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FORTY FORT — Only two days after Wyoming Area’s girls soccer conference championship hopes were dashed by Holy Redeemer on their home field, the schedule gods — better yet, the rain gods — forced the two to a rematch of the two playoff-bound programs.
The second bout in fared much differently for the Warriors. Wyoming Area capped its best season in more than a decade with a 4-0 shutout of Holy Redeemer on Thursday at the Forty Fort Sports Complex.
Tierney Porfirio finished with a hat trick. All three of Porfirio’s goals came off of set pieces — two corners and a direct kick — from Aleah Kranson.
“We do set plays, we focus on them a little bit,” Wyoming Area coach Lisa Sitkowski said. “But we’re more focused on staying relaxed and playing the game. None of the nonsense of pushing or anything like that. That’s not soccer. That was our biggest thing – play our game.”
The victory likely fits Wyoming Area into the No. 2 seed in the District 2 Class 2A playoffs.
With three games to play, Lakeland could catch up to the Warriors but the Chiefs’ weak strength of schedule presents a low ceiling. Holy Redeemer could fall anywhere from third to fifth place after its season finale against Meyers.
Wyoming Area needed to sweep the Royals twice in three days to ensure a Wyoming Valley Conference championship game against Lake-Lehman. Annie Bagnall dominated the Warriors with five goals in Tuesday’s 6-3 victory that ultimately provided the Black Knights with their third straight title.
“The reality is Annie beat us,” Sitkowski said. “She’s a good player. On my part, we should have probably marked her off the bat. We moved on. I’m glad we had two games to do it but we are more of a solid team.”
Sydni Johnson contained and kept the ball away from Bagnall. Caitlin McDonough handled Kasey Danko to ensure the defensive pressure on the Royals.
“We made sure we marked her, had someone on (Bagnall),” Sitkowski added. “We were trying to frustrate her, and I think we accomplished that.”
It was not without a valiant first half threat by the Royals. After Porfirio finished a Kranson corner in the ninth minute, the Royals used six corner kick chances to pester the Warriors’ defense in the first half.
Bagnall aimed for some set piece magic of her own with three dangerous headers in a nine-minute span. Four minutes after just missing the upper 90, Bagnall headed a Carly Cavanaugh lofted corner that pinged off of the right post. She missed just wide right on another header in the 32nd.
Wyoming Area came out of the halftime break with an offensive attack to double its lead. Kranson delivered a 25-yard shot that was unable to be corralled by the Royals’ keeper. Christina Kosco charged and backheeled the ball to Amanda McCormick at the far post for a goal in the 44th minute.
The Warriors were able to fend a pair of Holy Redeemer attacks. Danko orchestrated a perfect cross into the box. Bagnall one-time the ball in mid-air, but the Warriors’ Lauren Kelly stopped it at short range. Olivia Kwiatkowski prevented a Cavanaugh direct kick from heading into goal with a team save at the goal line in the 62nd.
The Warriors finished a pair of corner kick roles to finish off the game. Porfirio knocked in a corner directly off of Kranson’s pass in the 60th. She capped off her hat trick in the 67th minute on another Kranson corner that caromed off a Royals’ defender’s head.
Kelly finished with eight saves for the clean sheet.
“She gave up no rebounds — solid positioning,” Sitkowski said. “She had her angles down. And she was confident. Her hands were good in warmups.”
It was the Senior Day game for six Royals players. It also marked the final regular season home game of Holy Redeemer’s Robert Hughes’ coaching career.
Coughlin 3, Crestwood 0
The Crusaders beat Crestwood behind a shutout from Courtney Wartella. Aby Davis also found the back of the net twice helping Coughlin pick up the win.
Wyoming Seminary 6, Myers 2
The Blue Knights topped Meyers on Wednesday night. AnneMaaike Reitsma had four assists in this one and Emily Matthews completed the hat trick scoring three goals in the second half.
Wyoming Area 4, Holy Redeemer 0
Wyoming Area`1`3`—`4
Holy Redeemer`0`0`—`0
First half — 1. WA, Tierney Porfirio (Aleah Kranson), 9th minute. Second half — 2. WA, Amanda McCormick (Christina Kosco), 44th; 3. WA, Porfirio (Kranson), 60th; 4. WA, Porfirio (Kranson), 77th.
Shots — WA 22; HR 15. Saves — WA 8 (Lauren Kelly); HR 6 (Mackenzie Crake, Marre Lombardi). Corner kicks — WA 6; HR 8.
Coughlin 3, Crestwood 0
Crestwood`0`0 — 0
Coughlin`2`1 — 3
First half — 1. COU, Aby Davis, 38:00; 2. COU, Esa Mendola, 19:37. Second half — 3. COU, Davis, 6:54.
Shots — CRE 15; COU 6. Saves — CRE 4 (Cortney Dushanko); COU 7 (Courtney Wartella). Corner kicks — CRE 1; COU 3.
Wyoming Seminary 6, Myers 2
Myers`2`0 — 2
Wyoming Seminary`2`4 — 6
First half — 1. WS, Akira Kopec (AnneMaaike Reitsma), 28:32; 2. MEY, Elizabeth Livington (Ashley Bruno), 21:46; 3. MEY, Livington, 19:50; 4. WS, Zahra Chittalia, 9:41. Second half — 5. WS, Chittalia (Reitsma), 38:00; 6. WS, Emily Matthews (Reitsma), 30:59; 7. WS, Matthews (Reitsma), 21:54; 8. WS, Matthews (Mia Raineri), 17:16.
Saves — MEY 13; WS 9 (Julia Iskra).