While the Redbank Valley Bulldogs were winning their opener in the District 9 Class 1A boys’ soccer playoffs in Wednesday’s 1-0 win at home over Elk County Catholic, the Lady Bulldogs end a 14-day layoff when they play for the Class 2A title next Tuesday.
And against Elk County Catholic, it was the Bulldogs (15-4) scoring late on Caleb Root’s goal off a Kieran Fricko assist with just 1:42 left on the clock. (More on this game on-line at www.leader-vindicator.com and in next week’s print edition).
The 14-2-1 Lady Bulldogs haven’t played since blanking Keystone 6-0 in Knox back on Oct. 14. They take a 5-0-1 streak into the playoffs since their last loss, a 4-3 setback at Brockway on Sept. 26.
St. Marys is the Lady Bulldogs’ foe. The Lady Dutch stand at 6-11 and share common foes Central Clarion, Brockway, Elk County Catholic, Brookville, Karns City, Kane and Eisenhower.
The Lady Bulldogs were 2-0 against Central Clarion, 1-1 against Karns City along with wins over Brookville, Kane and Eisenhower with a loss to Brockway. The Lady Dutch were 1-1 against Brookville, 2-0 against Kane and Elk County Catholic, and a win over Central Clarion with a loss to Karns City and Eisenhower.
The Lady Bulldogs have outscored foes 81-29 thus far with Lia Hageter (29), Mylee Harmon (20) and Iris Reitz (13) combining for 62. Harmon (12), Bella Orr (10), Iris Reitz (9) and Lia Hageter (9) are the team’s assist leaders.
The rest of Wednesday’s D9 Class 1A boys’ quarterfinal schedule had top-seeded Central Clarion beating Northern Potter 2-1 in overtime, so it’ll be the Bulldogs visiting the Wildcats at the C-L Sports Complex at a time to be announced.
On the other side of the bracket Wednesday, it was No. 3 seed Brockway hosting No. 6 North Clarion and No. 2 Port Allegany hosting No. 7 DuBois Central Catholic. Those winners also meet Monday at the higher seeded team.
Monday’s semifinal winners advance to next Wednesday’s final at a neutral site and time to be announced. Only the D9 champion advances to the state playoffs with the opening round scheduled for Nov. 5 against the WPIAL runner-up at a D9 site to be determined.
The Bulldogs took a six-game winning streak into the postseason, outscoring foes 35-4 during that span. Last Wednesday in a 3-2 win over Ridgway, Kieran Fricko scored two goals while Titus Smith also scored. Brayder Perez Godinez assisted on two goals and Smith on the other. Leland Ingram was the winning goalkeeper.
