Kelsey Salopek’s 50th goal sends Steel Valley past Springdale into 1st WPIAL finals

By: Michael Love
Monday, November 1, 2021 | 9:08 PM

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The Steel Valley girls soccer team is headed to Highmark Stadium.

The No. 3 seed earned a spot in Friday’s WPIAL Class A championship game with a 1-0 victory over Springdale on Monday at Gateway’s Antimarino Stadium.

“This is an unbelievable feeling,” Steel Valley coach Bill Abraham said. “This is my 14th year in the program. Man, I don’t have words for how I feel. This team has worked so hard all year. It’s an incredible bunch of girls. The energy they showed at the end of the game was just incredible.”

Senior midfielder Kelsey Salopek, a Kent State commit, scored the game’s lone goal with a rifle shot from about 15 yards with 5 minutes, 11 seconds gone in the first half.

Steel Valley (17-3), in search of its first WPIAL title in its first trip to the finals, will take on No. 1 Greensburg Central Catholic (15-1) in the championship game.

The Centurions held on for a 4-3 win over No. 5 Freedom (14-5) on Monday at West Mifflin.

“We wanted this so much, especially after losing in the semifinals last year,” said Salopek, whose first-half tally was her 50th of the season. “We knew what we had to do this year. We are ready for Friday.”

Steel Valley and Springdale met for the first time since 2015 when they both were members of Section 4 in Class A.

The Ironmen, who finished with six shots on goal in each half, pushed hard in the opening minutes of the second half as they looked to add a second goal and tighten their grip.

Salopek broke in and fired off a pair of shots within the first six minutes that sailed just high of the Springdale net.

Freshman Therese Doering added a shot with 27 minutes left that was saved by Dynamos junior goalkeeper Caity Stec, who finished with 11 stops.

Springdale’s first and only shot on goal of the game came with 18:45 left in the second half on an offering from freshman Briana Ross.

About a minute later, junior Grace Gent almost tied the score for the Dynamos, but her shot bounced off the crossbar.

Steel Valley kept the majority of possession for the remainder of the game. The Ironmen got pressure and had a few additional scoring chances, but the Springdale defense held strong as the Dynamos hoped to flip the field and get the equalizer.

“I didn’t think just the one goal would hold up against them, but I also thought we would score more on them,” Abraham said. “We saw them in their last game, and I thought we had the speed to do it. But Springdale played a solid game defensively.”

The Dynamos were shut out for the first time in 20 games this season.

Springdale (18-2) will look to regroup Wednesday as it will face Freedom in the third-place consolation matchup at a site and time to be determined with a trip to the PIAA tournament on the line.

“I told the girls that I am really proud of them for how they played tonight,” Springdale coach Marc Bentley said. “Obviously, we didn’t get the bounces we wanted, but I thought we played a solid game, and they should keep their heads held high. It was a really good battle. Steel Valley is a solid, well-organized team.

“There were a lot of tears coming off the field because they really wanted to get to Highmark for the title game, but they still have a lot to play for. We’ll be ready to go (on Wednesday).”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Springdale, Steel Valley