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Girls' Soccer: Lansdale Catholic Advances to PCL Final

By Bob Diehl, 10/26/16, 11:30AM EDT

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The Crusaders stunned Archbishop Ryan with a late goal.

Oakford, PA – With less than a minute remaining in regulation of Lansdale Catholic’s semi-final match against Archbishop Ryan at the United German Hungarian Soccer Club, Crusaders head coach Tom O’Donnell admittedly started thinking about overtime.  The game was tied at one, and he was ready to give defender Sarah Cooney a much-needed breather.

“I was going to pull her and they had the corner kick at that moment and coach is fighting with me,” O’Donnell recalled.  “He said, no, she’s your best option leave her there.”

Good thing he did.  Cooney headed the corner kick past Ryan goalkeeper Devon McDonald to avoid overtime and give the Crusaders a 2-1 win.

“Sure enough doesn’t Cooney get the game-winner there,” O’Donnell marveled.  “I was that close, thinking let’s play defense, let’s get to overtime... What a finish…  The best moves are the ones you don’t make.”

“It was something I’ll never forget,” said a beaming Cooney.  “That was awesome.  I felt an obligation, obviously, to put it in the net.  But for my team, we’ve been working so hard for this game and we really wanted to come out and win.”

Lansdale Catholic got on the board quickly with a goal in the first two minutes of the game.  Kate Henesey pounced on a bouncing ball inside the 18 and drilled it home to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead.

Archbishop Ryan responded with some heavy pressure, but it didn’t result in any goals. 

McDonald kept the score at 1-0 when she denied Erin O’Sullivan on a penalty kick in the 18th minute.  The score stayed that way until the half.

Ryan came out strong and controlled possession in the opening minutes of the second half.  The Ragdolls were rewarded in the 48th minute, when Kearra Yaffe beat goalkeeper Cailey Maxwell to a loose ball, maneuvered around her, and scored on the open net.

The score was tied at one, and that’s how it remained until Cooney’s big moment.

“This game was kind of like a sweet revenge kind of game,” Cooney said.  “They beat us last year in the championship game… It’s just nice to play them as hard as we could and get that win.”