‘Same spot’ scores Owen J. Roberts trip to District 1 final with OT win over Conestoga
BUCKTOWN >> Avery White and Alexa Vogelman were having déjà vu.
After Vogelman was fouled near the left sideline late in the first overtime of Tuesday’s District 1 Class 4A semifinal against Conestoga, they each had the same thought.
“Same thing happened last district game against Avon Grove, the same way we scored the winning goal,” said White, a senior. “I was aiming for around the wall, front post because I know someone like Lex would be there. We talked about it, ‘Same spot?’ That was my goal.”
Her ‘goal’ produced the winning goal when Vogelman volleyed in White’s free kick delivery with 2:15 remaining in the first overtime to give No. 2 seed Owen J. Roberts a 1-0 victory over No. 3 Conestoga at Wildcat Stadium.
Final: Owen J Roberts 1, Conestoga 0, PiAA District 1 4A girls soccer semifinal.
Alexa Vogelman scores on Avery White free kick and ref rules it crossed the line, 2 min left 1 OT. A terribly controversial finish pic.twitter.com/8TJ4GHwXMY
— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) November 3, 2021
Owen J. Roberts (21-1-1) advances to Saturday’s title game where it will meet No. 4 Downingtown East – a 1-0 winner over Pennridge in the other semi – at Spring-Ford (6 p.m.). Conestoga, the No. 3 seed, meets Pennridge in a seeding game Friday.
“It’s so amazing,” Vogelman said. “We’ve been working for this for so long. We start in June and we do run after run, test after test and we do it for these moments. To have it to pay off is just great.”
The final sequence ended with an element of controversy after a soft foul on Vogelman led to the decisive free kick. To compound the hard feelings Conestoga left with, it was unclear from nearly all angles whether the whole ball crossed the line.
The referee with the goal-line angle determined it so, and Vogelman, who was one of the next-closest in the house, agreed.
“Yes, I thought it did,” the junior forward said. “As soon as I hit the ball it was across the line, before she hit it. (The goalkeeper) was behind the line so it was already crossing the plane when she caught it.”
The Pioneers (14-4-2) experienced some deja vu of their own with a loss in the district semifinals against a Pioneer Athletic Conference opponent that harkened back to 2019. Two years ago, Conestoga parlayed it into a state final appearance.
“It was a 50-50 game, so it’s unfortunate for it to come down to a ghost call like that,” said Conestoga coach Ben Wilson. “I’m not too down about the loss. I’m upset in the way it happened there. But overall we’ll get over it pretty quick.
“In 2019 when we went to the state final, we were pretty much in this same scenario. We lost to Boyertown on penalty kicks playing away in the semifinal and then we ended up playing Boyertown again in the state final. If it comes to do it, maybe we’ll just have to play Owen J. again in a state final.”
With a roster of 16 seniors, including contributors on the 2019 state final team like Megan Daly and Elli Mayock, more expects to be heard from the Pioneers a year after they, along with the rest of the Central League, opted out of postseason play amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was a supremely even game with very few scoring chances up until the winning moment. Regulation produced only six total shots on goal, none truly testing OJR keeper Colby Wasson or Conestoga’s Margaret Steege (4 saves).
The OJR defense that featured Mo Weaver, Rachel Sbei, Ashly White, Caleigh Bold and Mikayla Farrow in front of goalkeeper Wasson (3 saves) continued its shutdown play. The Wildcats have been impenetrable while allowing only five goals in 23 matches, including four straight
postseason shutouts.
OJR’s aggressive defensive style never allowed Conestoga any traction and both teams mightily struggled to string much together on a cold, slick night on the already-fast Wildcat Stadium turf.
“I don’t think either team ever really got control. It was a lot in the midfield, a lot of back and forth,” Wilson said. “With a team that’s as athletic and aggressive as Owen J., if you can’t get a handle on the ball, the ball’s going to bounce around all night basically.”
The Pioneers were led by seniors Daly, Mayock and the back four of Haleigh Wintersteen, Olivia Mazza, Mia Galrao and Ava Koziol, which was gave the Wildcats a thorough test.
“I think we’re a very patient team. I thought ‘Stoga had a great team and really good defensive game,” Vogelman said. “We weren’t really used to that pressure and it took some time to adjust to it. But I think we continued to keep our foot on the gas and give ourselves opportunities to possibly finish one and at the end we did.
“We never have that moment of doubt. We always know that it’s going to be there at one moment, we just need to wait for it.”
Despite many successful seasons, even trips to the PIAA finals and semifinals, it is remarkably Owen J. Roberts’ first trip to the District 1 final since 2006.
“We’re playing for each other and want to go as far as we can because we know this is a special team,” White said.
