By TIM BIRNEYTioga County Sports Report
WAVERLY — SVEC struck first and had top-seeded Waverly on its heels for the first 10-plus minutes of the game, but the Wolverines re-grouped on its way to a 4-1 win here Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the Section IV, Class B girls soccer playoffs.
"The girls played their hardest, and best game of the year," said SVEC coach Michael Leljedal "I am so proud of their effort tonight.
"Obviously, it's very sad for the year to come to end, but they fought so hard for it," he added.
The Eagles took the lead less than two minutes into the contest when Kaitlyn Coppage was knocked down in the box, and freshman Allie Lyon converted the resulting penalty kick to make it 1-0.
SVEC controlled the action for more than 10 minutes, but once the Wolverines settled in, the ball was in the Eagles' defensive end for the vast majority of the remainder of the half.
"With SVEC scoring that early, we found ourselves scrambling to find our rhythm," said Waverly coach Tara Hogan. "There was still a lot of game left, and we were playing scared.
"SVEC never gave up and we give them a lot of credit for that," she noted. "They had two speedy forwards up top (Allie Lyon and Kaitlyn Coppage) who definitely caught us off guard a few times.
"We were quite frazzled when we should have been composed," added Hogan. "Call it sectional jitters."
With 26 minutes remaining, Waverly's Kiley Stillman collected a loose ball in the box, off a corner kick from freshman Maci Wheeler, and knocked it past the keeper from point-blank range to tie the game at 1-1.
With 3 minutes remaining in the half, Kaitlyn Sutton lobbed a long pass over top of the SVEC defense, and Stillman beat the keeper to the ball about 25 yards from the goal, and pushed a shot that rolled in to give the Wolverines a 2-1 lead.
"Kiley (Stillman) worked so hard and made quick work of getting us on the board," said Hogan. "It brought us a small sense of calm.
"We put more together in the second half with good through-balls and found two other players an opportunity to score," she added.
About 13 minutes into the second half, senior Addison Westbrook played a through-ball toward the right hash, and freshman Kaylin Twedt chased it down, and beat the keeper with a quick, low shot inside the post to make it 3-1.
Sophomore Ryleigh Judson, off a feed from Sutton, tacked on an insurance goal later in the half to provide the final margin.
Waverly had a 24-6 advantage in shots-on-goal, and a 4-1 edge in corner kicks.
Nicole Poli recorded 18 saves in net for the Eagles.
SVEC finishes the season at 7-7-1.
Waverly, now 11-4, will host fourth-seeded Lansing, which edged Sidney, 2-1, Friday.
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PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
