Waynesburg girls soccer victory is all in family
Waynesburg celebrates after scoring a goal against Avonworth during a WPIAL girls soccer quarterfinals match at Peters Township High School Thursday.
Waynesburg’s Madison Clayton kicks the ball passed Avonworth’s Abigail Dawley to score the second goal of the game during a WPIAL girls soccer quarterfinals match at Peters Township High School Thursday.
Waynesburg’s Madison Clayton kicks the ball passed Avonworth’s Kate Francis,center, and Jessica Lamperski during a WPIAL girls soccer quarterfinals match at Peters Township High School Thursday.
McMURRAY — The Kijowski family probably slept soundly Thursday night after a Waynesburg girls soccer playoff win over Avonworth, 5-0 in the WPIAL Class AA quarterfinals at Peters Township High School.
Head coach Joe Kijowski led his team to a WPIAL Class AA quarterfinal win – the Raiders’ school record-breaking 17th of the season, and his two daughters accounted for four of Waynesburg’s five goals.
“We’ve got one goal now, and that’s to win the WPIAL,” Kijowski said. “After that’s checked off, hopefully, we can worry about a state championship. But there’s two big obstacles before we do that. The other stuff is nice, and we’ll deal with that after the season, but we just want to focus on the journey now.”
While opposing defenses plan to contain Pitt-commit, forward Madison Clayton, it was Kijowski’s daughters, freshman forward Rhea Kijowski and sophomore midfielder Jillian Kijowski, who torched the Antelopes’ defense, combining for three goals and an assist.
“They both played well,” Joe Kijowski said. “They’ve both played in big situations (in the past). Rhea’s been around the program for a while, so it’s nothing new. With their club team, they play in high-leverage games. It’s nothing new to them.”
Third-seeded Waynesburg (17-1) advances to the semifinals Monday against second-seeded Freeport (16-2-1). Avonworth’s season ends with a 13-6 record.
In the first playoff match of her career, Rhea Kijowski scored two goals. Even though she’s a freshman, Rhea Kijowski said she has chemistry with the other players on the team, as she played with most of the girls, including her sister, growing up.
“We all have played together since we were little and our dad was our youth coach,” Rhea Kijowski said. “The whole team has chemistry, especially this year.”
Joe Kijowski said coaching the team with his daughters and the rest of the girls he’s coached since they were young is “special.”
“They’ve all grown up together, and I’ve coached a lot of them since they were young,” Joe Kijowski said. “It’s nice to see them all coming around as a team and developing together.”
About two minutes into the match, senior defender Claire Garber scored off a corner kick from Jillian Kijowski to give the Raiders an early 1-0 lead.
Ten minutes later, Clayton scored easily on a perfect through ball from junior midfielder Bailey Fudala.
“I hope (opponents) focus on (Clayton),” Joe Kijowski said. “We’ve got a lot of other players who can move the ball and a lot of other players who can score, which is nice. You can put one, two or three people on her, and it’s not going to matter sometimes.”
With 16 minutes left in the half, Rhea Kijowski weaved between several defenders inside the 18-yard box to score. The goal was a result of several crisp passes, with sophomore forward Kylie Sinn’s being the last.
Jillian Kijowski then put the Raiders up 4-0 going into halftime with a one-touch goal after Rhea Kijowski’s shot was deflected right to her.
Rhea Kijowski capped off the match’s scoring 12 minutes into the second half with a header off a Fudala free kick.
“Bailey is so quick and skilled she can erase a lot of offensive chances the other way, but her passing is kind of underrated,” Joe Kijowski said. “Bailey is a great passer. A lot of it’s chemistry and they’ve played together for years, so I think they know where each other is.”
Freshman goalkeeper Mckenzie Booth and the rest of the Waynesburg defense logged the shutout. Booth wasn’t challenged often by the sixth-seeded Antelopes, only needing to save two shots on goal.
Joe Kijowski was a little nervous entering Thursday’s match with his young team – only three senior starters – coming off a 10-day layoff and a first-round bye.
“I was a little bit nervous with the 10-day layoff, and when I watched Avonworth play Monday night, they’re a good team. They’re a really good ball-control team, and they play hard. I knew we would have to out-physical them and use our speed because technically they’re very good.”