Seneca Valley Blanks Canon-McMillan to Win 2nd Straight WPIAL AAA Girls Soccer Crown

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, November 1, 2014 | 12:30 AM

Seneca Valley won their second straight and fourth overall WPIAL girls soccer championship with a 1-0 victory over the Canon-McMillan Big Macs at Highmark Stadium Friday night.

The top-seeded Raiders got everything they wanted from the upstart 10th seed as the two teams battled to a scoreless tie at the end of the first forty minutes. In fact Canon-Mac seemed to gain a lot of confidence and had the better of play for the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half.

The Big Macs though despite generating several opportunities and three corner kicks in the opening minutes of the second half could not sneak one behind Seneca Valley net keeper Jessica Neil.

Then off the rush heading back the other way the Raiders took advantage of their corner kick opportunity. Alicia Hart sent the corner into the box and Caroline Miller headed it down into traffic where junior Cassidy Testa blasted it behind Canon-Mac keeper Kyra Murphy for the only goal of the game with 30:12 left in the second half.

The Raiders defense and midfield took over from there. The goal took a lot of wind out of the Big Macs sails and they never really got that energy back that they had shown to start the second half. Sophomores Cheyenne Trest and Aideen O’Donoghue worked hard up front for Canon-Macmillan but the depth of the Raiders seemed to wear down Canon-Mac.

Lexus Lambert was stellar on the back line for the Raiders who improved to 21-0 on the season and enter the state tournament as the top seed from district seven. The Raiders advanced to the semi-finals last year in the PIAA tournament befor falling to Spring-Ford 1-0.

The Big Macs advance into the state tournament as well despite falling to 16-4-1 on the year. Seneca Valley adds the 2014 trophy to their collection that already includes the years 2007, 2009 and 2013. The Big Macs were playing in their first ever championship contest.

Tags: Canon-McMillan