Nov 10, 2018 By Adam Brewer for The 4 min read

MARS — And just like that, the season is over.

When it comes to playing this deep in the state girls soccer playoffs, sometimes the team you face is simply at another level.

Defending PIAA Class A champion Shady Side Academy dominated all aspects of its quarterfinal matchup against Bentworth, delivering a 10-0 loss to the Lady Bearcats and ending their historic season Saturday afternoon in the state quarterfinals at Mars High School.

If you had told Bentworth coach Tyler Hamstra back in August that his team’s season would end in the round of eight, he would have taken such a result.

“It’s a disappointing game, but if you were to tell me three months ago that we would make it to the state quarterfinals, I would have definitely taken it,” Hamstra said. “We take a lot of positives out of this season. Honestly, our goal was to just get to the WPIAL semifinals. These last two weeks have been a bonus.”

The Lady Bearcats (18-4) were only the third team in school history, across all sports, to win a PIAA game. The 18 wins is a program record.

“This is the first time we were shut out this season,” Hamstra said. “We just couldn’t get our offense going and they took away our space on the field. But, big picture, I’m really proud of this team to get to Highmark (Stadium) and to win a state playoff game. It’s been a dream season. I have no complaints.”

The Lady Indians (14-4) will play Freedom, a 5-0 winner over Wilmington, in the semifinals Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

“The girls did an amazing job of possessing the ball today,” SSA coach Leah Powers said. “We were under control and our passing was really on. We have been at this level before, and we just have a lot of confidence. As a coaching staff, we just let the girls play their game.”

SSA is 15-7 in the state playoffs since 2010 and have won a PIAA game in all but one of those seasons. Last year, the Lady Indians won the Class A title with a 4-0 victory over Camp Hill. SSA lost to Freedom in the WPIAL semifinals, 2-1, in overtime last month.

“We were hoping to see Freedom again,” Powers said. “The girls are really excited about the rematch. Freedom is an excellent team.”

Within the first 10 minutes of the contest, SSA jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals by Autumn Casey (36:31), Krystyna Rytel (35:29) and Callie Davis (30:15).

The Lady Indians pushed their lead to 6-0 at halftime with Casey (19:33), Rytel (15:32) and Davis (15:16) each scoring again.

“Shady Side is a really good team and they are built for a tournament like this,” Hamstra said. “They took advantage of every opportunity and they are just hard to defend. They have speed all over the field and we couldn’t contain it. They have a very, stingy defense.”

After a goal by Melissa Riggins opened the second half for SSA, Rytel completed the hat trick with a marker at the 31-minute mark.

The Indians added two more goals, by Sophia McMahon (24:15) and Eve Mango (21:13).

Candelaria Kossel was extremely busy in net for Bentworth, as she faced 31 total shots and had 12 saves.

Bentworth’s lone shot of the game came off the foot of Jocelyn Timlin with 10 minutes left but SAA goalkeeper Molly Skvorak preserved the shutout with a save.

The Lady Bearcats will lose five seniors, but the corps of this group will be back in 2019.

“That senior class is the first class that I have coached all four years,” Hamstra said. “Those kids improved every season and have meant a lot to the program. I think our junior class really pushed our seniors and got them in the mix. We have a good eighth grade class coming up and we are hoping to build off this season. I truly believe the future is very bright for us.”