Shannon’s Golden Goals Sends Tigers to Title Match
By: Bob Orkwis
In a rematch of last year’s semifinal, Peters Township and North Allegheny met with a spot in the WPIAL Girls 4A Championship on the line. The Tigers won last season in regulation play, this year it took extra time, and Kieran Shannon’s game-winner in the 108th minute gave NA a 2-1 victory and sent the Tigers to their sixth title game appearance in the last eight seasons.
North Allegheny struck first, when Rosalia Varlotta slid a ball to the right side for Taryn DeWitt, and the Purdue Ft. Wayne commit turned and sent a right footed shot into the net for a 1-0 lead.
North Allegheny made that lead stand up until the 72nd minute. Peters Township took advantage of a corner kick. The ball was deflected by junior Rylie Busch and found the foot of her sister Brynn Busch, who tied the game at 1-1.
Peters Township had the better of the play down the stretch and into the first overtime. Taylor McCullough had several chances for the Indians, and Jordan Beemer made four stops in the first overtime to keep the game tied.
The Tigers got a huge play in the second overtime from senior Sahara Catlos. The Indians worked the left side and slipped a ball past Beamer, but the Lemoyne commit Catlos cleared the ball off the line and the game stayed knotted at 1-1.
That set up the Shannon heroics. Addison Vrabel came down the right wing and made a great stop and turn into the box. Her cross found Shannon wide open in front and the senior made no mistake with the game winner with just over two minutes left in the second overtime.
Kieran Shannon’s game winning goal, her team leading 12th of the season earned her the Wright Automotive Player of the Game honors.
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North Allegheny (17-2-1) the #3 seed in the tournament, gets a chance to defend its 4A championship from last season. The Tigers will face top-seeded Mt. Lebanon. The Blue Devils defeated Fox Chapel 2-1 to set up the title clash to be held at FNB Stadium at Station Square at a date and time to be determined. Both North Allegheny and Mt. Lebanon have also qualified for the PIAA Playoffs with their respective semifinal victories tonight at Chartiers Valley High School.
Girls Soccer Summary vs. Peters Township, 11-2-26
| SCORE BY HALVES | 1st | 2nd | OT1 | OT2 | FINAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Allegheny | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Peters Township | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
