Charleroi’s 2-OT win nets section title
WAYNESBURG – The Waynesburg Central girls soccer team had Class A Section 2 leader Charleroi on the ropes, but when the Cougars needed their star to make a play, Bella Carroto was up for the challenge.
The senior scored her 22nd goal of the season with only 54.9 seconds left in the second half to force overtime.
The first 10 minutes didn’t settle anything, but McKenna DeUnger finished things off with a goal at 8:45 of the second overtime to send Charleroi home with a 3-2 victory Monday night.
The win clinched the section championship for the Cougars.
Charleroi’s lone loss this season was a 2-1 setback to the Raiders on Sept. 13.
The Cougars improved to 9-1-0 in section play and 12-1-0 overall. Based on the point system that awards teams three points for a win and one for a tie, Charleroi has 27 points with remaining section matches against South Allegheny (5-4-0, 10-5-0) and Monessen (1-8-1, 4-9-1).
The Cougars would still clinch the section if they lost both matches because they have the tiebreaker with two wins over Chartiers-Houston (8-3-0, 12-3-0). The Bucs’ last section match is against Bentworth (4-5-1, 7-6-1).
Waynesburg sits in third place in the section with a record of 7-4-0. The Raiders are 10-4-0 overall. Waynesburg’s last section match is next Monday against South Allegheny at 6 p.m.
Charleroi peppered Waynesburg early, as it had four shots on goal in the first nine minutes, but Raiders keeper Peyton Cowell stopped all four shots. She made a leaping save on Cougars’ five shot on target with 21:25 left in the first half and made a sixth stop at 18:45.
Charleroi broke through on its seventh shot on goal, as Taylor Ramsdell’s shot bounced off Cowell’s hands and into the net for the goal with 14:15 left in the first half.
The Raiders didn’t have any shots on target in the first half but hit the crossbar in the 27th minute and had a shot miss the target at 7:30 of the first half. Waynesburg earned two corner kicks in the first half.
The Raiders’ Rylei Rastoka hit the post on a shot attempt at the 36-minute mark of the second half, but she made sure her second chance counted in burying her team’s first shot on target at 35:29 of the second half to tie the match at 1-1.
Waynesburg’s confidence surged after the tying goal and Ella Miller finished off a run with a goal at 31:40 of the second half and a 2-1 lead.
Cowell made 10 saves and Cougars keeper Addison Conrad stopped one shot. The Raiders had a 4-3 edge in corner kicks.