KARNS CITY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Karns City keeper Savanna Prescott lunged and made a stellar save on a penalty kick midway through the first half to turn away a golden opportunity for Bishop Guilfoyle to break a nil-nil deadlock.
The Gremlins’ defense has been stout all season and it was again against the Marauders, the District 6 champions who came in with a 91-17 edge in goals scored this season.
Time after time, the Marauders attacked and Karns City stonewalled them.
But Bishop Guilfoyle finally broke through with a two-on-one opportunity with the goal put home by Hailey Degol off an assist by Emma Marasco in the 32nd minute, and the Marauders poked home an insurance goal off the foot of Marasco midway through the second half on the way to a 2-0 victory over Karns City in the first round of the PIAA Class A girls soccer playoffs at Diehl Stadium on Tuesday night.
(Pictured above, Karns City keeper Savanna Prescott makes a save on a penalty kick during the state playoff loss to Bishop Guilfoyle/photo by Holly Mead)
“We’ve been working on that because we know how good (Karns City is) defensively and they’re so well coached,” said Bishop Guilfoyle coach Joe DeLeo. “They’re sick of working on it in practice, to be honest with you, but we figured with the speed of their center back and how quickly she gets over that the only way to do that is to one-two her.”
It was a pretty goal as Degol and Marasco passed back and forth until Degol took a shot that appeared to be saved by Prescott near the left post, but it squirted through her gloved hands and trickled into the net.
Karns City (17-2-1) wasn’t without its own chances.
Layla Colsey broke through and had her shot met up close by Marauder freshman keeper Abrie Rumfola. The ball was sitting tantalizingly alone with an empty net before BG defender Sarah Geishauser was able to clear it.
Moments before Karns City fell behind 2-0, freshman Phoebe Brandon had her strong shot turned away by Rumfola.
“They’re very quick and even watching them on film didn’t do them justice,” said Karns City coach Tracy Dailey of Bishop Guilfoyle. “They’re definitely very quick up top. We knew coming in that it was going to be a battle and I think we battled. We had some opportunities and we didn’t finish them.”
Bishop Guilfoyle (21-1) dominated play in the first 15 minutes, but had nothing to show for it.
After that, Karns City settled in and began making its own pushes on offensive.
The longer it remained tied, the more nervous DeLeo got.
(Bishop Guilfoyle’s Hailey Degol breaks away as Karns City’s Sophia Bonetto gives chase/photo by Holly Mead)
“We were kind of dominating play and to have no goals, that was a little nerve wracking for sure,” he said. “They certainly had their opportunities, but I thought our defense played really well. It was a good game. They’re a really young team and they didn’t play like a young team tonight.”
But Karns City could never find the net, which certainly would have changed the complexion of the match.
“I said, ‘Let’s just work on getting one, ladies,’” Dailey said. “I said that clear up to the end. If we could just work on getting one, maybe momentum will change. Again, this team is young and we’re working and we’re learning. I’m very pleased with our season and this doesn’t negate what we’ve done for the last 10 weeks.”
Karns City, which won its 25th District 9 title in the last 29 years, has no seniors on the roster.
That young team grew up quickly throughout the season and may have even exceeded expectations.
“We did things people didn’t think we could do,” Dailey said. “We came back and we won another district title and we went through season play beating teams that we hadn’t beat in the past, like Slippery Rock and Grove City. We tied Deer Lakes. We were doing some really good things and the improvement from day one until tonight was huge.”
