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BLOOMSBURG — Those days of scoring an avalanche of goals are over for the Lake-Lehman girls soccer team.
Defense, now more than ever, needs to come to the forefront … like in Saturday’s PIAA Class 2A quarterfinal game against Northwestern Lehigh.
Emily Smith scored the game’s only goal with 12:07 left until halftime and the Lehman defense did the rest on the way to a 1-0 victory at Central Columbia High School.
District 2 champion Lehman (22-0-1) moved to Tuesday’s semifinals and will play D12 champ Lansdale Catholic, which defeated D3 champ Elco 2-1 in its quarterfinal game. D11 champ Northwestern finished its season at 20-3.
Lehman has scored in double digits in 10 of its games this season and averaged over eight goals in the District 2 playoffs. Through two state games, the Black Knights have totalled just three. But the opposition has one and on Saturday was shut out.
“The offense wasn’t on today,” Lehman coach Kelly Adamshick said. “They weren’t connecting, but (Northwestern) was holding four people back all game.”
First, the game’s only score. Abby Paczewski grounded a short crossing pass from the left side to Smith, who finished it off for a 1-0 advantage.
Lehman had a couple more solid scoring opportunities after that — including three shots off a corner early in the second half — yet couldn’t capitalize. The defense, though, made sure the Tigers didn’t either.
A trio of senior defenders — Lauren Chapple, Paige Motovidlak and Sarah Salus — along with freshman Marissa Brdaric made sure Northwestern would be Lehman’s 12th shutout victim. Junior keeper Emma Stroud played a huge part as well.
“We really do pride ourselves (on defense), especially our communication,” Motovidlak said. “Three of our four backline have been playing together since we were like 8 years old and we work together really well. Our communication is what I can truly say what makes us a strong team back there.”
Motovidlak made sure she and her long-time teammates would have at least one more game together.
Just past the midway point of the second half, Stroud ran out to the top of the penalty area to get a loose ball. Northwestern’s Kayla Bardonner beat her to the ball, which deflected to the left. Kylie Zentz was trailing the play and grounded a shot at the open goal, but Motovidlak was able to intercept the shot a boot it over the endline.
“Our goalie came out and the one girl was coming right around the 10-yard line,” Motovidlak said. “As soon as our goalie came out, the girl was immediately past. I knew I had to drop back, stay central, stay in the net and hope for a weak shot. Thankfully, it was a pretty weak shot and I was able to get there just in time.”
Stroud also made a couple saves on direct kicks and punched out another dangerous ball popped up about eight yards in front of the net.
PIAA Class 2A Quarterfinals
Lake-Lehman 1, Northwestern Lehigh 0
Lake-Lehman`1`0 — 1
Northwestern Lehigh`0`0 — 0
First Half: 1. LL, Emily Smith (Abby Paczewski), 12:07.
Shots: LL 11, NL 8. Saves: LL 7 (Emma Stroud), NL 10 (Naomi Glassberg). Corners: LL 4, NL 2.
