Nov 1, 2017 4 min read

IMPERIAL – The combination of senior leadership and youth for the Canon-McMillan High School boys soccer team could be seen through the fog and misty rain that enveloped Joe P. DeMichela Stadium Wednesday night.

The Big Macs, who might have wanted the fog to roll through Saturday so people in the stands couldn’t see the 9-0 loss they suffered in the WPIAL semifinals to North Allegheny, were collectively excited to wipe that slate clean in a do-or-die consolation game.

For nearly the entire match against Pine-Richland, it looked as if the strategy employed by C-M coach Larry Fingers – to pull the starters after the score got out of hand in the semifinal game – was going to pay off.

That was until Pine-Richland’s Niko Marsh scored on a laser shot with 23 seconds left to tie the score at 1-1. The Rams took the constant attack into overtime and capitalized when Justin Rossmiller scored with 14:01 left in the first extra session to give Pine-Richland a 2-1 win in the WPIAL Class 4A third-place game at West Allegheny High School.

“We never felt like we were out of it,” Rossmiller said. “We had confidence going into overtime. It’s probably the biggest goal I’ve ever scored. I had three shots that got blocked at the very beginning of overtime and the fourth one went in.”

The win qualifies Pine-Richland for the PIAA tournament, which begins Tuesday, for the second time in as many years. The Rams will play the WPIAL champion in the opening round of the state tournament.

Pine-Richland had experience with the consolation setting. The Rams were in this same game last year and defeated Upper St. Clair to advance.

The last time C-M (12-8) was in the state tournament was 2015, when it won the WPIAL championship and advanced to the state quarterfinals before falling to eventual runner-up Seneca Valley, 1-0.

“We have a lot of standards and values at Canon-McMillan, and the North Allegheny game was a solitary thing,” Fingers said. “We came out a little flat (in that game) and down a couple of goals early. The benefits of pulling those guys and resting them showed tonight because we were really good. The game was pretty much over. It was a situation when the game kind of swung and the momentum changes.”

Both teams had several great scoring chances in the first half, none breaking a scoreless tie until Jonah Moore’s shot trickled past Pine-Richland goalkeeper Tom Fest and into the bottom right-hand corner of the net, just past the 27-minute mark.

The two best opportunities in the first half for Pine-Richland (14-5-2) came minutes before Moore’s goal.

The Rams spoiled a three-on-one breakout with a shot that went wide right of C-M junior goalkeeper Marshall Robertson after the Big Macs were trapped up field from their own corner kick with 24 minutes left in the first half.

Robertson made a leaping save eight minutes later on a shot from Rossmiller from 25 yards that was destined for the upper right-hand corner of the net.

“Marshall competes and is a decent shot stopper,” Fingers said. “It’s an all-inclusive thing rather than saving goals. You have to manage things in front of you.”

The Rams provided constant pressure throughout the second half. Robertson, however, stood tall on a point-blank shot to keep C-M clinging to its one goal lead with 17 minutes left.

Two other opportunities from Pine Richland – an empty net after a rebound and a breakaway 50 seconds apart both went wide right.

“This was the first time ever coaching that we haven’t been ranked in the top 10,” Fingers said.

“We told the kids we weren’t a playoff team (for motivation). We started to get going and build momentum defeating two teams that we were the underdog against in the playoffs. We hit a hiccup against North Allegheny. We came into tonight and played well.”