PHILIPSBURG, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Before the match, Karns City girls soccer coach Tracy Dailey huddled with her team in the locker room.
She said there are only three people in the room who have won a state playoff game — herself and assistant coaches Tyler Pollock and Hunter Dittman.
Her players then went out and changed those numbers radically.
After 80 minutes of soccer and a 4-0 win over District 6 champion Penns Valley on a frigid Tuesday night in the first round of the PIAA Class A playoffs, senior Addie Christie jogged off the field with a sly smile on her face.
She said to Dailey, “Well, there’s 24 more now.”
Hanna Dailey, Emma Dailey and Lyrik Reed scored first half goals for the Gremlins and Reed added her second goal and the exclamation point on the victory in the second half to send Karns City on to the quarterfinals on Saturday against District 7 champ Freedom.
It’s the first PIAA playoff victory for the Karns City girls since 2017.
(Pictured above, Lyrik Reed/Photo courtesy of Holly Mead)
“Whenever we went over goals at the beginning of the season, that was one the girls had,” Tracy Dailey said. “It’s just nice to see they were able to accomplish it and achieve it.”
Karns City (18-4) was sharp, especially early, applying pressure to Penns Valley from the opening kickoff.
Hanna Dailey scored off a corner that was misdirected by a Penns Valley defender to get Karns City underway.
Emma Dailey then took advantage of some miscommunication to score on an empty net to make it 2-0. Reed then beat her opponent in a 1-v-1 situation and fired a shot into the back of the net from just inside the box for a 3-0 advantage at the half.
“It was a great team win,” Tracy Dailey said. “The defense stayed sound and cleaned up everything. We were able to work through our midfield up to our forwards and we were definitely able to put lots of pressure on them and put the ball in the back of the net.”
Reed, who has had a breakout sophomore campaign for the Gremlins, capped the scoring on a goal via a crossing pass by Christie.
“Our pregame speech was tradition never graduates,” Coach Dailey said.
The team was loose on the long trek to Philipsburg. They were certainly relaxed on the way home, too.
It was a two-plus hour bus ride to the match and the team spent the journey there watching, “The Little Mermaid.”
On the way home, the movie choice was “Brave.”
Perhaps there will be a new tradition — watching Disney movies before state playoff matches.
Karns City gets another one on Saturday against WPIAL champion Freedom, which beat Rockwood 10-0 in its first-round match, at a site and time to be determined.
The Gremlins beat Freedom in the first round of the state playoffs in 2017.
CHARLEROI BLANKS KARNS CITY BOYS
KARNS CITY, Pa. — There was really nothing Lucas Yasika could do.
The Karns City keeper stopped every shot he could. It was the three stellar goals scored off of the feet — and, in one case, the head — of Charleroi players that sunk the Gremlins in a 3-0 loss in the first round of the PIAA Class A playoffs at home.
“Not much he could have done,” said Karns City coach Justin Ryan. “Overall, we knew they were going to control possession from seeing how they play and how good they are passing the ball around and the touches they get. Their touches were very good.”
Still, Karns City kept it close, trailing just 1-0 at the half.
That first-half goal was a dandy scored by Jake Chambers on a header off of a perfectly placed corner kick.
“That was actually one we didn’t see coming in because of the way Karns City would play those types of ball,” said Charleroi coach Jon Ducoli. “For our guys to be able to capitalize on a set piece like that, I mean, it was nicely done.”
Charleroi opened it up with goals in the second half from Landon Barcus and Ty Patterson.
Karns City made several pushes, but struggled to create scoring opportunities.
Charleroi keeper Nate Mazon had to make just one save in the victory.
“You don’t get into the state playoffs by not being a good team,” Ducoli said. “Karns City played very well. We just were able to get them on their heels and kept them there. That’s hard to come back from, especially in a playoff atmosphere. We just made them feel uncomfortable and forced them to play our game.”
Karns City tried to keep from playing the style of soccer Charleroi wanted to play.
Early on, the Gremlins were content to sit back.
That all changed when Charleroi went up 1-0.
“We knew we wouldn’t be able to run with them for 80 minutes,” Ryan said. “We kind of had to pick our chances. We don’t plays teams often that play like them, where their touches are so good and they’re good at finishing passes.”
Despite the state playoff loss, it was another highly successful season.
Karns City won another District 9 Class A crown.
“Getting back to that district championship game was definitely a goal of ours and we achieved that and won,” Ryan said. “With this group, this gives them a taste of what the next level is like. We have a lot of juniors coming back next year and it’s good for them to get a look at what the state tournament is like.”
