Oct 27, 2014 4 min read

IMPERIAL – Canon-McMillan senior goalkeeper Kyra Murphy stood in her net looking upfield. She knew there was less than a minute remaining Monday night in the Big Macs’ WPIAL Class AAA girls soccer semifinal game, and each change of possession made her heart race a bit faster.

“It felt like the clock was taking forever,” Murphy said with a smile. “It was intense and definitely nerve-racking.”

After Moon almost tied the score twice with eight minutes remaining, Canon-McMillan controlled possession to complete a 1-0 victory over its Section 4 rival at West Allegheny High School.

The Big Macs (16-3-1) advance to the WPIAL Class AAA title game Friday or Saturday at Highmark Stadium on the South Side of Pittsburgh, while the Tigers (19-3) will play in the third-place game Wednesday at a site and time to be determined.

It is Canon-McMillan’s first trip to the championship game and the Big Macs have clinched a berth in the PIAA playoffs that begin next week.

Five days after defeating another Section 4 rival, Peters Township, to reach the semifinals, 10th-seeded Canon-McMillan took down No. 3 Moon.

“We basically had to beat our section all over again to get to this moment,” Murphy said. “It’s so exciting.”

In the 18th minute, Big Macs sophomore Sabrina Bryan sprinted up the sideline and completed a centering pass to sophomore Aideen O’Donoghue. With a defender draped on her back, O’Donoghue corralled the pass, turned and fired a shot into the top-right corner of the net for the 1-0 lead.

“I felt the girl pulling me down by my arm so I swung around and tried hitting the ball with my laces,” O’Donoghue said. “It was insane. It happened so fast, but I definitely wanted to score in this game.”

Canon-McMillan head coach Dave Derrico was well-aware of Moon’s speed up top. The teams split their two-game series during the regular season, and one thing Derrico noticed in those games was a lack of speed in the Tigers’ defense.

The Big Macs planned to expose the weakness with the speed of Bryan and O’Donoghue, as well as precise passing by midfielders and defenders.

“We discussed scoring early before we got here,” Derrico said. “We know how good of a team Moon is and we wanted to put them on their heels a bit. We had to turn up our play as quickly as we could.”

The Tigers had their share of chances. Sophomore Emma Thomas had a breakaway against Murphy in the 13th minute. Thomas sidestepped thgoalkeeper, but Big Macs midfielder Lauren Hess blocked Thomas’ shot on the open net. Murphy made several exceptional saves against Moon, including three on corner kicks.

Moon came close to scoring in the 62nd minute when midfielder Kallie Conte’s shot trickled along the goal line before going out of bounds, and Murphy exited her net to challenge an opposing forward with a perfectly executed kick save just minutes later.

“I thought we shut down their outside players,” Moon head coach Bill Pfeifer said. “They took advantage of their opportunities and we missed ours. We had a few big chances and couldn’t do anything with them.”

In the closing minutes, Derrico shifted an additional midfielder to defense and only had one attacking forward. The strategy paid off with the play of a defense that allowed only two shots that were not on set pieces. When the clock struck zero, the Big Macs’ players embraced each other at midfield as the stands were filled with Canon-McMillan blue and gold.

The group without any star forwards that was overlooked all season in favor of Peters Township and Moon in Section 4 is headed to Highmark Stadium.

“We wanted to beat Peters and then beat Moon,” O’Donoghue said. “It’s great we are going to the championship game. None of us thought this was going to happen.”