Montour knocks off unbeaten Plum to earn spot in WPIAL semifinals

By: Jerin Steele
Thursday, October 26, 2023 | 9:34 PM

Montour was the only team that didn’t lose to Plum in the regular season.

Now the Spartans can say they’ll be the only team that beat the Mustangs in 2023.

Behind a pair of goals from Grace Bannon and a sterling performance by goalkeeper Allison Armitage, No. 7 Montour upset No. 2 Plum, 2-0, in the WPIAL Class 3A girls soccer quarterfinals Thursday night.

The Spartans (14-2-3) ended Plum’s undefeated season at 16-1-1 and advanced to play No. 3 Moon in Tuesday’s semifinals.

They also avenged a loss in last season’s quarterfinals. The teams played to a 3-3 draw in a nonsection contest earlier this season.

“That’s a huge win for us,” Montour coach Alex Hobbs said. “Plum is fantastic and probably the fastest team we’ve seen all year. We played them earlier in the year, and the results are different, but I thought they were even better tonight. We just were able to come up with two goals, and they didn’t.”

Both of Bannon’s goals came in the second half.

In the 57th minute, she put in a long strike that curled perfectly into the top-right corner. She scored again 14 minutes later with a tap-in that was the result of good passing from Kira Hobbs and Mia Cyanovich.

“The second goal was probably the thing I was most proud of,” Hobbs said. “That combination play between Mia, Kira and Grace is something that we work on in practice nonstop, so to see it turn into a goal with just a touch in was fantastic to watch.”

Two minutes before Bannon’s first goal, Plum had its best chance. Ava Weleski sprung free and put a hard shot on frame, but Armitage was there to make a kick save.

Armitage was also sharp in the first half, denying several Plum opportunities.

In the sixth minute, Allison Porter put a header toward goal off a corner by Weleski, but Armitage was in good position to stop it. Porter had another header off a corner in the 29th minute, but again Armitage was there to make the save.

Weleski had a run at goal in the 34th minute, but she also was stopped by Armitage.

“They were able to convert two chances, and we didn’t,” Plum coach Jamie Stewart said. “We bury one of those opportunities, and it’s a different game. That’s the cruel part of the game sometimes.”

Armitage helped Montour post its 11th shutout of the season and sixth in a row.

“Allison has done fantastic all year, and you can tell that by the number of clean sheets she’s had, but this was the busiest night she’s had all year,” Hobbs said. “She was ready, which was awesome. When you’ve had games where you don’t get a lot of shots, it can be tough, so it was great to see her rise to occasion.”

Though Plum fell short of its goal of getting to Highmark Stadium for the championship game, it was another successful season. The Mustangs added another section championship to their banner and reached the quarterfinals for the fifth consecutive season.

“It was a great year, and I attribute that to our senior leadership as well as all the girls that played tonight,” Stewart said. “They all bought into what we were trying to accomplish, which is team first, look for success and everyone’s involved. Certainly this isn’t the way we wanted it to end, but like I told them, everybody but one team in the state loses their last game.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Montour, Plum