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Monday, October 21, 2024 | 9:35 PM
The Shaler Area girls soccer team hoped for a longer stay in its first WPIAL playoff tournament in close to four decades.
But No. 4 Plum, a seasoned postseason program participating in the playoffs for the 13th year in a row, made sure the No. 13 Lady Titans’ season came to a sudden end.
The Mustangs, who lost just once in 16 regular-season games and captured their sixth consecutive section championship, grabbed the lead just four and a half minutes into Monday’s WPIAL Class 3A first-round matchup and added two more goals in the second half to complete a 3-0 victory at Mustangs Stadium.
“We played really well as a team tonight,” said junior midfielder Gianna Revetta, who tallied several shots among Plum’s 15-shot total.
“Shaler is a really good team, and we knew it was going to be a tough game. Our teamwork through adversity in the game really helped us.”
Plum (16-1) again advances to the WPIAL quarterfinals, where it will host No. 5 Moon on Thursday at a time to be determined. The Tigers advanced Monday with 4-0 home victory over No. 12 Hampton.
“(Surviving and advancing) is the name of the game in the playoffs,” Plum coach Jamie Stewart said. “Shaler didn’t make it easy on us tonight. They played really well and with a lot of heart. They brought it to us with their play, and we knew they were going to do that. We saw their talent and skill when we watched them on film.
“It’s super nice to be able to play here one more time. 3A is stacked with a whole bunch of really good teams. There are no easy games. We’ll get rested up and see what we will need to do to be ready to compete on Thursday. We’re really excited to be moving on.”
Shaler Area ends its season 8-9-1 overall. The Titans, the fourth-place team from Section 1, defeated Gateway in a winner-take-all section finale to qualify in the fourth spot.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these girls. They’ve worked so hard,” Shaler Area coach Bill Ament said.
Plum wasted no time in getting on the board as sophomore Emily Grubich gained control of a loose ball in the Shaler Area goal box, maneuvered around a couple of Titans defenders, including keeper Reanna Richardson, and deposited a short-range shot in the back of the net for the score in the fifth minute.
Revetta fired off a dangerous chance in the 11th minute, but Richardson was right there as she ranged to her left and punched the ball out of danger. She then corralled the ball, preventing any rebound from senior Mia Nardo who was closing in on the goal.
Shaler Area played stout defense through a majority of the first half, holding Plum to just three shots overall through the first 25 minutes.
The Titans made a rush in the 31st minute and came close to putting one on the Plum goal, but the Mustangs defense countered and cleared the ball out of danger.
Shaler Area senior Lia Wallander intercepted a pass by the Plum defense in the 35th minute with a chance to get her team on the board.
Mustangs keeper McKenna Anderson came out to challenge Wallander in the box, and Wallander almost was able to get a shot off before Anderson was able to pull it in for a goal kick.
“I give Shaler a ton of credit,” Stewart said. “We got that first goal early, but they didn’t fall apart. I thought the last 10 to 15 minutes of the first half, they outplayed us. We talked about some things at halftime and got settled down.”
Plum regrouped and had several strong chances over the first 24 minutes of the second half — three from Revetta and one each from freshman Ali Joyce and senior Serena Carnahan — before breaking through with a score to give the hosts some breathing room.
Richardson was right there to make a pair of impressive saves on Mustangs attempts. But a cross from Revetta into the box to a header by Nardo past Richardson in the 64th minute doubled Plum’s lead to 2-0.
“We did a lot of the things we do well in the second half,” Stewart said. “It just took us a while to get that second goal, but it was a good feeling to get it.”
The Mustangs made it 3-0 in the 67th minute as junior Allison Porter scored off an assist from Joyce.
Plum finished with a 15-3 advantage in shots. The Mustangs tallied 12 shots on goal. Richardson made seven saves for the Titans in the loss.
“There were some nerves coming into this game because it was the first time any of them had experienced anything like this,” Ament said.
“If Plum won, that was expected. If we won, we would get to write our own story. We wanted to see what story we could write, and we were right there for a lot of that game. We had some nice chances, especially late in the first half. But the girls are young, and most of them are still learning how to put the ball in the back of the net.”
Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at [email protected].
