Nov 10, 2014 5 min read

Canon-McMillan senior midfielder Allison Oddi did not panic Saturday in Chambersburg. Oddi and her teammates experienced the scenario before. They played an inconsistent first half that led to a one-goal deficit to Spring-Ford at halftime in the PIAA Class AAA soccer quarterfinals.

How they respond to those situations has defined the Big Macs’ season. Whether it be a furious comeback against Peters Township in the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs or prevailing as the No. 10 seed in the tournament to reach the title game, the Big Macs are comfortable with their backs against the playoff wall.

Oddi’s goal off a free kick from 25 yards with just over four minutes remaining lifted Canon-McMillan to a 2-1 victory over Spring-Ford and into tonight’s state semifinals.

“Personally, I think I always play better in the second half,” Oddi said. “If I play a crappy first half, I know the second half will be better. I think the team is the same, but I don’t know why. We always seem to get it done.”

The victory has Canon-McMillan (18-4-1) one step closer to the state title game in Hershey. Before they can get to the championship game, the Big Macs must find a way to get past Central Bucks East (19-3-2) tonight at Chambersburg High School (6 p.m.).

Canon-McMillan coach Dave Derrico can’t fully explain why his players always seem to play their best soccer in the final 40 minutes of play.

“My team will dig down and find that extra energy or they are just stubborn,” Derrico said. “Maybe they are just really stubborn. Sometimes it’s not pretty or beautiful soccer, but it’s gritty. They change and they really start working hard.”

Before the season began, few people were as confident in Canon-McMillan as Derrico. He knew what the Big Macs could accomplish in the toughest section in WPIAL Class AAA. His counterpart at Peters Township, Pat Vereb, deflected praise away from the Indians and pointed to C-M as the team to beat.

Derrico laughed off the compliment at first, but Vereb was correct, and it was the Big Macs who ended the Indians’ run of dominance.

How the Big Macs have dealt with adversity, including one-goal losses to Peters Township in the regular season, has helped. Canon-McMillan’s season hit a speed bump in the WPIAL title game against top-seeded Seneca Valley at Highmark Stadium. A slow first half could not be overcome against the physical play of the Raiders. Instead of wallowing in the doubt of the defeat, the Big Macs regrouped and have outscored their last two opponents, 9-1.

“I don’t think it really affected us much that we lost. If anything, it motivated us. I thought I could have done more and I’ve talked to a few other players on the team and they felt the same way, too,” Oddi said. “We didn’t get that one, but we told ourselves it wasn’t over for us.”

Along with the play of all-state goalkeeper Kyra Murphy, a sound defense and an opportunistic offense, Canon-McMillan’s unsung strength lies in the midfield. While the goal-scoring of Sabrina Bryan, Alena Poljak and Aideen O’Donoghue has made the difference between a win and a loss, it is players such as junior center-midfielder Allison Thomas who facilitate the offensive pressure that makes the Big Macs’ opponents scramble in the closing minutes of games.

With C-M failing to generate scoring chances in the first half against Spring-Ford, Derrico shifted Thomas up to play behind the team’s three forwards. She set up the game-tying goal by Poljak. Thomas lofted a ball past a defender to Bryan, who found Poljak wide open in front of the net.

It is that type of chemistry that has allowed the program to jump from losing in the second round of the WPIAL playoffs to Seneca Valley last year to being the final WPIAL team standing in the state Class AAA playoffs.

“We’ve bonded a lot since last season and losing in the second round makes you want to prove that you can do better than that,” Bryan said.

It is usually the boys soccer program at Canon-McMillan that is accepting the praise of its peers during a school day in November, but the Big Macs’ girls soccer team has shifted the thinking of the student body.

Compliments and encouragement have been steady for the past month. It was amplified by C-M’s second-half performance that sent the team into the semifinals.

“It’s insane. We’ve never made it this far,” Thomas said. “Everybody in school is congratulating us. It’s really nice. Girls soccer doesn’t always get the recognition that we would like, but we are getting it now. Everybody is happy to be in the position we are.”