On Wednesday October 24, 2012, the three-seeded Bethel Park Girls Varsity Soccer Team took on the six-seeded Norwin Knights at Peters Township in the WPIAL quarterfinal match-up.
The stadium was crowded with Bethel Park fans because it could almost be considered a home game for them.
Norwin started with the ball, and the game began. There was plenty of back and forth action, with the ball going from the Bethel side of the field to the Norwin side, and so on.
With twenty-three minutes remaining in the first half, Bethel Park had a scoring opportunity as Chelsea Conway took a shot that came off of a centering pass by Alexis Keibler, but it was saved by the Norwin goalie.
With seven minutes to play in the first half, AJ Baroffio took a breakaway twenty-five yards up the field but went down hard after contact with a Norwin defender. There was no call by the referees and the game continued until halftime.
At the half, the players walked off the field to a scoreless match-up in which both teams seemed to be deadlocked. However, in the first half, Bethel Park seemed to be playing with a disadvantage as the ball was by their goal more than Norwin’s.
The second half began, and only minutes in, Norwin was already on the attack. Norwin had four consecutive scoring chances. One came off of a centering pass a mere two minutes into the second half, but the shot went over the net. Norwin then had two corner kicks that came only minutes apart, with both opportunities going over the goal. Their fourth scoring chance came off of a Norwin shot from the 20 yard line that hit the crossbar and went over, resulting in a Bethel Park goal kick.
Bethel Park then took the ball down the Norwin side of the field and proceeded to create two scoring opportunities. An AJ Baroffio kick from the 15-yard line went over the goal, and a few minutes later, Alexis Keibler took a free kick from the 25-yard line that went just barely over the crossbar.
With twenty-six minutes remaining in the game, Norwin had a huge chance off of a corner kick that was stopped by the Bethel Park defense. Ten minutes later, with sixteen minutes to play, Bethel Park took the ball the other way. Tatianna Ruzzini had two centering passes, one to Halle Hammer and one to AJ Baroffio, both of which were saved by the Norwin goalie.
With six minutes remaining in the second half, it looked like Norwin was finally going to score, but BP goalie Alycia Jiminez made a terrific save.
Regulation time expired with the game remaining scoreless. In the second half, the ball was near the Norwin goal more so than the Bethel Park goal, yet Bethel Park couldn’t capitalize on their opportunities.
The WPIAL overtime format includes playing two sudden death overtime “golden goal” periods. If nobody scores in these overtime periods, the game proceeds to penalty kicks, which are best out of five.
During the first golden goal period, Bethel Park had three chances to score, compared to Norwin’s zero. AJ Baroffio’s breakaway shot was saved by the Norwin goalie, Tatianna Ruzzini’s shot went just wide of the post, and Alexis Keibler’s breakaway attempt was saved by the Norwin goalie. The first golden goal period ended and play proceeded to a second.
Once again, Bethel Park opened on the attack. With thirteen minutes to play in the second golden goal period, AJ Baroffio had a breakaway opportunity that was saved by the Norwin goalie. Halle Hammer had an open shot with ten minutes to play that went just wide of the post.
With eight minutes to play in the second golden goal period, AJ Baroffio, whose impact so far in the game had been huge, had a breakaway attempt. After not having been able to score on so many chances earlier in the night, she was able to beat all the defenders and break for the goal, where she put the ball just under the crossbar for the game winning goal. She was mobbed by teammates as the Bethel Park Girls Varsity Soccer Team won their quarterfinal match-up versus Norwin and continued into the semifinals.
When asked what was going through her head after scoring the game-winning goal in double overtime, AJ said, “The first thing going through my head was oh my God, oh my God. I couldn’t believe it. Just knowing that we got to the third round was amazing because no Bethel team had ever gotten through the first round before.”
Coach Gentile had a few words to share as well. He said, “We just never gave up, and we saw that in overtime. Norwin was just dead and we kept pushing the issue, and AJ came through.”
When asked about his thoughts on the matchup against number two-seed Seneca Valley, Coach Gentile said, “It is going to be another tough game. Seneca is a similar team to Norwin, and it’s going to be what team wants it more. We wanted the last two more, and we want this one more too.”
Their next game will be played Tuesday, October 30th versus two-seed Seneca Valley at 6 PM at Chartiers Valley High School.
