Souderton survives Seneca Valley to reach PIAA-4A semifinals

CHAMBERSBURG >> Averie Doughty masked her emotions well.

The Souderton sophomore took the soccer ball from the official, spotted it 12 yards from goal and readied to take the biggest kick of the match. She’d scored the equalizer earlier in the game, but whether or not her team advanced rested at her feet.

Doughty shook off her nerves and buried the shootout-winning spot kick as Souderton edged Seneca Valley 4-3 in the shootout following a 1-1 draw in double overtime in their PIAA 4A girls soccer quarterfinal Saturday at Chambersburg High School.

“I was waiting for all the other girls to make it so hopefully I didn’t have to,” Doughty said. “I was really pretty nervous. But I just looked at my spot and I placed it.”

As she talked, Doughty was embraced first by Campbell Power then keeper Lindsey Pazdziorko, both seniors very appreciative of their teammates’ results in the match.

Souderton (15-3-6) didn’t have a good first 40 minutes. The swirling winds at Chambersburg certainly played a part, but the Indians were just unable to combine and played a very reactive game going forward instead of an aggressive, proactive one.

That allowed Seneca Valley, which played with the wind in the first half, to push pressure. The Raiders, the WPIAL champion, were able to stay organized in the back and create chances off corners and midfielder Breana Valentovish’s booming long throw.

One of those launches led to a goal when Nora Seibert headed home a Valentovish heave on a flick with 8:39 left in the opening half.

“We just said the game’s not over,” Pazdziorko said. “We still had a chance, there were 40 minutes left and we can score multiple in a half. We talked about it, we knew we weren’t playing the way we could have played and we changed it.”

The Indians tweaked their formation a bit in the second half, the forwards turned it up and Souderton started to connect. While Big Red started knocking almost right away, it settled for too many distance shots at first.

“We realized we needed to come out and work harder,” Souderton coach Lindsy Jones said. “We weren’t putting our usual 100 percent effort in and they were beating us to the ball. We had to step up and start doing that, once we started winning those balls, it changed the flow and we were connecting much better.”

Power and Sara Readinger ramped up their play in the middle and it started to spread up top. Doughty, Erin O’Keefe, Taylor Yoder, Hannah Alderfer and Leah Mowery all spent turns working up top, locating and making the inside runs the bench wanted.

O’Keefe, the only senior among the attackers, set the table for her underclassman teammates. Her work rate led to a couple good chances before she finally created the breakthrough. She made a run up the right side, slipping through a pair of defenders and dropping a cross right to Doughty in front.

“We weren’t connecting passes and it was kind of crazy all over the place, so we settled down, worked and were more aggressive,” Doughty said. “I saw Campbell coming around to my side so I cut in and Erin cut out. It felt pretty good to score that goal.”

While Souderton continued to seek another, the Indians’ defense more than held its ground. The unit was superb in front of Pazdziorko, but that didn’t mean the senior keeper wasn’t busy.

Still, Pazdziorko felt her back line – which included Miranda Kullman, Kailee Harwick, Darby Kramer, Gianna Natale and Peyton Carroll – was on the same page all game. Kullman and Harwick, the center backs, were very strong both slowing down attackers and either playing a long clear or a short ball depending what they saw in front.

“Oh man, my defense is amazing,” Pazdziorko said. “It’s best four-plus group of girls I could ask for. They were really good in the air, reading the ball, not letting them turn on the ball and being super-aggressive while knowing when to step and when not to step.”

Souderton thought it had won the game at the end of regulation. Yoder had a point-blank shot at the near post that Seneca Valley keeper Morgan Sinan made a diving attempt on. The corner of the net seemed to blossom out, but the officials ruled Sinan kept the ball off the line.

Doughty said the sequence only served to motivate Souderton more in the extra time. While the Indians were the more dangerous side in both overtimes, they couldn’t put one away. That was due to Sinan, who was terrific for SV, making 16 saves in the game.

The Raiders keeper made a sublime save in the second overtime, flat-out robbing O’Keefe on a curling shot just 20 seconds in.

Luckily for Souderton, Pazdziorko was just as sharp on her eight saves.

“I just played my game,” Pazdziorko said. “I tried to do the best I could, I mean I do that every game, but I didn’t try to think about what was going on too much, I just wanted to play the way I can.”

The Souderton senior stonewalled a breakaway by Seneca Valley’s Ashley Rea out for a corner with 5:56 left in the first overtime, her biggest stop of the afternoon.

“I saw her get through to the ball so I knew if I came out and got in her face a little bit, she’d make a mistake,” Pazdziorko said. “I got out and was able to get a hand on it.”

Going into the shootout, Pazdziorko said she felt the full gambit of emotions heading into the shootout, but added her teammates’ belief in her helped settle down and get focus.

Seneca Valley shot first and took a 3-2 lead in the shootout. The next shooter hit the bar, with Readinger following to tie it 3-3, then after the last SV shooter missed, Doughty was up.

“It’s just awesome, we’ve been together so long and to keep continuing on, it’s pretty cool,” Doughty said.

Souderton will likely have another long trip west on Tuesday for the semifinals as it will take on Peters Township.

“It’s all I could ask for, they’re amazing, they’re my family,” Pazdziorko said. “I want to spend as much time with them, even though it’s only a week left at most, I want as much of that time with them as possible.”