KINGSTON — She spent the entire season waiting to score.
But the first goal for Abby Straub couldn’t have come at a better time for Wyoming Seminary.
Straub slammed a shot off a penalty corner straight through the goalie’s legs and into the cage with 24:28 to play Tuesday, and it produced the only point of Sem’s 1-0 victory over Dallas in a District 2 Class 2A playoff opener dominated by defense at Klassner Field.
“My first goal of the season. It was really exciting,” Straub said. “It definitely feels good when you get a shot off. To know the one shot of the game was the one that won it, having that feeling, I can’t even describe it.”
Let’s just say it decided a defensive struggle where scoring was tough to come by.
While Wyoming Seminary allowed a single shot on goal, Dallas limited the Blue Knights to just three shots.
“Tonight, the name of the game was defense,” Wyoming Seminary coach Karen Klassner said. “We’ve done a lot of defensive drills. I think our defense right now is playing the best we’ve played all season. You could tell from the start of the game, we pretty much dictated the first half and weren’t getting chances. They were getting chances and couldn’t put the ball in the cage. We were thinking it would be a 1-0 (game).”
It carried the Blue Knights into Thursday’s district semifinals, where Sem will face Lake-Lehman at 6:30 p.m. at Lake-Lehman High School.
“I like the role we’re in,” Klassner said. “We’re the underdog. We’re young. So we’re excited about our team. They (the Black Knights) have the homefield advantage. They have a little bit more experience than us. We’ll be ready to play Thursday night.”
But the Blue Knights wouldn’t have made it there without a score from someone.
And Straub, a junior forward/midfielder, finally provided it.
She took a centering pass from freshman Aubrey Mytych in the sixth minute of the second half and let loose with a wicked blast that cut straight through the wickets and banged off the back of the cage.
“Aubrey passed the ball, I just shot as hard as I could,” Straub said. “Last year, so many of our girls had hard shots. I twas something I wanted to work on.
“It was really lucky.”
Maybe, but the goal off a penalty corner was no accident.
“We’ve been practicing new corners this week,” Straub said. “And just executing them is the main thing.”
Straub scored a few goals as a sophomore last season, but had been shut out through the regular season of her junior year.
Until Tuesday.
“If I had to choose any game to score, this was the one,” Straub said. “I was really happy I got a chance to.”
More of those chances may be coming her way as Sem heads deeper into the postseason.
“I think she would score more for us if we’d give her more of an opportunity to score,” Klassner said. “We usually go to the hot hand. She definitely had the hot hand tonight.”
Lake-Lehman 7, Tunkhannock 0
Kate Supey netted three goals and recorded two assists while Maranda Moosic scored a goal and assisted on three others as Lake-Lehman defeated Tunkhannock.
Taylor Alba added a goal and an assist for the Black Knights and Alicia Galasso made a single save to get the shutout.
Lake-Lehman will now host Wyoming Seminary on Thursday night.
Wyoming Seminary 1, Dallas 0
Dallas`0`0`—`0
Wyoming Seminary`3`4`—`7
Second half — 1. SEM, Abby Straub (Aubrey Mytych) 5:32.
Shots — DAL 1; SEM 3. Saves — DAL 2 (Melinda Ratchford); SEM 1 (Alexis Sokach). Penalty corners — DAL 0; SEM 10.
Lake-Lehman 7, Tunkhannock 0
Tunkhannock`0`0`—`0
Lake-Lehman`3`4`—`7
First half — 1. LL, Kate Supey (Maranda Moosic), 11:18. 2. LL, Sarah Sabaluski (Supey), 8:17. 3. LL, Moosic (Izzy Radel), 5:15. Second half — 4. LL, Taylor Alba (Moosic), 22:37. 5. LL, Makayla Adams (Alba), 20:40. 6. LL, Supey (Lilli Stepanski), 8:35. 7. LL, Supey (Moosic), 6:00.
Shots — TUNK 1; LL 22. Saves — TUNK 14 (Dana Kuffa 10, Mary Sickler 4); LL 1 (Alicia Galasso). Penalty corners — TUNK 1; LL 9.
