Greensburg Central Catholic girls soccer stops Serra Catholic

By: Jose Negron
Wednesday, September 14, 2022 | 10:59 PM

Bouncing back from a lopsided loss can be a challenging task.

Attempting to do so against a team like Greensburg Central Catholic can make it an even more difficult one to achieve.

That was the task at hand for the Serra Catholic girls soccer team, just two days after suffering a 7-1 defeat at the hands of Springdale.

The Centurions didn’t make things easy on the host Eagles, as Riley Kerr scored a pair of goals in a 4-1 victory in Section 1-A play atop “The Nest” at Serra Catholic on Wednesday night.

“Despite the loss, I was very proud with how our girls played. They played as a unit and they implemented a lot of the things we worked on in practice,” Serra Catholic coach Tori Fedora said. “It didn’t go our way tonight, but I think our girls have shown that they can hang with the top teams in our section.”

GCC (2-1, 2-1) controlled possession for a large portion of the second half and turned a tie game into a one-goal advantage shortly into the final frame.

Two minutes in, Sara Felder delivered a cross to a wide open Kerr in front of the net. Kerr, who scored her first goal with nine minutes left in the first half, had plenty of open space and found the back of the net on a shot in close to give the Centurions the lead.

“The main focus of our halftime talk was building together as a team,” GCC head coach Kara Batey said. “We needed to make sure that we had high energy and that we were playing with heart. That goal early in the second half was big for us to build on what we spoke about. It’s one thing to say it, but to take action toward it, it speaks more words.”

Serra Catholic goalkeeper Elena Pfeiffer was busy in net, especially in the first half when she made over 10 saves, including a diving stop on a shot by Felder with 12:30 remaining in the opening frame.

Pfeiffer, who added another key diving stop less than 10 minutes into the second half, finished with 24 saves in the loss.

“Elena kept us in the game,” Fedora said. “She came off her line and made the saves she had to make. It was a really good game on her part.”

While GCC generated a majority of the first-half opportunities, Serra had a few key chances of its own.

Lydia Reith nearly put Serra (5-2, 3-2) on the board with 22:25 left in the first half when she worked her way down field, weaved around a pair of defenders and put a shot on GCC keeper Leah Jones, who made a diving save to keep the game scoreless.

Later, Serra had another chance on a Bella Meder free kick that sailed wide left before Reith tied the game with under four minutes to go until halftime. Reith possessed the ball near the right of the goal box before placing a shot near the top-left corner of the goal for her 20th goal of the season and 52nd of her career.

“Being able to break through and find the back of the net in that first half really gave us confidence,” Fedora said. “Lydia is a quality player with a great touch and ability to find the net. She’s really a joy to coach.”

With her team up 2-1, Felder added a big insurance goal with under 15 minutes to go in the contest. She worked her way around the Serra defense and fired a shot from about 18 yards out that beat Pfeiffer for a 3-1 lead. Alexia Graham scored the final goal of the night with 12:32 left.

“We looked at the score as if it was a 0-0 game after halftime,” Felder said. “We went in thinking, ‘Just possess the ball and keep it on the ground.’ With this field, we knew we had to take our time, play simple and work more with each other.”

GCC resumes section play at Steel Valley on Monday. Meanwhile, Serra Catholic will return to action at home against Seton LaSalle on the same night.

“We just want to build off of the good things we did tonight,” Fedora said. “We’re looking forward and we’re looking to come out of that Seton game with a win.”

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Serra Catholic