Girls soccer: St. Edward blanks Harvest Christian in Class 1A regional
St. Edward senior forward Cecilia Kochanek made a triumphant return to the lineup in Thursday's Class 1A Harvard girl soccer regional semifinal against Harvest Christian.
Kochanek, who had not played since the fourth game of the season after suffering a sprained LCL, lifted the No. 3 seeded Green Wave to a dramatic 1-0 victory in sloppy conditions by scoring the game's lone goal with just 1:54 remaining.
Although Harvest Christian had the better chances over the final 20 minutes, St. Edward (8-11-1) cashed in late as junior Madison Knott made a strong run down the right side and played the ball into the box.
Kochanek barely beat Lions' keeper Isa Garcia (11 saves) to the ball and got just enough of a touch with her left foot to push it into the left corner.
"I kind of whiffed on it a little, but it trickled past the line and got in and we all went crazy," Kochanek said. "It was awesome having everyone run up to me."
"We were tired and it was hard to run in the mud, but we were just pushing Cec up high and trying to feed her the ball," Knott said.
"We were hanging on for dear life. Harvest played an outstanding match," credited Green Wave coach Tim Brieger. "At the end we told Madison to get wide and she got wide and was able to play the ball into Cec for the goal."
Harvest (8-6-4) started strong and had possession throughout the opening 10 minutes, but couldn't break through.
Amanda Moore, Holly Colclasure and Sonja Jenkins created quality scoring chances for the Lions, but their shots either failed to find the mark or were stopped by Green Wave keeper Mariel Franco, who finished with 10 saves.
"We kept them in, maintained possession and got a lot of shots on goal, but we just didn't capitalize," Lions coach Mark Baron said. "Sometimes they go in and sometimes they don't."
"The wheels fell off the cart real fast in that game," Brieger said. "We messed up on the kickoff and from there we were on our heels."
The Green Wave settled down over the final 20 minutes and carried that momentum into halftime.
"We had a very good pep talk at halftime to liven things up," Kochanek said.
Harvest played short-handed in the second half as Jenkins was forced to exit with a knee injury.
"Sonja was spectacular for us over on the right side and she's a captain for us, but she's been battling that knee injury all year," Baron said.
The Lions still pushed forward and nearly scored as Moore and Rebecca Gafrick connected passes to Emily Halter, who hit the crossbar at the 65-minute mark.
St. Edward will be at a disadvantage facing a rested Richmond-Burton squad in Friday's 4 p.m. regional final. The No. 2 seeded Rockets secured a 4-0 win over Harvard Wednesday before the rains pushed the second game back to Thursday.
"We lived to fight another day on this field, but we're exhausted. We're hoping we have something left for tomorrow," Brieger said.