Pottsville was in position to win its first district postseason game in three years Tuesday.
Unfortunately for the Crimson Tide, the tide did indeed turn in the second half.
Nicole Brigante and Kathrynn Gonzalez capped off a dominating second half for Pocono Mountain West with goals less than 4 minutes apart to lead the Panthers to a come-from-behind, 2-1 victory over Pottsville in the opening round of the District 11 Class AAA girls’ soccer playoffs at Alumni Field.
Down 1-0 at the half, Kelsey Tambasco set up Brigante for the tying goal in the 72nd minute. Gonzalez, a freshman, put in the
game-winner in the 76th minute on a long shot from about 20 yards out.
No. 9 seed Pocono Mountain (11-8) advances to face top-seeded Parkland (17-2-2) in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Freshman Marielle Przywara scored off an assist from fellow freshman Catie Coyle to give No. 8-seeded Pottsville (12-6-1) a 1-0 advantage during the 24th minute. Despite getting outshot 11-2 in the second half, the Crimson Tide were able to maintain their lead until Brigante’s goal.
“We were in position to win,” Pottsville coach Robert Stock said. “I told the girls they were going to come out strong in the second half and they did. They weren’t up for the test. They just weren’t up for the test tonight.”
Pottsville’s last district playoff victory came in the semifinal round of the District 2/11 Class AAA semifinals in 2011, a 3-2 win over Wallenpaupack. The Crimson Tide then lost to Abington Heights 2-1 in the title game.
Pottsville is looking for its first district postseason victory since girls’ soccer became a fall-only sport 2012. The Crimson Tide were shut out by Emmaus 2-0 in 2012 and fell 2-1 in a shootout at Bangor last year.
“I don’t know, they were flat all-around,” Stock said. “It wasn’t just the second half. The first half we were flat, too. We weren’t passing well, we weren’t finishing. We had opportunities in the first half, we just didn’t finish. I really don’t know what the issue was, but credit (P.M. West) they played a heck of a defense on us.”
Pottsville had a chance to score 1:20 into the game on a shot by Megan Degrassi, but the ball hit the crossbar. It then bounced straight down before it was deflected away by Panthers’ keeper Aubrie Jaworowski and then across the goal line for a Crimson Tide corner kick, one of the five Pottsville had in the first half and 10 in the game.
It was a rather quiet first half before the Crimson Tide finally broke through when Coyle sent in a cross from the right of Jaworowski to the far post. Przywara was there inside the 6 to put the ball into the net for her third goal of the second.
“It gave us life,” Stock said. “We just didn’t get our shots off in the second half. We didn’t play our game. We got into a kick-and-run game with them and that is not our style. We play a possession game. We play the ball to our feet and then take advantage of our opportunities and we just didn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”
Pottsville certainly didn’t have many in the second half.
Pocono Mountain West took control after intermission, but couldn’t get any shots elevated on Crimson Tide keeper Alyssa Kondrack, who finished the game with 12 saves.
The Panthers finally did when Brigante scored her team-leading 21st goal from inside the 6. Gonzalez’ game-winner, her 11th goal of the year, came in from the right wing, sailed over the head of Kondrack and into the far corner of the net.
The Panthers didn’t make any on-field adjustments at halftime, but started to win more balls at the midfield after the break. Midway through the second half, Pocono Mountain West switched formations to get an extra attacker up on offense.
“With 20 minutes left in the second half, we made some adjustments and pushed people forward,” Panthers coach Dave Lawrence said. “We went to a 3-4-3 and produced. However, we needed these girls to win the ball in the middle, which we didn’t do in the first half.
“We had to make sure our defenders pushed up higher on this field here, which we didn’t do in the first half, and then we did. Once we did that, we were able to go forward and kind of exploit their numbers on the backside of the ball.”
Game Summary
District 11 Class AAA First Round At Alumni Field
Pocono Mtn. West (11-8) 0 2 — 2 Pottsville (12-6-1) 1 0 — 1
Pot —Przywara (Coyle), 24:00
PMW —Brigante (Tambasco), 71:23
PMW —Gonzalez, 75:02
Shots on goal: Pocono Mountain West 14, Pottsville 7. Corner kicks: Pocono Mountain West 1, Pottsville 10. Saves: Pocono Mountain West (Jaworowski) 6, Pottsville (Kondrack) 12.