Roman’s golden goal sends C-M to finals
Canon-McMillan forward Sabrina Bryan (No. 10) leaps over Mt. Lebanon defender Courtney Byrne as they battle for the soccer ball during WPIAL Quad-A girls' semifinal playoff action
Canon-McMillan's Aideen O'Donoghue fends off Mt. Lebanon's Emma Cusick as they battle for the soccer ball during the WPIAL Quad-A girls' semifinal playoff game at Baldwin Stadium. O'Donoghue scored on a forward lead pass from Annabel Thomas with 59.4 seconds left in the first half.
Cheyenne Trest crashes into Molly Merrick after the Mt. Lebanon goalkeeper made a stop on shot taken by the Canon-McMillan midfielder during WPIAL Quad-A girls' semifinal action.
BALDWIN – Sophomore forward Addie Roman’s one-on-one shot against the goalkeeper resulted the game-winning goal in the second overtime as Canon-McMillan outlasted Mt. Lebanon 2-1 in the WPIAL Class AAAA girls soccer semifinals Saturday night at Baldwin High School.
The win sends the second-seeded Big Macs (18-0-1) to the finals at Highmark Stadium against top-seeded Norwin (19-0-1), the defending WPIAL champion. Dates and times for the final have not been announced by the WPIAL, though the finals are set for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Norwin was a 1-0 winner over Fox Chapel in the other semifinal.
It was the third victory of the season for Canon-McMillan over Mt. Lebanon (10-8-2). The Big Macs defeated the Blue Devils twice during Section 2 play, both by 2-0 scores.
“In soccer, they say that it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season, and it was hard,” Canon-McMillan coach Dave Derrico said. “It was extremely hard tonight. … I was worried about (Mt. Lebanon). I said the toughest opponents would be Norwin and any team from our section.”
Mt. Lebanon forced overtime when Sarah Delfrate tied the score at 1-1 on a goal with only 12:12 remaining in regulation.
In the first overtime, Canon-McMillan’s Cheyenne Trest was denied on a penalty kick by Mt. Lebanon goalkeeper Molly Merrick. In the second OT, Canon-McMillan goalkeeper Megan Virgin matched Merrick by stopping a penalty kick with 12:30 remaining.
“She made an awesome save,” Derrico said of Virgin. “She’s a solid player.”
That set up Roman’s game-winning goal with 4:28 to play in the second overtime. Roman was able to break in on goal and went one-on-one with Merrick.
“I told myself to keep composed in front of the net and that it’s just one shot and we’re over,” Roman said.
“So I took my time and placed it behind her, and it went in.”
Canon-McMillan took a 1-0 lead with only 59 seconds left in the first half on a goal by Aideen O’Donoghue. Annabel Thomas played the ball ahead to O’Donoghue near midfield to set up the goal.