State tournament is ‘new season’ for C-M, PT
Tears fell down the faces of Canon-McMillan’s players as rain fell from the sky Friday night at Highmark Stadium. With silver medals around their necks, all the Big Macs could do was watch as Seneca Valley hoisted the WPIAL Class AAA girls soccer championship trophy.
Less than two days later, the sadness was gone. Canon-McMillan’s players were running around Big Mac Stadium – practicing the finer points of their game that faltered against the Raiders.
“We’re confident and the girls are pumped up again,” Canon-McMillan head coach Dave Derrico said. “It didn’t take (the players) long to recover from the disappointment. I think it took me longer than them.”
A championship hangover is not an option. The Big Macs (16-4-1) open the PIAA Class AAA playoffs tonight against State College (13-6-1), the District 6 champion, at Bald Eagle Area High School in Wingate. The start time is 7 p.m.
The Eagles defeated Erie McDowell Saturday in a PIAA play-in game. The winner of tonight’s game will advance to play either District 3 champion Cumberland Valley or Spring-Ford Saturday at a site and time to be determined.
After the Big Macs boarded a bus Friday to leave the south side of Pittsburgh, Derrico emphasized to not let a one-goal loss to the top team in the state define the season. Canon-McMillan did not have a WPIAL girls soccer runner-up trophy prior to his year.
“With the way we’ve played this season, there is no reason why we can’t add a state trophy,” Derrico said. “That was essentially the speech. This is a new season for us now. We have to get back to our winning ways. There was a big stumble there, but we can get back.”
Although the loss to the unbeaten Raiders forces Canon-McMillan to travel more than 165 miles to open the state playoffs, the Big Macs are positioned well to become the latest team to bounce back after a defeat in the WPIAL finals.
Sophomores forwards Sabrina Bryan and Aideen O’Donoghue give Derrico’s staff a speedy scoring combination that allows creativity with formation and personnel decisions. The duo gave Moon headaches in the WPIAL semifinals and played a key part in the win over Peters Township in the quarterfinals.
“That’s why they’re up there. You must have fast forwards to keep the other teams honest,” Derrico said. “We want to have a credible offensive threat up there at all times. Teams can’t send defenders up if they’ve read our playbook. Hopefully, we can continue that.”
Along with the strong midfield play of Sydney Keremes, Lauren Hess, Cheyenne Trest and Allison Walker, Canon-McMillan is aiming to make a trip to Hershey Nov. 15.
Flying high after repeating as WPIAL Class AAA champions with a 5-1 victory over top-ranked Upper St. Clair Friday night, the Indians did not have long to celebrate.
Peters Township (18-2) will face State College (12-7-2), the District 6 champion, tonight at 8 p.m. at Elizabeth Forward High School.
With little information to go on besides a few news articles found online, Indians head coach Bob Dyer’s plan is to have his team take a conservative approach in the opening minutes.
“We’ll talk about being defensive for the first 10 minutes,” Dyer said. “Not giving up opportunities so we can sort some things out. We’ll play more of a defensive-oriented game in the midfield and the back and then we’ll come out of it.”
After scoring five goals against a previously unbeaten Upper St. Clair, Peters Township will have the liberty to take a wait and see approach. That is made possible by a group of forwards who are a threat to score every time they touch the ball.
Nicco Mastrangelo, Mario Mastrangelo, Wes Ward, Jonathan Sion, Bennett Faloni and Bryce Gabelhart gave the Panthers’ defense issues Friday night. Nicco scored two goals, while Mario and Sion added one apiece.
The Mastrangelo brothers are two of the top players in the state and have Division I scholarship offers. Having those two detracts attention away from Peters Township’s other skill players.
“(Mario and Nicco) are going to draw the top-line attention and there are other guys who are going to benefit,” Dyer said. “I thought all of our forwards had really good games Friday night. There’s such an internal competition between the two of them. They push each other so well that I don’t think they realize sometimes what is going on as far as the attention they have drawn.”