KARNS CITY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Blinking away tears, Rossi McMillen couldn’t believe it was over.
It was a special ride for the senior goalkeeper for the Karns City girls soccer team, especially during the past week.
(Above, Karns City keeper Rossi McMillen boots the ball on a goal kick in a match last season/photo by Holly Mead)
On Thursday, she had 31 saves in a 3-2 overtime win that gave the Gremlins the District 9 Class 2A title.
On Tuesday night at Diehl Stadium against WPIAL runner-up North Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 2A playoffs, McMillen was at it again with 21 saves — most of them difficult — to keep gritty Karns City within striking distance in a 2-1 loss.
“I’m just so proud of our team,” McMillen said. “I’ve very proud of how far we’ve come since last year.”
McMillen was one of the reasons why the Gremlins were just one goal down against the talented and fast Trojanettes late.
Even the two first-half goals North Catholic scored — a header by Kathleen Virostek and a hard shot just below the crossbar by Lauren McDonald — would have been difficult for any keeper to stop.
“She has been why we’ve been successful. Hands down,” said Karns City coach Tracy Dailey. “She never stops learning and working. That’s another thing, she’s such an easily coachable athlete. She’s wanting to learn. She’s wanting to better herself.”
McMillen played her best down the stretch, helping Karns City reclaim the D9 title it let slip away in 2020.
The match almost slipped away from North Catholic.
With a 2-0 lead at the half while dominating possession, the Trojanettes struggled at times in the second half. Karns City began dictating the pace and outplayed North Catholic in the final 40 minutes.
Still, the Gremlins could only muster one shot on goal before McKenna Martin was fouled in the box, setting up freshman Sarah Dodd for a successful penalty kick with 8:37 remaining in the match.
Karns City scrambled late with possession deep in North Catholic’s end of the field, but couldn’t get a quality shot off before the final whistle.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t win, but I’m very pleased and proud of how we played,” Dailey said. “We executed to the best of our ability.”
The Gremlins’ defensive strategy was simple: don’t let North Catholic’s all-state midfielder Jordan Sharpless beat them.
Karns City marked the Trojanettes’ star with two players.
“We didn’t let her score and that was our main goal,” Dailey said. “She is that kind of calibre of a player.”
North Catholic’s speed was more than a match for Karns City’s quickness.
What the Trojanettes didn’t do particularly well coming off a double-overtime loss to rival Avonworth in the WPIAL final was finish.
North Catholic coach Brittni Grenninger is a Karns City graduate and former soccer star for the Gremlins, scoring nearly 200 career goals in purple. She made many fond memories on the soccer field at Karns City.
This was not one of them.
After this match, she was seeing red.
“It’s frustrating,” said Grenninger, who also is a volunteer assistant for the Karns City boys soccer team coached by her father, Jim Grenninger, this season. “We dominated play, but to not have the tenacity or heart to want to run through a brick wall to put a ball in the net tonight wasn’t good. It (wasn’t a good) effort tonight.”
(Karns City graduate Brittni Grenninger, middle, talks with her North Catholic team after a 2-1 win over the Gremlins in the first round of the state playoffs)
Grenninger did feel a wave of nostalgia being back home. As a coach of the Freeport girls soccer program before taking over at North Catholic at the start of this season, she brought a team to play at Karns City against the Gremlins a few times over the years.
It’s never gotten easier.
“I mean, it’s always nice to be back here, back at your alma mater,” Grenninger said. “It was definitely nice to get the win. It’s bittersweet because I never expected to be on the other end of it when I grew up playing here. My father’s coaching here on the boys side and I still help out here. I just never expected to be on the other side.”
North Catholic was playing without a few of its starters and had to pull keeper Rylee Kumar in the first half after the sophomore just couldn’t go after injuring her knee against Avonworth.
“We were banged up,” Grenninger said. “The WPIAL playoffs are hard. That’s a daunting playoff system to make it through. It looked like we already had this one in the bank before we played the game and it showed tonight.”
SOMERSET 1, KARNS CITY 0
The Karns City boys soccer team controlled play.
The Gremlins just couldn’t score.
“It was a really tough one,” said Gremlins’ coach Jim Grenninger. “We controlled the ball 75 percent of the match. Tough.”
The match was scoreless until six minutes left in regulation.
Depth played a role in the win for Somerset.
“They had 29 guys on their roster,” Grenninger said. “Their fresh legs caught up to us in the end.”
Still, it was a successful season for Karns City, which started just one senior, Cole Sherwin.
The young Gremlins won their second consecutive District 9 Class 2A title.
“They played well,” Grenninger said. “It was a tough game to lose. I told them, ‘Hey, this is bonus time for us.’ The future is bright here.”
