Riverview blanks Waynesburg
WAYNESBURG — Riverview spoiled Waynesburg’s playoff home match with a 1-0 victory Tuesday night in the first round of the WPIAL Class A girls soccer playoffs.
Bentworth and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart played in the nightcap. The result of the match was not available at press time because it had not ended.
Waynesburg’s season comes to an end with a record fo 14-3.
“Losing a home game is terrible, but if you would have told me at the beginning of the season that we would have hosted a playoff game with such a young team, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Waynesburg coach Terry Clutter said. “We lost our five best goal scorers from last year. We played fantastic and have been battling through injuries this whole year, but the girls were gutting it out.”
Riverview (12-3) advances to the quarterfinals against Seton LaSalle (13-2-2). The match will be played Saturday, but the site and time have not been determined.
Riverview put 16 shots on target, but it wasn’t until the 15th that it found the back of the net, as Hannah Hudack put a right-footed shot high and to the middle of the net to beat Waynesburg goalkeeper Peyton Cowell for the game-winning game with 11:38 left in the match.
Riverview played in the WPIAL and PIAA finals last season and, despite being a freshman, Hudack was on the team and instrumental.
“At first, in the beginning of the season, we were really struggling with possession,” Hudack said. “We would just kick it around, but in every practice, we have been working on passing. We did this possession game, where you have to get it in the box, but you have to have five passes before you can get it in the box.
“You can see it coming together in this game. It felt great to have that shot go in because we really didn’t want to go to overtime.”
Teammate and fellow sophomore Mary Quinlan didn’t find the back of the net, but she peppered Cowell with shots. Quinlan had six shots on goal.
Riverview’s possession game was key, but Cowell and Waynesburg’s defense kept the match scoreless.
“One of the things that we have been working on this year has been possession and taking care of the ball,” Riverview coach Sean Abraham said. “It’s finally nice to see it all come together.”
Cowell stopped Quinlan in the 30th minute of the second half, as she tipped the shot over the crossbar, but Riverview earned the corner.
Riverview had the opportunity to score in the penalty area following the corner before Waynesburg regained possession.
Cowell made a sliding save to keep the match at 1-0 with 7:55 remaining.
Waynesburg’s Kolbi Rastoka had two shots on target and two runs that Riverview keeper Chiara Brun dove on before a shot could be attempted. The home team earned a corner kick 90 seconds into the match but wasn’t able to get a shot off.
“We had some opportunities but couldn’t capitalize on them,” Clutter said. “That’s tough but we do have the majority of our team coming back, so we should be competitive for the next few years. That team (Riverview) was in the state finals last year. Our team doesn’t have the playoff experience they do.”