Timlin, Bentworth overwhelm Mohawk, advance to quarterfinals
Luke Campbell/Observer-Reporter
Bentworth’s Caroline Rice (18) gets ready to hug teammate Jocelyn Timlin after a goal during a Class A girls soccer first-round playoff match Monday night at Upper St. Clair.
Eleanor Bailey
Paige Marshalek (14) emerges from the claws of the Mohawk defense that included Natlie Quear (10), Jenna Argiro (1) and Kristen Clark (3) during Bentworth’s 6-1 victory in a first-round WPIAL Class A girls’ soccer playoff game.
By Luke Campbell
Bentworth’s Paige Marshalek gets ready to take a shot in a Class A girls first-round soccer match Monday night against Mohawk.
Eleanor Bailey
Mallory Schreiber (9) controls the soccer ball despite defensive pressure from Kristen Clark of Mohawk.
Eleanor Bailey
Bentworth’s Jocelyn Timlin, left, is stopped at the mouth of goal by Mohawk keeper Alexa Nulph during WPIAL Class A girls’ soccer action.
Jocelyn Timlin (21) beats Kristen Clark (3) to the ball and goes on to score a goal for Bentworth during WPIAL Class A girls soccer playoff action.
Eleanor Bailey/ The Almanac
By Luke Campbell
Bentworth’s Jocelyn Timlin reacts after scoring the opening goal in a Class A girls soccer first-round playoff match against Mohawk Monday night at Upper St. Clair High School.
Eleanor Bailey
Jocelyn Timlin (21) is congratulated by her teammate after scoring a goal for Bentworth in a WPIAL Class A girls’ soccer playoff action against Mohawk
Jocelyn Timlin
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Jocelyn Timlin (21) is congratulated by a teammate after scoring a goal for Bentworth in a WPIAL Class A girls soccer playoff match against Mohawk. Bentworth won 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. Nine local teams played Monday in the first night of the playoffs. Bentworth was one of only two local winners. For more game details, turn to Page C1.
By Eleanor Bailey/Almanac Sports Editor/ebailey@thealmanac.net
Bentworth players Caroline Rice (18), Tessa Carpenter (6), Jocelyn Timlin and Mackenzie Aloe(13) celebrate with Paige Marshalek after she scored a goal in Bentworth’s victory against Mohawk in the WPIAL Class A girls’ soccer playoffs.
UPPER ST. CLAIR – Jocelyn Timlin never even looked at the net.
A quick touch on a volley turned into a spinning shot after pivoting – one the leading scorer in Bentworth High School girls soccer history admitted she didn’t get the best of.
“It’s like that basic cliché saying, you can’t score if you don’t shoot,” Timlin said. “If it falls to my foot, I hit it and hope for the best.”
The best happened a bunch for Timlin on Monday night.
Finishing the no-look goal to give Bentworth a two-goal lead, the only scoring it would need, Timlin shined, scoring three other goals as the second-seeded Bearcats cruised to a 6-1 victory over No. 15 Mohawk in a WPIAL Class A first-round girls soccer match at Upper St. Clair High School.
“I never get sick of her scoring,” said Bentworth coach Tyler Hamstra. “Goal scorers are hard to find in girls soccer. She just finds a way to do it, weird ways tonight. The bigger the limelight the more chance of her doing something like that.”
Timlin scored a pair of goals with her usual method – beating opponents with speed. She then showed her skill with another marker after juking a defender and sneaking a 15-yard shot under the crossbar to give Bentworth a 4-1 lead less than eight minutes into the second half.
The four goals give Timlin 154 in her high school career. She is one of 15 girls in WPIAL history to reach the 150-goal mark, doing so by finishing regular season exactly at the milestone.
“Sometimes I feel like I should (get bored of scoring), but I don’t,” Timlin said. “It’s a good feeling. Not everybody gets to score.”
The win moves Bentworth (17-1) one step closer into reaching the WPIAL final for a second consecutive season. The Bearcats will play 10th-seeded Serra Catholic (10-7) Thursday at a site and time to be determined. Serra upset seventh-seeded South Side Beaver.
Mohawk (7-9) found some momentum in the later stages of the first half when Abigail Shoaff outraced a defender and found space under diving Bearcats goalkeeper Jasmine Manning to cut the deficit to 2-1.
That led to the Warriors finding more time on attack until Bentworth’s Paige Marshalek scored the first of her two goals, collecting her own rebound and finishing with 1:35 left in the first half to extend the lead back to two goals, 3-1.
Marshalek finished the scoring by sneaking a shot inside the right post with 4:39 left in regulation.
It was the first time high-scoring Bentworth had more than three goals in a WPIAL playoff match with the current group of seniors.
Hamstra hopes that is a sign the veteran Bearcats team is peaking at the right time.
“I haven’t thought we played our best soccer,” Hamstra said. “I actually thought this was our best soccer tonight. We looked like a good soccer team tonight. We just have to keep building on that. It’s one game at a time. If we can take it a step above this then we’ll be fine.”