South Fayette rallies past Radnor for 1st state title
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
MANCHESTER – Simply put the South Fayette girls soccer team just doesn’t give up.
The proof is in the results.
For the third consecutive state playoff game the Lions trailed, but like they did in the quarterfinals and semifinals they roared back to victory.
Abbey Spalla, Sylvi Rossi and Harper Zapf had a goal each in the second half to help the Lions earn a 3-1 win over Radnor in the PIAA Class 3A championship game at Northeastern High School.
Rossi had the game-winning goal in the 60th minute.
The Lions rallied from three goals down to beat Cocalico, 4-3 in overtime in the quarterfinals and after yielding the first goal in Tuesday’s semifinal against DuBois, they reeled off six straight goal to win 6-1.
South Fayette (22-2-1) trailed 1-0 at halftime and kept persisting to earn state gold for the first time in program history.
“We never give up…that might be cliché, but it’s true,” Spalla said. “We train how we play and we practice every day after school. If we don’t have a practice we train and get our runs and lifts in. This was our goal. The WPIAL title was our (first) goal. We didn’t get that, but we got (states). We persevered and we’re very excited about this.”
The tying goal came after a bit of suspense.
Gabby Beinecke made a run in the box and collided with Radnor’s Sora McCrea. Beinecke was shaken up and laid on the field for a moment. After she was tended to, the referee pointed to the spot and gave South Fayette a penalty.
Spalla, a Penn State commit, took the penalty and ripped it into the top left corner of the net to tie the score at 1-1 in the 55th minute.
“Nobody knew what was going on,” South Fayette coach Nick Rosser said. “I asked the referee on the sideline and he didn’t know either. It was a tough, hard fought game and it went our way. I’m so happy for that.”
Five minutes after Spalla’s tying goal, Rossi got the game winner.
Rossi, a freshman, chased down a through ball and was in one-on-one against Radnor keeper Maddie Lynn and put a shot past her.
“It’s incredible…we just made history for our school,” Rossi said. “This has never been done before, so it’s really cool to do this as a freshman.”
Zapf added an insurance tally with just over 10 minutes remaining off a corner kick by Beinecke.
Radnor (20-5) got off to a quick start, scoring in the fourth minute.
Arabella Steel played a low cross that rolled toward goal and Kiera Mucksavage was the first to the ball and tapped it into the net.
Steel nearly doubled Radnor’s lead in the 20th minute with a shot from 30 yards, but the ball smacked the crossbar and bounced out.
Outside of that, the Raptors did not generate many chances, mainly because South Fayette dominated possession pretty much from the moment after it went down 1-0.
In the final 13 minutes of the first half, the Lions had three corners and two dangerous free kicks.
Rossi had a header off one of the corners, but the ball sailed over the crossbar. Rossi also tried a cross that skipped off the hands of Lynn and sat in the middle of the six-yard box for a moment before the defense cleared it away.
In the 31st minute, Beinecke put a strong shot on target, but a Radnor defender threw her body in front of the shot to keep it out of the net.
South Fayette had one more opportunity in the final minute of the half on a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box on the left side. Spalla took the kick and the ball bounced around a bit before Lynn dove to grab it.
The Lions were disappointed they didn’t convert any of those chances, but believed if they kept going, the game would break their way.
“Before they stepped back on the field after halftime, I told the girls that this all began in August and asked them if they thought they’d be here,” Rosser said. “For them to lose at the WPIAL championships and to come back and do this is awesome.”