Published: November 10, 2009 11:48 pm      

Ramblers hoping to build on experience

BERLIN — The South Park Eagles, runners-up in District 7, laid to rest any Cinderella hopes the Windber Ramblers may have had about advancing in the Class AA girls’ soccer playoffs with a resounding 6-0 victory in the second game of a playoff doubleheader.

“Well, you know why they’ve been in the top round of the state tournament the past eight seasons,” coach John Wozny said of South Park’s performance. “They’re a very disciplined team. I don’t know if our girls got caught in awe, but hopefully we’ll learn from it.

“This is our first time in the state playoff tournament, so now we’ve just got to build on it.”

The Eagles, state champs in 2007, scored early and often, netting their first goal just under four minutes into the contest off the foot of Christy Chiesa.

South Park notched two more goals in the first half – one from Nicole Miller in the

17th minute, and Taylor Barum found the back of the net with 1:22 to play in the opening frame.

As the whistle sounded for the start of the second half, the Eagles continued to pressure Windber.

Just 46 seconds into the second half, a loose ball squirted out to Lauren Yobbi, who delivered a strike past Windber’s Katie Bango to put South Park ahead 4-0.

Courtney Albitz added to the lead with a header off a corner kick from Nicole Miller.

The Eagles’ final goal came with 1:18 to play from Emily Breisinger.

Wozny remained optimistic following what he called a “very disappointing loss.”

“I hope we’ll be able to gather from the experience and build on it,” he said.

“That’s how we’ve looked at it from the very beginning, you know, take your first game, win it, and move on to your second.

“I’m very proud. This is the most wins we’ve had in a season, which was 16, most goals we’ve scored as a team, and there were a lot of individual accomplishments.”

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the loss for Wozny was the realization that his seniors will be moving on after a season that defied a lot of expectations.

“This year the seniors (Bango, Sara Bibby, Tonya Bibby, Rachelle Lint, Ambra Rowles, Aly Strapple and Suzanne Tanking) will have played for three years, and each year it gets harder to say goodbye to the seniors. This won’t be the last time out for some of them, they’ll be playing elsewhere. I’m sure you’ll hear about them.”