Photo for the Mirror by Jeremy Boland BG’s Calee Kennedy works against Faith Christian’s Emma Ziskowski.

MANCHESTER — Bishop Guilfoyle Academy’s senior class of Payton Ronan, Delaney Lechner and Hailey DeGol did not get to end their careers with a PIAA championship, but they set the foundation for future Lady Marauder teams to strive for as the program continues to grow.

“We showed that it’s possible,” DeGol said. “This should give hope to future classes that this is possible.”

Bishop Guilfoyle became the first soccer team from Blair County and the first District 6 girls soccer team to ever make a PIAA championship game since the PIAA began holding a girls title match in 1992.

The Bedford girls, out of District 5, won a state title in Class 2A with a 1-0 overtime win over Lewisburg in 2018. On the boys side, State College defeated Freedom, 2-0, for the 1976 boys Class 3A championship, and Westmont Hilltop lost 1-0 in double overtime to Christopher Dock in the 2002 PIAA Class 1A boys championship.

That’s the entire state championship history of area soccer — until Saturday.

And BG coach Joe DeLeo thinks the Lady Marauders’ 2-0 loss to Faith Christian Academy might just be the start of future state-wide success.

“You look at teams in the West and no one has more state playoff wins than we do in the last three years,” DeLeo said. “I think that transformation is happening. We have a really good junior high program coming. This kind of exposure helps that. We’re really excited about the future — not just next year but many years to come.”

District 1 out of Philadelphia has dominated the soccer landscape in the state for years, but this year’s champion, Faith Christian, paid respect to the Lady Marauders after the game.

“(Bishop Guilfoyle) is pretty good,” Lady Lions coach Ben Sauers said. “They really gave us a run for our money tonight.”

The Bishop Guilfoyle girls basketball team has been a force in the state playoffs for most of its history, but until Justin Wheeler arrived to lead the Marauders football team, the state-wide success was never there on the gridiron.

Like soccer, that was a theme in District 6 with only Tyrone winning a football state title before Bishop Guilfoyle’s first in 2014.

But now the Marauders are known throughout Pennsylvania in football circles with five state titles. Could this run be the one that starts a similar legacy for the school in girls soccer?

“I think this proves we can do it again,” Ronan said. “We have come so far. Our team is really good, and we can make a deep run again next year or in the future.”

If that does happen, the three seniors who will graduate next year, will have been a big part of that.

“Hailey DeGol has obviously been a premier scorer for us,” DeLeo said. “She couldn’t have worked harder tonight. She had some shots that just didn’t go in, and that happens. We’ll miss her spirit and her great play.”

Though Ronan did not log the same minutes as her senior teammates, she provided a spark when she got into big matches.

“Payton Ronan has been part of the program since the beginning,” DeLeo said. “She works hard at each and every practice. We had to put her in during some really difficult moments in the state playoffs, and she stepped right in and did a great job.”

And Lechner might be the hardest for DeLeo to replace, because while the BG team described itself as a family — Lechner literally is to her coach.

“Delaney is a pure leader on the team and does everything she can to win,” DeLeo said. “She motivates the girls during and after games and keeps things light at practice for us. She will be sorely missed. She’s my niece, so that will make it even harder.”

And figuratively he will lose a couple more “nieces” from the roster.

“They were like my sisters to me,” Ronan said. “We all connected with each other and stick together no matter what. All three of us have major skills on and off the field.”

With leading scorer Emma Marasco, keeper Abrie “CeCe” Rumfola and Meggie Ritchey — who scored the game-winning goal in double overtime in the PIAA semifinals — returning, Bishop Guilfoyle Academy is a sure bet to be a contender again next season.

But it was this year’s group that laid the foundation for the legacy to blossom.

Michael Boytim can be reached at mboytim@altoonamirror.com or 814-946-7521. Follow him on X @BoytimMichael.