Oct 29, 2016 4 min read

ELIZABETH – The Waynesburg High School girls soccer team hadn’t seen anything like this all season.

Pinpoint passing, a smothering defense and an opportunistic offense.

Freeport put all those facets together on a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon to come away with a 3-1 victory over the Raiders in the semifinals of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs at Elizabeth Forward High School.

The loss ended a wonderful season for the Raiders. Not only did they have a program-best 16 wins, but also captured the first section title in the program’s history.

“We never really got to our game,” said Waynesburg head coach Joe Kijowski. “We got out of our character a little bit.”

Freeport, champion of Section 2-AA, moved to 15-3-1 and has now allowed just one goal in two playoff matches to reach the championship at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh.

The final could be held on one of three days – Thursday, Friday or Saturday. The date and time of the game will be announced early next week.

The Yellowjackets had five shutouts coming in and would have had six had Madison Clayton not scored a nifty goal with 5:33 left to play. Clayton drove in off the left side after a long pass from Kylie Sinn. Clayton unleashed a shot that Freeport goalkeeper Cassie Suran got a piece of, but the ball ricocheted off her shoulder and found the back of the net to make it 3-1.

“I knew (Waynesburg) was a good team – they only had two losses – and our girls were pretty pumped for this,” said Freeport head coach Brittni Grenninger. “They had never been this up for this or had this opportunity. I knew we had to shoot and do it quick. Four minutes in, we scored a goal, and we rode that the entire game. … This is the first time (our girls) had a coach stay for more than one year in quite a while. There is great chemistry. We watch film with them, we practice nonstop at 100 percent, we want them to be able to move the ball with speed and with control. They were able to do it.”

Waynesburg came into the match outscoring opponents by a combined 18-1, including a 1-0 shutout of Charleroi in the first round.

Freeport took control of the match early, just four minutes in, when Piper Claypool sent a looping shot that went over the head of Waynesburg goalkeeper Emily McCarty and slipped just under the crossbar for a 1-0 lead.

That goal allowed Freeport to press Waynesburg in its own zone and the Raiders had difficulty with any sort of pass. Without being able to mount an offense, the Raiders didn’t put their first shot on goal until 17:44 before halftime.

“Their defense was excellent,” said Kijowski. “They were fast and they played their system a lot better than we did. They played the better game. … They are good at every position, so just about every player and the way they played was a concern. They’re overall skill and team speed concerned me.”

The backbreaking goal came 14 minutes into the second half on what looked to be a harmless play. Freeport sent shot in that was slowed in a scrum 25 yards out. The ball rolled toward McCarty, who came out past the goalkeeper’s box and tried to kick it out of danger.

She whiffed.

Cameron Lindsay, trailing the play, got around McCarty, gained control of the ball and sent a shot into a wide open net to make it 2-0.

“Sometimes, things just don’t go your way,” said Kijowski. “We’ve been pretty lucky with ball luck all season. (This time), not so much.”

Freeport made it 3-0 when Kaylee Comparatore sent a shot to the lower corner of the net five minutes after Lindsay’s goal.

“It’s hard to think past now but I’m proud of them,” Kijowski said. “I’m proud of the program and everything they’ve done. There is a bright future.”