Freeport girls soccer snaps winless streak against rival Burrell

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, September 7, 2022 | 9:43 PM

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Close and intense soccer is expected when the Freeport and Burrell girls teams meet.

Wednesday was no exception as the Yellowjackets and Bucs clashed at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium.

Freeport scored twice in the first half, and the defense made it stand up for a 2-0 victory.

The triumph for the Yellowjackets snapped an eight-game winless streak to the Bucs. Burrell was 6-0-2 against Freeport dating to a win and a tie in 2018.

“This win definitely was a team effort,” said senior Crystal Zembrzuski, whose goal in the 23rd minute proved to be the winner. “Burrell has always been our toughest rival. To show up and get this win tonight was just the most important thing in the run for the section.”

Freeport, which topped section rival Deer Lakes last week and topped Class 4A Shaler and Class 3A Armstrong at the Highlands tournament over the weekend, improved to 4-0 overall.

Burrell, which was missing a trio of starters from its lineup, fell to 2-1-1 overall, 1-1 in section play.

“Burrell tonight was a great litmus test for the girls,” Freeport coach Joe Treglia said. “Deer Lakes was a tough game last week. (Burrell coach) Frank (Nesko) always has a nice team, and their players play well together. We knew we had to play a clean game because Burrell was disciplined. I felt the girls controlled the midfield better in the second half, and they showed a lot of grit to grind the game out to the end.”

Freeport, with seven seniors in the starting lineup, outshot Burrell, 11-6, and held a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal. Yellowjackets senior keeper Olivia Giancola made three saves, and her counterpart, Burrell sophomore Dana Barczykowski, stopped a pair of Yellowjackets shots.

The Bucs garnered five corner kicks, but the Yellowjackets defense turned away each opportunity.

Burrell senior Ali Hughes had an early scoring opportunity just over four minutes into the game. She broke away at 35 yards with a pair of Freeport defenders closing in.

Hughes had options of where to place the ball. Her shot rolled a foot and a half wide of the left post.

Freeport appeared set to score the game’s first goal in the 15th minute as senior midfielder Nora Mahan moved in with possession on the left wing.

Barczykowski came out to challenge Mahan, but Mahan tapped the ball toward the open net. Bucs defender Jayden Smalling was in position in the goal mouth and cleared the ball out of danger.

Eight minutes later, the Yellowjackets cashed in the game’s first goal.

Freshman Peyton Los delivered a cross 10 feet to Zembrzuski, who positioned herself at 30 yards, and fired a shot that sailed into the upper-right corner of the Burrell goal.

“That was the starter, and I was happy to help bring up the energy of the team,” Zembrzuski said.

Burrell tried to even the score, and a shot from sophomore Lily Householder from 23 yards in the 24th minute sailed just high of the crossbar.

Freeport countered with pressure in and around the Bucs goal box in the 36th minute, but the effort didn’t result in a goal. Freshman Peyton Los took a pair of shots, but both went just wide.

Freeport extended its lead in the waning minutes of the first half.

Senior Aleah Parison got things started by running down a loose ball in the left corner. She crossed the ball into the Burrell goal box, and, as the Bucs defense was looking for a clear, the ball went off the leg of a defender and into the net.

Burrell came out with pressure in the second half, gaining possession and challenging the Freeport defense and Giancola.

Freeport then flipped the field and applied some pressure of its own with three shots in the span of two minutes.

Parison came as close as one could to giving Freeport a three-goal lead. Her shot from 25 yards with 15 minutes left rang of the crossbar.

Burrell’s first shot of the second half came with six minutes left. Giancola scooped up the bounding ball to keep the Bucs off the scoreboard.

“I give credit to Freeport,” Nesko said. “Their pressure affected us a little bit. We did some things that were uncharacteristic of us. We’re normally a really composed group. They came up with a gameplan that put us under pressure and forced us to make mistakes. Freeport had a lot of speed up top, and I don’t think we were ready for their aggressiveness. But we have a really good group, and we need to get healthy. There’s a lot of soccer left to be played, and we will see Freeport again on our field in a couple of weeks.”

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: Burrell, Freeport