The Upper St. Clair girls' soccer team defeated Penn-Trafford, 3-0, Tuesday night in a PIAA Class AAA first round playoff game at Chartiers Valley High School.
The win sets up a rematch against North Allegheny in the PIAA quarterfinal Saturday, Nov. 12 at a place and time to be determined. USC beat NA, 1-0, in the WPIAL semifinals on Nov. 1 in their only other meeting this season.
The Panthers scored their first goal about 13 minutes into the game. Hannah Wilhelm got the ball to Olivia Belack in front of the P-T net. Belack headed the ball towards the goal where Hannah Zangara was there to finish with the score. Fifteen minutes later, it was Hannah Wilhelm again in the box fighting for the ball which deflected out to Ellie DiNardo, who placed the ball over the keeper's head. The first half ended 2-0 with the Panthers playing good possession soccer.
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About halfway through the second half, a penalty was called on P-T at the 20 yard line. Kristen Walczak kicked the ball into the box where Carley Bogan sent a deflected header in the net. The game ended 3-0.
As an aside, I watched the second half of the USC/Peters WPIAL final last night on local TV. What an exciting game, made even more exciting by announcers Dan Wilhelm and Bill Erdman. I did see that on Val Repischak's goal, it was Megan Hindman who passed the ball over to Repischak to set up the game winner. You could tell that the girls really wanted to win the game, out-hustling Peters to the
ball. Hannah Wilhelm was playing great. Abbey DeIuliis was all over the field breaking up several Peters attacks. Everybody played a great game. Carley Bogan was taken down on a breakaway and had to come out of the game (since the trainer came on the field). She bounced up, ran to the sideline and then immediately, without any hesitation, to the center line to be put back in at the first opportunity. USC wanted this game—and they got it.
