Canon-Mac gets revenge on Norwin
Sabrina Bryan jumps into the arms of teammate Aideen O’Donoghue Saturday after Canon-McMillan defeated Norwin to advance to the PIAA semifinals.
Canon-McMillan goalkeeper Megan Virgin fends off Norwin attacker Lexie Kolano to make a save Saturday.
Canon-McMillan’s Sabrina Bryan celebrates while Norwin goalkeeper Samantha Wexell and defender Emily Arnold react after allowing the first goal Saturday in their PIAA quarterfinal soccer playoff game at Mars Stadium.
Aideen O’Donoghue (7) plays the ball ahead during Canon-McMillan’s 3-1 victory over Norwin Saturday afternoon.
Canon-McMillan’s Sabrina Bryan beats Norwin’s Madison Genicola to the ball before scoring her second goal Saturday.
Canon-McMillan’s Lexey Finney battles Norwin’s Brianna Rose for possession of the ball Saturday.
MARS – The icepack taped to Sabrina Bryan’s left knee after the match suggests she is still not completely healthy. However, when the senior midfielder returned to the lineup Saturday afternoon, she put Canon-McMillan High School’s girls soccer team in great shape to gain a little revenge.
Bryan scored two goals – one in each half – and freshman Annabel Thomas tallied the game-winner as Canon-McMillan defeated WPIAL champion Norwin, 3-1, in the PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinals at Mars High School.
The win puts Canon-McMillan (20-1-1) in the state semifinals Tuesday against Cumberland Valley. The site and time of the match will be determined by the PIAA today.
Norwin (21-1-1) defeated Canon-McMillan by the same score only seven days earlier in the WPIAL championship at Highmark Stadium.
That was a match in which Bryan did not play because of a bruised knee suffered during the postseason.
“It was definitely tough watching that game and seeing my teammates heartbroken,” Bryan said. “I would have done anything to change that.”
Bryan did as much in the rematch. Cleared to play only two days earlier, Bryan gave the Big Macs a 1-0 lead when she took a beautiful cross by teammate Aideen O’Donoghue and buried a shot past Norwin goalkeeper Samantha Wexell with 24:24 left in the first half. O’Donoghue’s pass hit Bryan in stride.
“That goal was all Aideen,” Bryan said. “She hustled all the way to the end line, the defender fell down and she made a good pass. All I had to do was tap it in.”
Though Canon-McMillan dominated play in the middle portion of the first half, Norwin managed to put plenty of pressure on C-M goalkeeper Megan Virgin. Lexie Kolano hit the crossbar with a shot and Emily Harrigan hit the post. The rebound on Harrigan’s shot went to a Norwin player but Virgin made a save to prevent a goal. Virgin had to make several saves from point-blank range in the first half.
“Megan has been an animal in goal,” Bryan said. “She has saved us so many times this year.”
Norwin finally got the equalizer on a goal by Harrigan, a bending shot from about 20 yards just inside the post to the left of Virgin with 9:24 remaining in the first half.
The second half wasn’t especially busy for Virgin. That’s because Canon-McMillan dominated play and kept the Knights stuck in the defensive end for most of the half.
“We’ve been a second-half team all year,” explained Canon-Mac coach Dave Derrico. “We come alive after I talk to them at halftime, though I don’t know why because it’s usually the same speech. The only thing I talked about today was their specific jobs, refining some things and reinforcing the good things they did in the first half. I said keep up those good things and we corrected the little foibles we had that led to Norwin’s goal.”
There was one other thing Derrico mentioned. If the Big Macs needed any extra motivation, he supplied it to them.
“I mentioned that Norwin’s bus had a sign in the windows that reads, ‘Next stop, Hershey.”
Hershey is the site of the state championship games.
“I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ when I heard that,” Bryan said. “I saw their bus and noticed there was something written in the windows. I couldn’t tell what it said.”
Because of its stellar play in the second half, Canon-McMillan is one win away from playing in Hershey. The Big Macs were rewarded for their offensive pressure and persistence when Thomas fought off a defender, turned and buried a bullet of a shot from about 25 yards that cleanly beat the goalkeeper for a 2-1 lead.
“When it was 2-1, we knew (Norwin) was still in it,” Bryan said. “One fluke goal and it would be tied. When it was 3-1, that’s when we could breathe.”
Bryan supplied the exhale. She took a long pass from Isabel Schiedenhelm, crossed to the middle of the field, fought off Norwin defender Madison Genicola and took a right-footed shot that deflected off a Knights player into upper left corner of the net with 11:18 remaining.
Norwin failed to generate a good scoring opportunity in the second half.
“We looked better conditioned than Norwin,” Derrico said. “They looked tired in the final quarter.
“When we played them at Highmark, we have a lot of young players who I think were a little overwhelmed by playing in the big stadium in front of a big crowd. It was so loud they couldn’t even hear me yelling instructions. It wasn’t that way today. After we saw Norwin last week and thought about what we could do better, we wore them out with our speed and effort.”
Norwin’s girls soccer program raised more than $700 for the family of Canonsburg police officer Scott Bashioum, who was killed in the line of duty Thursday morning. A moment of silence was observed prior to the game and the American flag at the stadium was at half staff. … Both teams took the field for pregame warmups wearing white home jerseys. Norwin’s players had to switch to their dark blue road jerseys. … Harrigan’s jersey had No. 23 on the front and No. 29 on the back.