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Shady Side knocks out Lady Bearcats again, 5-1

By Joe Tuscano for The 3 min read

CANONSBURG — The players on Bentworth’s girls soccer team arrived at Big Mac Stadium Monday with smiles on their faces and revenge in their hearts.

Their opponent on this day was Shady Side Academy, the same team that delivered a knockout punch to the Lady Bearcats in last year’s PIAA tournament.

Nothing would have pleased Bentworth more than ending the title chances of the Indians with one swift kick.

It never came.

Callie Davis had a hat trick and Melissa Riggins scored two goals to power Shady Side Academy to a 5-1 victory over Bentworth in the WPIAL Class A semifinals.

The Indians (16-1) will play Greensburg Central Catholic in the final at Highmark Stadium. Bentworth (18-2) will play in the third-place game against Freedom. Dates and times have not yet been determined.

“The consolation match is a tricky one,” said Bentworth head coach Tyler Hamstra. “We have to have a short memory if we want to move on.”

Bentworth opened the scoring when Paige Marshalek found Jocelyn Timlin on a breakaway down the right side. She sent a shot past goalkeeper Molly Skvorak for a 1-0 lead at 26:23. It was her 44th goal of the season.

A little less than four minutes later, Shady Side Academy tied it when Davis corralled a pass in front of the net and sent it past Jasmine Manning.

Shady Side Academy took the lead 4:04 before halftime when Riggins headed a corner kick into the net.

“The first half, we really played well,” said Hamstra. “We wanted to limit Riggins’ space. I think she has 10 lungs. I think she is the state record holder in the 2-mile in track. She covers a lot of space.”

Riggins put the nail in the coffin when she rifled a shot into the net from 30 yards and Davis got the hat trick with just over two minutes remaining.

“They scored first and that was a little bit of a wake-up call for us,” said SSA head coach Mary Lynch. “We came out for the second half, changed a few things and played a much better second half.”

Bentworth used a strong offense and good defense to reach this spot. The Bearcats, champions of Section 2-A, defeated Mohawk, 6-1, in the first round and knocked off Serra Catholic, 3-1, in the quarterfinals.

Shady Side Academy, co-champions in Section 1, earned its spot here with a 4-0 victory over Riverside in the first round and a 4-1 win over Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the quarterfinals.

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