Nov 8, 2016 3 min read

ERIE – Life without Sabrina Bryan has produced mixed results for Canon-McMillan’s girls soccer team.

Bryan, a senior forward who suffered a bruised knee two weeks ago, did not play in the past three matches.

The Big Macs were looking for someone to pick up the slack against Erie McDowell Tuesday afternoon at Erie Memorial Stadium.

Enter Addie Roman.

The sophomore forward scored twice, both in the first half, to power the Big Macs to a 2-1 victory over the Trojans in the first round of the PIAA Class 4-A playoffs.

The victory not only moves the Big Macs to 19-1-1 but also sends them into the quarterfinals Saturday and a rematch against Norwin at a site and time to be determined.

“We are struggling (without) Sabrina but she gets re-evaluated this week,” said C-M head coach Dave Derrico. “There is a good chance she will play.”

Canon-McMillan is 2-1 without Bryan. The Big Macs stopped Mt. Lebanon, 2-1, in double overtime, lost to Norwin, 3-1, in the WPIAL finals and defeated McDowell.

Roman, meanwhile, did a good job creating and capitalizing on opportunities. She scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Mt. Lebanon. In the loss to Norwin in the WPIAL finals Saturday, Roman had a couple opportunities slip past.

She didn’t let that happen against McDowell.

With the Big Macs trailing 1-0 at the 17:25 mark, Roman took a beautiful cross from senior midfielder Cheyenne Trest and sent it past junior goalkeeper Leila Mustafa to tie the match, 1-1.

“The ball was going to go out along the end line but Cheyenne got it and made a nice cross,” said Roman. “I just made my way across the box and no one marked me so I just waited for it and tapped it in.”

Roman gave Canon-McMillan the one-goal lead at halftime when a penalty kick was called after Trest was taken down in front of the net. With Bryan out, Roman got the call and sent a laser into the lower right corner of the net. It was kicked so hard that it passed through the net, leaving some doubt whether it went in at first.

“It’s important for us (to find scoring while Bryan is out) because she is our leading scorer,” Roman said. “It’s a big role to fill. I think I can definitely do it. I like being under that pressure. I do better under those situations. We’re making ground up but we can’t wait to have her back on the field.”

Erie McDowell was pressed into its own zone for much of the first 10 minutes. When the Trojans finally got an opportunity – a corner kick from C-M goalkeeper Megan Virgin’s left – they converted. Cameron Bujnoski sent a perfect kick to junior defender Alyssa Kaveney and she sent it into the net for a 1-0 lead.

“That was a mistake by our keeper,” Derrico said. “She made a mistake not coming out on that one. Had she done that, it wouldn’t have happened. We had a game plan and stuck with it because we were controlling play. We just need to put shots on the net more often.”

Erie McDowell head coach Jason Perkins could not be reached for comment after the match.