2 record.

Meanwhile, Lancaster Catholic, now 18-1-1, will play the winner of Clearfield and Freeport on Saturday in the quarterfinals.

SCORE BY HALVES

Lancaster Catholic 4 5 — 9

Central Cambria 0 0 — 0

First half: LC--C. Bolesky (Pelotte), 33:54; LC--C. Bolesky (H. Bolesky), 25:44; LC--O'Reilly (C. Bolesky), 12:44; LC--H. Bolesky (unassisted), 9:38.

Second half: LC--H. Bolesky (unassisted), 30:46; LC--H. Bolesky (unassisted), 24:18; LC--Foreman (unassisted), 23:06; LC--George (unassisted), 18:18. LC--C. Bolesky (unassisted), 1:01.

Goalies: Lancaster Catholic -- Brommer: 1 save, 1 shot on goal; Central Cambria -- Murphy: 26 saves, 34 shots on goal; K. Graham: 2 saves, 3 shots on goal.

Shots: Lancaster Catholic 48, Central Cambria 1.

Corner kicks: Lancaster Catholic 10, Central Cambria 3.

Records: Lancaster Catholic (18-1-1); Central Cambria (10-10-2).