USC Girls Soccer Tame the Mustangs and Colts

This past week Lady Panthers may have considered adopting the nickname of USC "Cowgirls" as they broke the team spirits of Mustangs and Colts in their past two games. 

On Wednesday the girls played the Laurel Highland Mustangs in Uniontown. It took 20 minutes before the girls found their legs after the long bus ride but broke the game open with seven goals in the first half’s last 20 minutes of play.

The opening goal of the barrage was delivered by Carley Bogan with an assist provided from Rebekah Walsh. Ellie DiNardo then fired a nice left-footed volley off a pass from Bogan. Then Bogan quickly tallied her second goal of the evening from a breakaway created by a nicely placed pass from Sammi Witsberger. Sophomore Brianna Erdman then fired off three straight goals for a hat-trick with assists from Witsberger and Emma Hasco. The first-half flurry ended with a goal headed home by the freshman Hasco off a crossing pass sent in by Olivia Belack. Suddenly at the half the score was 7-0 USC.

In the second half, the final USC goal was scored by Belack from a Carley Bogan pass placed through the Mustang alignment. Laurel Highlands scored the final goal of the evening from an offensive rush which was reflective of their never give-up approach to the game. Though the final score of the game was 8-1, throughout the game Laurel Highlands never packed it in on defense. They kept their forwards in offensive positions looking to score when possible. Many teams with the Mustangs abilities have resorted to overloading their defense to limit the scoring; to their credit Laurel Highlands did not do this.

On Saturday afternoon the girls welcomed the Colts of Chartiers Valley to USC Stadium on a lovely but blustery day.

In the opening minute of play, senior Carley Bogan crossed a ball to senior Sammi Witsberger for a stunning early goal n the game. The rest of the second half consisted of few chances for either team as the score remained 1-0 at the interval. 

In the second half it was the freshmen’s turn as Emma Hasco knocked home what would be the game winner off a feed from Maddy Rocks. A bit later, CV tightened the game as they fought back with a goal by Katie Doyle to make it 2-1. Finally, Sammi Witsberger provided the third goal off a deflection to give the team some breathing room and settle the Colts’ upstart. 

After taming the Colts and Mustangs in the past two games one can only hope they can keep up with the "cowgirl" theme as they take on the two-time defending PIAA state champion Indians of Peters Twp on the road this Monday night. Good luck girls!