Oct 23, 2024 By Jonathan Guth 3 min read

WAYNESBURG — Our Lady of the Sacred Heart did its best to be a bracket buster Tuesday night in the first round of the WPIAL Class A girls soccer playoffs against Bentworth at Raider Stadium in Waynesburg.

The Chargers entered the match as the 14th seed with a record of 6-7-0, but held a 1-0 lead before the third-seeded Bearcats rallied with a goal late in regulation before Bella Moyer scored the game winner in double overtime for a 2-1 victory.

“We had nine seniors graduate from last year’s team, and that group of seniors had been to the WPIAL finals in 2020, so they had more playoff experience,” OLSH coach Paige Petroval said. “These girls are all fresher, and I think they handled themselves really well. We are only graduating one senior next year, so the outlook is very positive that we get to bring everybody back and have a second go around.”

Bentworth (16-1-0) advances to Saturday’s quarterfinals against Winchester Thurston (13-5-0). The site and time have not been determined. Winchester Thurston blanked Chartiers-Houston, 4-0, in the first round on Tuesday.

“I think there were some jitters for our girls in the first half,” Bentworth coach Tyler Hamstra said. “OLSH is a much better team than their record would indicate. They had really tight matches. We made some adjustments at the half and I believe carried the play in the second half and overtime.”

Olivia Taylor scored OLSH’s goal with 9:45 left in the first half. The Chargers outshot the Bearcats, 10-5, in the first half. Bentworth keeper Nita Anderson kept her team in the match with some clutch saves in the first half.

“We’re just so fortunate to have keeper upon keeper upon keeper here at Bentworth, and I wasn’t a goalkeeper, so I can’t take credit for that, but I’d love to,” Hamstra said. “It’s just always the next one up, and that’s what a program is about.”

The Bearcats controlled play in the second half, but OLSH didn’t allow the ball get past keeper Ashlyn Johnson.

Bentworth capitalized on a breakaway opportunity with 5:25 left in regulation when freshman Brielle Dillon scored to tie the match at 1.

The Bearcats continued to push in the first overtime, as Dillon had a shot on target that Johnson stopped.

A scary moment occurred with 50 seconds left in the first overtime, as Johnson collided with a Bentworth player and went to the turf. She was taken by ambulance to a local medical facility.

Kaylin Polidora replaced Johnson in goal, and the match went into double overtime.

The Chargers had possession in the penalty area but couldn’t get a clean look off in the second overtime.

The Bearcats gained possession and Dillon raced down the right side of the field and fed a cross to Moyer for the game winner.

“It is always a scary situation when there are bouncing balls around the goal,” Hamstra said. “We look like we have the makeup of a really good crossing team, but we always haven’t been able to finish. It was great to get that one to go in.”

Petroval gave credit to Bentworth for its play on the game winner.

“That was a great transition play on their part,” said Petroval. “They had some back post runners that we didn’t pick up, and they capitalized on it. We had a lot of opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on, and that seemed to be the story of the game.”