Breier’s goal saves PT in OT, clinches section title
McMURRAY – Nothing beats the feeling of defeating a rival.
The rush of adrenaline can be intoxicating.
The was what Canon-McMillan High School’s girls soccer team was trying to accomplish on a chilly Monday night at Peters Township.
But defeating Peters Township is no easy task as the Big Macs learned earlier this season.
Casey Breier made sure it was Peters Township that would do the celebrating when she scored with 7:10 remaining in the second overtime for a 3-2 victory over Canon-McMillan in a crucial Section 2-AAAA match.
The victory moved Peters Township to 12-1-1 in the section and tied Moon for first place. But Peters Township has the seeding edge, thanks to a win and a tie against Moon.
The match went to overtime after Canon-McMillan wiped away a 2-0 deficit with two goals in the final six minutes of regulation.
“We had the lead and we should have done a batter job of holding on to it,” said PT head coach Pat Vereb. “They did a good job of chipping away at it. A tie wouldn’t help us win the section title so we threw all caution to the wind and Casey made a great play.”
Breier collected a nice header and broke behind the defense.
“I just remember making a play on the ball.” Breier said. “Then all I remember is my teammates jumping on me.”
Canon-McMillan fell to 8-6 in the section, good enough for fourth place and a playoff berth.
“We wanted to use our speed to put pressure on them,” said C-M coach Dave Derrico. “We wanted that to cause them to make mistakes.”
Jillian Marvin gave Peters Township a 2-0 lead in the second half, twice cracking through the Canon-McMillan back line and picking the left corner of the net both times. The first one came at 36:37 and the second at 26:20.
But Canon-McMillan chipped away to tie the match. Sarah Powell buried a cross from Annabelle Thomas at the 16:01 mark to make it 2-1, then Emily Gross had the ball pop out to her off a scrum after a corner kick and rifled it home from 13 yards to tie the game, 2-2, with 2:45 remaining.
These two teams met Sept. 23 in Canonsburg and the Indians came away with a hard-fought, sweat-producing 2-1 victory. Sarah Heisinger scored with 1:17 remaining in the second overtime to seal it.
Through the first 15 minutes, Canon-McMillan carried the play on the pitch but two crosses were not taken advantage of and Peters Township goalie Emma Sawich made a nice save on a shot by Lexi Twaddle with 16:24 left to play in the first half.
Peters Township nearly scored on a freaky play with 6:12 left in the half when a free kick from 40 yards took a weird bounce in front of Ashley Barzd and hit the crossbar on the football goal post before ricocheting back onto the pitch.
Angelina Hofrichter made Peters Township fans gasp when she launched a powerful strike off the post at the 4:25 mark.