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FINAL: Freedom 3, Springdale 0 (WPIAL Girls Class 1A Championship)

File photo courtesy Ed Thompson
WPIAL Girls Soccer Class 1A Championship

FINAL: Freedom 3, Springdale 0

Live Stream:  TribHSSN

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Preview

Freedom and Springdale advanced to the WPIAL Championship game with some challenges, but the top two seeds in the GIrls Class 1A tournament have been up to the task.  Now, on Friday, they’ll be battling to see which will bring back a third district girls soccer title back to their school.

In fact, back in 1997, when the WPIAL expanded to a second girls classification, Springdale won their first ever district title. They followed that up with a title in 2009.

Meanwhile, Head Coach Colin Williams led Freedom to two titles in a three year span in 2016 and 2018.

Freedom have outscored playoff competition 17-5 thus far in the postseason, and their only losses this season came when playing up in class. They drew Greensburg Central Catholic in the semifinal round for the second straight year, a team that had elminated them from the postseason in three of the previous four years. This time around, the Bulldogs came out on top this time, 4-3, in the second period of extra time, in what was a pretty open-ended affair,

Shaye Bailey came up with the game-winner very late in extra time, when she outraced two defenders to a ball played over the top, before burying the game-winner on Monday night

Springdale clawed their way to early round playoff wins over Sewickely Academy (3-2) and Mohawk (2-0), but with two wins vs Greensburg Central Catholic this season, they’ve proven they can beat top teams in this classification.  They exploded for a 5-0 win in the semifinal against Waynesburg Central, to make an emphatic statement that they belong in the Final at Highmark Stadium.

Julia Mohrbacher is a player to watch for Freedom. The Youngstown State commit scored twice in the semifinal win vs GCC, as she has 30 goals this season, and more than 100 in her high school career.

For Springdale, it was senior Grace Gent who delivered an impressive goal scoring performance on Monday, netting a hat trick against Waynesburg

Gent leads the Dynamo with 24 goals. Sophomore Briana Ross, who has 19 goals over her team’s 19 games, recorded three assists Monday to give her a team-leading 15.

The teams faced each other in the the PIAA play-in match in 2021, with Freedom rolling to a big 6-1 win that allowed them to advance to the State Playoffs, 6-0.

Team Profiles & How They Got To Highmark

Springdale (Section 1 Champions) 

Nickname: Dynamo

Roster 

Head Coach – Marc Bentley

  • 1st Round – def Sewickly Academy 3-2
  • Quarterfinal Rd. – def Mohawk, 2-0
  • Semifinal Rd. – def Waynesburg, 5-0

Freedom (Section 3 Champion) 

Nickname: Bulldogs

Roster

Head Coach – Colin Williams

  • 1st Rd – BIshop Canevin, 8-0
  • Quarterfinal Rd. – Seton LaSalle 5-2
  • Semifinal Rd. – Greensburg Central Catholic, 4-3

PSN Recent Coverage of Girls Class 1A Soccer 

Kids on the Pitch Podcast: WPIAL Boys and Girls Soccer Championships preview

WPIAL Girls Soccer Class 4A and 1A Semifinal Round (10/31/2022)

WPIAL Girls Soccer Class 1A Quarterfinal Round (10/26/2022)

WPIAL Girls Soccer Class 1A Playoff Bracket (2022): Freedom, Springdale lead the way

Past Girls Class 1A Finals 

Golden Steel: Doering’s OT winner lifts Steel Valley to its first-ever WPIAL girls soccer title

Greensburg Central Catholic wins seventh WPIAL girls soccer crown

Freedom rolls past Bentworth, 8-2, for second WPIAL crown in three years

Glory on the Grass

Riverhounds MF Kenardo Forbes

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