Freedom comes back, overcome Chargers, 3-2, in WPIAL Quarterfinals
Almost two months have passed since the Freedom Bulldogs and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Chargers met up early in the season. In just the third game of their respective seasons, OLSH earned a major 3-0 upset over the reigning WPIAL Class 1A champions.
On Saturday, the two sides met again in the second round of this year’s playoffs – this time at Bulldog Stadium. It was a much different story this time around, with Freedom claiming the 3-2 win to advance to the semifinals.
After winning their opening playoff match against Ellis on Oct. 24, Freedom head coach Colin Williams said, “We want OLSH.”
The Bulldogs got OLSH, and they got their revenge, too.
However, it wasn’t the prettiest of matches for the Bulldogs. Shaye Bailey, the senior attacking stalwart, got on the board early. Immediately, second later, the Chargers equalized, thanks to a goal from senior Maura Randal. Then, a few minutes before halftime, the Chargers took the lead, with a strike by Alexa Taylor.
Bailey said that the one-goal deficit at halftime cut into the Bulldogs’ confidence.
“In the beginning, we were getting down on ourselves,” Bailey said. “As soon as we scored, they came back and returned with one of their own. They are a really good team, but we fought hard. We each had a role to play. I had to step up as a leader and make sure our heads weren’t hanging. We needed to keep going, and we did. We came back and that resulted in a win.”
Mackenzie Mohrbacher, a sophomore scored the equalizing goal for Freedom. The younger cousin of former Freedom standout Julz Mohrbacher, she’s been filling in her relative’s role up top – a position that comes with a lot of pressure.
“It was honestly surreal. Once that ball left Shaye’s foot, I said that I wasn’t letting it get past me,” Mohrbacher said. “I knew I needed to score for the team.”
Minutes later, it was classmate Brianne Casto who scored the game-winning goal. Casto had two goals against Ellis earlier in the week, giving the defender three goals in the postseason so far.
“I saw the ball coming and I knew I had to do something with it,” Casto said. “We were holding onto a tie with about 25 minutes left, so I knew we needed something to spark our last, game-winning goal.”
OLSH had some last-minute chances that were deflected by red-shirted players. Trinity Vojtko made a few key saves to keep the Bulldogs in it – and also relied on a Casto goal-line clearance to seal the victory.
“Those last minutes, I was so excited. We were keeping it up, keeping them out of our half,” Vojtko said. “When they were in our half, we were pushing them… I owe Bri something. She saved my butt a few times.”
Freedom head coach Colin Williams said that, at halftime, his message to the team was to solve self-inflicted wounds.
“We had to work a bit. We got the ball and gave it up too quick, we had some missed kicks,” Williams said. “I said at halftime, ‘Look, we’re causing our own problems’ and we needed to correct that. We were giving the ball up too early and that prevented us from being in the game. In the second half, we battled back and showed the character of these kids.”
Williams lost a few players to injury, as well, with Olivia Henderson exiting the game early after colliding with OLSH senior goalkeeper Faith Gartley. In the second half, freshman defender Cheyenne Sharp landed awkwardly on her leg and came out of the match. Neither player returned.
“That kicked me up a notch so much,” Vojtko said about her teammates’ exits. “When I saw Olivia go down, I knew it was bad. And Cheyenne, I heard the injury. It was a kick to want to fight for them, because we knew they wouldn’t be back. I just wanted to fight for them.”
Bailey, the senior leader of the Bulldogs, gave credit to younger players stepping up to fill those roles, including Kaitlyn Mueller, a freshman who stepped in for Henderson.
“Mack did a really great job behind me, helping me out. Cheyenne did a great job, and then, of course, she got hurt,” Bailey said. “That hurt us. Olivia also getting hurt didn’t help. But all the younger players, Kaitlyn, they all stepped up and helped us out. I’m glad they’re here, because if not this would’ve been impossible.”
Williams said that the younger players on Freedom’s roster have grown throughout the season, being given meaningful minutes in matches.
“I said at the beginning of the game, in our warmups, that the younger players have all really grown up,” Williams said. “It’s expected, because they’re all pretty decent players. Next year, I can only say we’ll look forward to another decent year. It was a little fast today for them, but they picked it up and came in at the end to support the play. They helped us win the game.”
Freedom Area will take on Springdale – who defeated Charleroi, on the road, 6-2 – on Halloween evening, with a location and time to be determined. The winner will advance to Highmark Stadium for the Class 1A Championship.
OLSH Chargers relish seniors’ legacy
The OLSH Chargers will be graduating seven seniors from the soccer team, including: Alexa Taylor, Annalise Wrabley, Elena Polar, Daria Charron, Gabby Muoio, Maura Randal and goalkeeper Faith Gartley.
OLSH head coach Paige Petroval was emotional when talking about the seven players and their contributions to the program, including a trip to the WPIAL Championship in 2020.
“They’ve meant a lot,” Petroval said. “They were part of the program in 2020 when we went to the Finals. We’re just really, really going to miss them and their work ethic. They keep the team together as a group. They set the stage for this to happen. It’s going to be sad to see them all go, but we’re excited to see what they do in the future.”
Petroval said that OLSH was confident going into Bulldog Stadium, but knew they had a tough task with Freedom wanting revenge for the September loss.
“I thought it really could have gone either way. Both teams came out and showed up, playing really well today,” she said. “Both teams had some breakdowns, but it was an even game all the way through. Our girls tried their best and I’m really proud of the effort they put out. They should have their chins up.”
Leading the game going into halftime, Petroval told her team to remain calm, fix the ‘little’ things and maintain possession.
“We wanted to keep their spirits up. Sometimes you get frantic with a 2-1 lead,” she explained. “I think it may have happened when they came up and tied it up, 2-2. I think they did a good job keeping their cool and sticking together as a team. We’ve been trusting that all year.”
Petroval, despite the back-and-forth between the OLSH and Freedom programs on the pitch, wished her opponent luck as they take on Springdale. When the Bulldogs started to sniff out the Chargers’ game plan, Petroval said it was because Freedom is a “smart, talented” team.
“They got the better of us today,” Petroval said. “We’ve had a battle with them the past couple years -- sometimes they take them, sometimes we take them. We both had a lot to prove after the game at the beginning of the season. They came in with that.
“We wish them good luck in the rest of the playoffs.”
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Freedom comes back, overcome Chargers, 3-2, in WPIAL Quarterfinals
