Seneca Valley girls soccer knocks off Butler on Karly Majeski’s late goal
-
Players celebrate “Kicking Breast Cancer” prior to the start of a girls soccer game between Butler and Seneca Valley on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Art Bernardi Stadium in Butler. Seneca Valley won 2-1. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
-
Butler and Seneca Valley participate in a girls soccer game on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Art Bernardi Stadium in Butler. Seneca Valley won 2-1. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
-
Butler defender Lydia Mohoney (20) dribbles with the ball in a girls soccer game against Seneca Valley on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Art Bernardi Stadium in Butler. Seneca Valley won 2-1. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
-
Butler's Ava Soley (8) runs for the ball in a girls soccer game against Seneca Valley on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Art Bernardi Stadium in Butler. Seneca Valley won 2-1. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
-
Seneca Valley's Cassie Leonard (30) heads the ball in a girls soccer game against Butler on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Art Bernardi Stadium in Butler. Seneca Valley won 2-1. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
-
Butler's Kara Lubinsky (9) battles Seneca Valley's Karly Majeski (14) during a girls soccer game on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Art Bernardi Stadium in Butler. Seneca Valley won 2-1. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
-
Seneca Valley's Cassie Leonard (30) and Madeline Marcotte (7) celebrate the first goal of a girls soccer match against Butler on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Art Bernardi Stadium in Butler. Seneca Valley won 2-1. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
BUTLER TWP — It isn’t always pretty, but Seneca Valley’s girls soccer team continues to find a way.
Karly Majeski provided the difference in the 71st minute of the WPIAL Section 3-4A clash against Butler on Monday night at Butler High School the Raiders won 2-1, zipping the ball out of a cluster and into the bottom left corner of the net.
“We find a way to win,” Raiders coach Mark Perry said. “I don’t think we played really good tonight, but a lot of that, you have to credit Butler. They came out very excited and inspired to play us, and we didn’t handle it real well.
“We just seem to find a way to win those one-goal games. ... We’re lucky to escape here with a win.”
Seneca Valley’s first goal came when an Ashlee Libby pass fell at Cassie Leonard’s feet in the 46th minute, and, while the latter couldn’t fire off a crisp shot, she still somehow willed the ball past Butler (6-7, 2-5 section) goalkeeper Kaylen Yaracs.
“That’s the top team in the section,” Golden Tornado coach Dan Buzzard said of Seneca Valley. “That’s a fantastic team. They’re a well-coached team. All we’re looking for (from) these girls right now is improvement and getting better every game. Last time, we lost to them 4-2. Tonight, I thought that was a great game.
“I thought for periods of the game that we really showed what we can do.”
Less than two minutes later, Raiders (9-2-1, 7-0-0 section) goalkeeper Sydney Postler strayed from her net to head the ball forward. The Golden Tornado’s Ella Nichols opportunely wound up with it and looped it over Postler’s head to knot the contest at 1-1.
Butler’s Cecelia Wolford drew a foul on the 15-yard line of the visitors’ half of the field in the 54th minute, but Postler was waiting on Kaitlyn McGuire’s free kick from the left hashes.
“We keep getting chances. We just need to be better at finishing them,” Buzzard said. “These one-goal games, we have yet to find a way to win. We just got to work on that and get better at that.”
While there was a sudden burst early in the second half, the first was short of offensive action. The Golden Tornado’s only pair of shots on goal occurred via McGuire free kicks within three-and-a-half minutes of one another. The second of which was nudged over the crossbar by Postler in the 17th minute.
Butler goalkeeper Kaylen Yaracs thwarted Leonard’s try by diving to her right in the 21st minute. Yaracs kept another ball out four minutes later and one more with four minutes remaining in the half.
Butler’s only threats after Majeski’s late marker came out of desperate free kicks late, neither from close range.
