Nov 15, 2016 5 min read

ALTOONA – When Cumberland Valley advanced in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class 4-A girls soccer playoffs Saturday night, the Eagles did so in the most stunning fashion imaginable, scoring the game-winning goal against Pennridge with one second remaining in regulation.

Sabrina Bryan and her Canon-McMillan teammates made sure there were no late dramatics by Cumberland Valley in the semifinals Tuesday night. The Big Macs drained the drama from the match long before the final minute.

Bryan scored 8:06 into the first half, tallied her second goal one minute in the second half, assisted on another score and Addie Roman had two goals as Canon-McMillan defeated Cumberland Valley 4-1 at Mansion Park.

The win sends Canon-McMillan (21-1-1) into the state championship match for the second time in three years. The Big Macs will play Central Bucks South 4 p.m., Saturday at Hersheypark Stadium. Central Bucks South (21-5-1), the fourth-place finisher from District 1, edged Manheim Township 1-0 in the other semifinal.

“This was a whole team effort,” Canon-McMillan coach Dave Derrico with pride. “They took everything the coaches told them and never wavered from it.”

Bryan, who scored two goals in the Big Macs’ revenge win over WPIAL champion Norwin in the quarterfinals, had the lone score of the first half. Canon-McMillan stretched its lead to 3-0 before Rachael Dorwart, a North Carolina recruit and the state Class AAA Player of the Year as a sophomore last season, scored with 26:24 remaining to cut the Big Macs’ lead to 3-1.

Dorwart was marked the entire game by C-M sophomore defender Sidney Powell, who played a stellar game, as did goalkeeper Megan Virgin, who was forced to make double-digit saves against an opponent she called the “best technical team” the Big Macs have played.

“Megan held it down in back for us and helped Riley (O’Korn) keep the defense organized,” Derrico said.

Powell throttled Cumberland Valley’s offense at times by blanketing Dorwart and making it difficult for the Eagles to get the ball to the hub of their offense. When it did find Dorwart, the Big Macs’ defense converged quickly and forced the Eagles to shoot from long distance.

“Powell is tenacious,” Derrico said. “She’s a defender by training. She’s very disciplined. She stays on her task.”

And that was staying on Dorwart, which wasn’t easy.

“I’ve marked an opponent’s best player in a few games,” Powell said. “She has speed and good ball skills so I was just trying to keep her in front of me.”

Cumberland Valley (17-6-2) had trouble all night staying in front of Bryan, the Big Macs’ speedy forward. Bryan gave C-M a 1-0 lead when she took a perfect lead pass up the left sideline from Isabel Schiedenheim, fought off a defender and scored into the nearside corner from 5 yards.

Bryan, who did not play in the WPIAL title match the Big Macs lost to Norwin because of an injury, scored her second goal of the night and fourth in two games exactly one minute into the second half. Bryan took a pass from Annabel Thomas at 26 yards, juked a defender by moving inside and then buried a shot into the far corner to make it 2-0.

Ten minutes later, Bryan fed Roman, who was cutting across the box. CV goalkeeper Hayley McGee stopped Roman initial shot but not the rebound, which was flicked in from close range to put the Big Macs ahead 3-0 with 29:10 remaining.

Dorwart broke free of Powell for a goal to make it 3-1.

“We couldn’t get any film on (Cumberland Valley),” Derrico said. “They watched three games of ours but all we could get was two 15-minute highlights on YouTube. We made assumptions from what we saw. … We decided to put a defender (Powell) on Dorwart and make them play toward the middle. We didn’t want her to get the ball and run at us, and you saw what happened the one time she was able to do that.”

The goal gave CV momentum but Virgin was up the task of stopping all the remaining shots. Her best save came about 10 minutes into the game on a cross that she flicked away with her hand.

Roman ended any thoughts of an Eagles comeback by scoring her second goal of the night with less than 18 minutes to play. Roman’s shot from an impossible angle along the goal line toward the right corner hit a CV defender at the net and was headed in. The ball might have crossed the goal line before striking the Eagles player.

“This win means a shot at redemption,” said C-M goalkeeper Megan Virgin, who played as a sophomore forward when the Big Macs lost in overtime in the 2014 PIAA final to Central Bucks West.