Oct 29, 2020 3 min read

McMURRAY – Peters Township’s girls soccer team didn’t play like a No. 1 seed Thursday night, but it didn’t matter.

Despite scoring only one goal, and despite multiple scares in the second half, the Indians weathered the storm – both metaphorically and literally – and beat eighth seeded Seneca Valley 1-0 in the first round of the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs on a cold and rainy night.

A goal by midfielder Irene Dolano off a free kick by goalkeeper Emma Sawich in the 35th minute was all the Indians needed. Sawich did her job the rest of the night, picking up her ninth clean sheet in 13 games.

The match was a battle, and that’s exactly what Peters Township coach Pat Vereb expected.

“Their tradition is very strong, and we knew they were very athletic, and very physically strong,” Vereb said. “So it was a tough matchup.”

Understandably, Peters Township played conservative in the second half, and it almost burned the Indians. Seneca Valley had several chances to tie – the Raiders had eight shots in the second half – but could never get that first goal.

“We took probably too much of a defensive posture in the second half,” Verbeb said. “We just invited them to be in front of our goal, especially the last 15 minutes. Our defense held strong, and we have a very, very strong goalkeeper, if not one of the best in the WPIAL, that pitched a shutout.”

Seneca Valley coach Mark Perry felt his team did just about everything it had to do to pull an upset. The Raiders had eight shots in the second half, but could only put two on net.

“We played about as well as we could play,” he said. “They got the break on the free kick and capitalized. We had some chances, and we didn’t score.”

The 2020 season was a transition year for Seneca Valley. A program that is used to winning, and was one game away from the WPIAL championship last season, had to replace eight seniors, and had to do so without any current seniors to fill those roles. If nothing else, tonight served as a preview for 2021, when, in theory, everybody will be back.

“I think we showed we can play,” Perry said. “Peters is deserving of the No. 1 ranking, and we played right with them the whole game.”

A frustration among so many that have come this year is that, normally, 12 games would leave plenty of time for a young team like Seneca Valley to improve. Instead, 12 was all they got.

“With everything going on in the world with COVID, you never know when you’re going to play or not play,” Perry said. “Right now, we’d (normally) be about two-thirds of the way through the season and just starting to peak.”

Standing in the way of another district title appearance for Peters Township will be the North Allegheny Tigers, who handled Norwin, 3-0, in their quarterfinal matchup. Kickoff is set for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. on the Indians’ home field.

“They’re a very dangerous team,” Verbeb said. “They have some top-notch goal scorers. So we’ll have our hands full. But we’re happy to advance to another semifinal round.”