Seneca Valley girls soccer’s defense leading the way as offense remains a work in progress
Seneca Valley girls soccer already had a standout goalkeeper and a strong back line entering this season.
But there was one glaring question surrounding the Raiders — who is going to score the goals?
“We lost 75% of our scoring from last year’s team to graduation,” SV coach Mark Perry said two weeks ago of a group that included Karly Majeski, Maddie Marcotte and Cassie Leonard. “We knew scoring would have to be by committee this season.”
And that’s exactly the manner in which the goals have come as the offense has done enough to keep the Raiders among the best teams in the WPIAL. SV was 7-2-3 overall and 4-2 in Section 3-4A after Monday’s 1-0 loss at North Allegheny.
Sophia Lawryk, Leah Damico and Izzy Yuhouse have scored four goals apiece while Sophia Sipp has added three. Twelve different players have found the net through 11 games. Lawryk also leads in assists with four.
“We went out in the first game of the season and scored eight goals in the first half against Altoona,” Perry said. “That surprised some people, but since then, for the most part, we’ve been doing just enough offensively to win games.”
In some cases, however, the growing pains have kept the Raiders from victories that were there for the taking.
The team’s first loss came by a 1-0 decision in mid-September, also to North Allegheny. Two of the three ties have come against Norwin (0-0) and Fox Chapel (1-1).
“We’re doing a lot of things right, have had chances out wide and are getting crosses into the middle,” senior center-midfielder Lexi Smith said. “We just need to put the ball in the back of the net more.”
Having such a strong defense, including three-year starter Sydney Postler in net, means one or two goals should be enough to win a lot of games.
“We’ve gotten a lot more scoring chances than our opponents,” Perry said. “And we’ve had some bad luck. Against Norwin, we hit the crossbar three times. That doesn’t help with players who are lacking confidence and aren’t used to scoring a lot. Our girls just have not done that at the varsity level.
“We need to execute better on free kicks and corner kicks. Last year, (Majeski) scored between six and eight goals on corner kicks alone.”
Senior Anna Iaquinta is a center-forward for the Raiders who pointed to having several new starters in the lineup while some players have changed positions.
“Our chemistry on the field has been a bit off,” she said.
More time playing together is the remedy for that, and it could lead to another playoff run for the Raiders, who have finished runners-up in WPIAL Class 4A the last two years.
“The girls need to believe in themselves a bit more,” Perry said. “Right now, we’re finding a way. Hopefully, we can keep getting better, and I believe we will.”
