Springdale girls soccer team doesn’t let opponent get too close this time, advances to semifinals

By: Jerin Steele
Wednesday, October 26, 2022 | 8:31 PM

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In Springdale’s first-round win over Sewickley Academy, the game got a little too close for comfort after the Dynamos yielded a couple of late goals.

They were determined not to let that happen again Tuesday.

This time, the second-seeded Dynamos were dominant from start to finish and ended up with a 2-0 win over No. 7 Mohawk in the WPIAL Class A girls soccer quarterfinals at Kiski Area.

Springdale (15-3) advanced to the semifinals for a second consecutive season and will face Waynesburg (16-3) on Monday at a site and time to be announced. Mohawk finished 10-7.

“We did really well tonight,” Springdale coach Marc Bentley said. “I said after the (first-round) game on Saturday we were a little bit panicky at the start and after we let up the first goal, so the message tonight was just to relax and play our game. We got a couple early goals, which helped.”

Those early goals were courtesy of Briana Ross and Grace Gent.

Ross got it started three minutes into the game with a long, high-arching shot that went just under the crossbar and over the outstretched arm of Warriors goalie Abi Boehning.

“I watched some film on them and saw that their goalie tended to come really high up, so if I had to space, I wanted to shoot it high to get it over her and right in behind her,” Ross said.

Ten minutes later, Ross struck a corner kick into the box, which landed near the foot of Gent, and she tapped the ball into the net to give the Dynamos a 2-0 lead.

“We’ve been working on corner kicks a lot lately, and I always try to put it between where the six (yard box) is and the penalty spot,” Ross said. “We hadn’t had a lot of success on corners this year. I think we had only scored one time on a corner, so it was really exciting to see it go in.”

From there, the Dynamos controlled possession and continued to pepper Boehning.

Boehning was strong in net, making 14 saves and keeping Mohawk within striking distance.

When Mohawk did get possession, Springdale was quick to win the ball back most times, whether it was a steal in the midfield or a defender stepping up to knock the ball away.

The Warriors started to press forward as time ticked down, but the Dynamos did not allow any dangerous chances. Dynamos keeper Caity Stec made three saves, and all three were on shots that dribbled toward the goal.

“In the first half, we kept them in their half pretty much the entire time, and that’s a credit to our defense,” Ross said. “They have been working extremely hard in practice. Our coach always says to put your body on the line, and they did that tonight. They were trying to send in through balls, but our defense was there to stop them. They really communicated well.”

The Dynamos will look for a similar performance Monday as they try to punch their ticket to Highmark Stadium.

“We just got to take it as it is and be ready no matter who we end up playing against,” Bentley said. “Just relax and play our game. I thought we had a really good performance tonight against a well-organized Mohawk team.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Mohawk, Springdale