Peters Township blanks Canon-Mac in rematch
McMURRAY – Nothing was settled between Canon-McMillan and Peters Township when the two teams played on Aug. 28 after 100 minutes of play.
Neither team scored in the draw, but in the rematch on Monday night at Confluence Financial Partners Stadium, the Indians jumped out to a 1-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the match on Camryn Klein’s goal.
Peters Township carried that momentum for the rest of the match to earn a 2-0 victory in Class 4A Section 2 play.
The Indians (7-0-1, 9-0-1) are at the top of the standings, while the Big Macs (5-2-1, 5-4-1) sit in third place. Upper St. Clair is in second place at 7-1-0 in section play and 10-1-0 overall.
“It was nice to play with a lead,” Peters Township coach Pat Vereb. “Obviously, in a rivalry-type game, if you can score early it takes a little bit of the pressure off. This was a big game tonight. There are not too many easy games in our section. It is one of the tougher sections in the state.”
Despite her team taking the loss, Canon-McMillan goalkeeper Cianna Butera made eight saves, including two in the first three minutes, as the Indians earned a corner kick that resulted in two shots on target.
“She (Butera) played well and has played well all season,” Canon-McMillan coach Matt Fonagy said. “She’s a huge part of this team, and credit to her, she made some huge saves to keep us in the game early, and kept us in it throughout.
“They (Peters Township) are a great team, and any time they get up early, there is going to be a challenge to fight back. I thought we fought back and had a chance, but at the end of the day, they battled hard and got the second goal and played a great game. The girls have been great, and have bought into being a family and being a team.”
Klein had an opportunity on a free kick from 31 yards out to increase Peters Township’s lead to two, but the was wide to the right of Butera.
Canon-McMillan’s Ella Shields took a shot after several fancy moves, but the ball missed the cage with 4:30 left in the first half.
The Big Macs’ Lilly Bane had her 30-yard free kick stopped by Indians goal keeper Molly Kubistek with 3:05 remaining in the half.
Kubistek didn’t have to make many saves in earning the clean sheet, but she played many balls before Canon-McMillan could get a shot on target.
“She (Kubistek) is very active in coming out of the net,” Vereb said. “They play very direct and try to get in behind us, and she’s very active in coming off her goalie box and collecting balls, and she’s a very good athlete. There is much more to goalkeeping than making saves. She is going to be a top recruit by the time she’s a senior.”
Peters Township scored an insurance goal at 30:05 of the second half as Julia Spergel buried a shot after receiving a pass from Klein for a 2-0 lead.
“We scored a really good goal in the second half, and that really calmed the game down for us,” Vereb said. “When a team is behind, they have to take a little more chances, and when we get up 2-0, we play a little bit more conservative and defensively, and ride the game out. We have strong defense and strong goal keeping, so a 2-0 lead, we feel pretty good with.”