Williamsport girls react to winning District 2/4 Class 4A championship in a shootout.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wilkes-Barre Area’s Sara Marin feels all the emotions of a loss to Williamsport in a shootout in the District 2/4 Class 4A championship game.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Williamsport’s Calissa Reed (right) heads the ball away from Wilkes-Barre’s Elizabeth Pachucki in the second half.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wilkes-Barre Area’s Leah Pryor kicks the ball on the fly against Williamsport in the first half.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wilkes-Barre Area’s Jackelynn Rico goes on the back of Williamsport’s Emma Pool while heading the ball in the first half.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
PLAINS TWP. — A day after the Wilkes-Barre Area boys soccer team lost in the most painful way possible, the same fate befell the girls team.
Williamsport was able to withstand strong pressure from the Wolfpack throughout most of regulation and two 15-minute overtimes Wednesday night. Then the Millionaires won in a shootout 3-2 to win the District 2/4 Class 4A subregional championship.
The final score will go down as 2-1 — the same as the WBA boys lost to Wyoming Valley West after a shootout decided the District 2 Class 4A crown on Tuesday.
WBA ended its season at 15-5. The Wolfpack are the D2-4A champions because they went the farthest of any District 2 team in the tournament, but won’t be returning to the PIAA state playoffs.
“It’s tough. It’s a terrible way to lose a game and great for them to win that way,” WBA coach Desiree Kreidler said. “Our girls did a good job. They came back from 1-0. We changed our lineup a little bit to get us a little bit more offensive power. We put Leah (Pryor) up there at the striker position part way through the second half. And she and Addi (Corchado) were able to pal together and generate that goal for us.”
Time was running out when Corchado scored off Pryor’s assist with 7:50 left in regulation.
Williamsport had a couple corners and a couple long shots saved in the overtimes by WBA keeper Victoria Luna, sending the game to penalty kicks.
Luna made two saves in the shootout to keep the score 2-2 as Williamsport’s Adisyn Zangara approached the ball as the last shooter before the game went to a sudden-death shootout. Luna guessed correctly, but had no chance at stopping Zangara’s shot to the upper left corner.
“Oh my gosh, I was so nervous,” Zangara said. “I think my team motivated me, telling me I got it helped me get it in. I was telling myself I was going to get it in because we had so many unlucky results the past few years.”
Those unlucky results included losing to WBA in the title game last year.
Williamsport keeper McKylee Vollman also came up big in the shootout, making saves on WBA’s second and third attempts.
“Everybody tries to make you feel better by saying it’s not all on you,” Vollman said. “No matter what, you’re always going to feel that guilt if you don’t have it. When I’m out there, I really just try thinking not about myself saving the ball but saving it for my team for my coach.”
Williamsport scored its goal about 12 minutes into the game when Jaelynn Helmrich freed Deborah Shultz on a breakaway.
Williamsport (10-9-1) will open the state playoffs Tuesday against the District 1 fourth seed.
District 2/4 Class 4A Championship
Williamsport 2, Wilkes-Barre Area 1
(Williamsport wins shootout 3-2)
Williamsport`1`0`0`0`(3) — 2
Wilkes-Barre Area`0`1`0`0`(2) — 1
First Half: 1. WIL, Deborah Shultz (Jaelyn Helmrich), 11:42; Second Half: 2. WBA, Addison Corchado (Leah Pryor), 72:10;
Shootout: 1. WBA, Corchado scores; 2. WIL, Helmich scores; 3. WBA, save McKylee Vollman; 4. WIL, save Victoria Luna; 5. WBA, save Vollman; 6. WIL, Shultz scores; 7. WBA, Jackelynn Rico scores; 8. WIL, save Luna; 9. WBA, miss; 10. WIL, Adisyn Zangara scores.
Shots: WIL 18, WBA 14. Saves: WIL 3 (Vollman), WBA 8 (Luna). Corners: WIL 3, WBA 3.
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