HS Girls Soccer: Pensacola Catholic advances to District 1-3A title game with shutout
It was Marion Rosenthal’s world, and we were all just living in it.
The Pensacola Catholic girls soccer team beat Walton, 4-0, in the District 1-3A semifinals on Monday at Gorecki-LeBeau Stadium. Rosenthal scored a three-goal hat trick to propel the Crusaders to the championship game.
“Her desire to score goals and be at the right place and right time, that’s what helped us win tonight,” Pensacola Catholic head coach Chase Griffin said.
Playing primarily on the left side of the field, Rosenthal not only found twine a few times, but also created several chances during the game. However, Cate Carlson opened the scoring for the Crusaders with about 5 minutes, 47 seconds left in the first half after running up the middle of the field and firing off a low shot.
Carlson then crossed the ball to Rosenthal with 24 minutes left in the second half, and the latter kicked a low dribbler into the back of the net. She scored her second goal in the 31st minute of the game. Anna Bauman took a shot on frame that the Walton goalie couldn’t handle, and Rosenthal was there to finish the job.
Rosenthal secured the hat trick after getting a cross and hit the opposite side of the net with 4:42 left in the game. It was her fifth goal of the season.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I just did that,'” Rosenthal said with some laughter.
Pensacola Catholic (12-5-1) moves onto the championship game Wednesday, which the Crusaders will host, against North Bay Haven Academy. This is the third consecutive season that the Crusaders and Buccaneers will square off for the district crown.
Two years ago, the Buccaneers won while Pensacola Catholic claimed the title in 2023.
“North Bay Haven is just a huge rival of ours. Whenever we play them, everybody is all or nothing – both teams,” Rosenthal said. “Everybody is going 80 to nothing the whole game. It’s push, push, push. We know that competition is coming fast.”
“We’ve just got to step it up. Competition will be a little tougher,” Griffin said. “If we just play our game and finish our shots, we’ll be fine.”
Here are two takeaways from the game.
Defensive third? What’s that?
Lily Rodriguez had to make just one save as goalie for Pensacola Catholic. Even then, it was a cross from Walton that wasn’t too dangerous of a shot. Rodriguez only had to kick away errant passes or clears from Walton, or help the Pensacola Catholic defense reset by receiving a pass from a defender to push the pace.
The win was the Crusaders’ 12th shutout of the season, and second against Walton.
Other than that, Walton rarely crossed midfield, let alone enter its own offensive third of the field.
“It’s hard for the defense to keep their heads in the game, especially on a cold night,” Griffin said. “We’ve been working on our central areas, working on our passes back to our keeper, so it worked.”
Rosenthal said the Crusaders were “trying to press” against Walton to keep the pressure on. And, for the most part, it worked.
“We were trying to push up on (Walton) because they tend to push forward a little bit. There were a lot of offsides,” Rosenthal said.
Plentiful chances
Pensacola Catholic seemingly got frustrated during the first half with shot after shot, some on frame, that just weren’t crossing the goal line. Most shots were coming from the top of the penalty area box and trickled right to Walton’s goal, or they were just wide of the goal posts.
That was until Carlson scored.
“It’s always frustrating. The other team had a really good keeper,” Griffin said. “I like taking shots. So that’s what we did.”
But all the while, Pensacola Catholic tried to widen the field to send in some cross passes. Carlson, Rosenthal and others led the charge to try to connect with other teammates. It’s something that the Crusaders had been working on to add another element to their offense.
Griffin noted that most of his team’s goals during the season came from through-ball passes up the middle of the field.
“We were trying to find different wants to score,” Griffin said. “It worked tonight.”
“Working from the outside, it’s much easier to get that perfect shot in, instead of booting it from the 18. It creates a more organized playing field,” Rosenthal said. “It was making the game move much faster. … We had quicker plays. Everybody was a lot more talkative. It was a great game.”
Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Catholic girls soccer beats Walton in District 1-3A semifinals
