Oct 24, 2016 4 min read

UPPER ST. CLAIR – It took only 75 seconds and one flick of Rori Schrieber’s foot to end six years of playoff frustration for the Bentworth High School girls soccer program.

Schrieber, a freshman midfielder, put the first postseason shot of her varsity career into the net only 1:15 into the match and it held up as the game-winning goal as Bentworth defeated Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic 1-0 in a WPIAL Class A first-round playoff game Monday night at Upper St. Clair High School.

The win ended a string of six consecutive playoff losses for Bentworth (16-1).

“We finally got the monkey off our back,” said Bentworth head coach Tyler Hamstra. “They say that getting your first playoff win is the hardest one. This one was hard. Nobody plays good soccer in the playoffs.”

Schrieber, who is a small but quick front-line player, had to be thinking there was nothing to this playoff thing when she found a loose ball in the box with the match barely one minute old. With the North Catholic goalkeeper out of position, Schrieber calmly drove the ball into the net from five yards to give Bentworth the lightning-quick first goal.

“That goal was all my teammates,” Schrieber said. “They played it into the box and Bea Kossel knocked it out of the way of the goalkeeper to my feet.”

Freshman Paige Marshalek was credited with an assist.

Second-seeded Bentworth moves on to the quarterfinals Thursday against South Side Beaver (11-7-1), which upset Mohawk 3-2 in the first round. How Bentworth reached the quarterfinals was very unlike the Bearcats. Bentworth averaged 5.6 goals per game in the regular season and scored fewer than three goals only twice.

Against North Catholic (5-14), the young Bearcats were able to make Schrieber’s goal be the difference because it played solid defense and with poise and maturity beyond their years. Bentworth has eight freshmen and six sophomores on its roster and many play more than casual roles.

“I was worried because we have such a young team and because North Catholic was in every game all year. They didn’t get blown out by anybody,” Hamstra said. “Their record wasn’t good, so a lot of people probably thought we should crush them. But you never know how your team is going to play when you’re dealing with 14-year-olds.”

Bentworth controlled play for the first 30 minutes before North Catholic finally generated some offense late in the first half. The Trojans’ best chance to score in the first half came in the final 20 seconds, when Bentworth sophomore goalkeeper Cande Kossel had to charge 16 yards away from the goal to beat Olivia Bonvenuto to a loose ball.

Kossel made six saves in the game, none better than a diving stop with 10:15 remaining. With North Catholic committed to forcing the action in the offensive zone, the Trojans’ Madison White had a clear shot from the left wing. Kossel moved out of the net to cut down the angle as White tried to put a shot inside the far post. Moving to her left, Kossel made a diving catch of the shot to thwart the Trojans’ best scoring chance.

“That save was tougher than it looked like it was going to be,” Hamstra said.

“Our young players, they instantly turned into veterans tonight and our leaders stepped up. My goalkeeper was amazing. And Bea Kossel and Danielle Gondak were terrific.”

With the approach that the best defense is a good offense, Bentworth kept the pressure on North Catholic until the closing minutes. The Bearcats were victims of bad luck as they hit both posts in one crazy sequence and Schrieber was open in front of the net at 15 yards only to have her shot strike the back of a teammate.

“We’re a high-scoring team but we can play defense,” Hamstra said. “Danielle Gondak is the best defenseman in the area and we have the best goalkeeper. Everybody got to see what they’re all about.”

For the first time in program history, Bentworth is going to see what the quarterfinals are about. South Side Beaver finished in fourth place in its section but has won six of its last seven matches.

“People will tell you that what you do is not legitimate until you do it in the playoffs,” Hamstra said.