Warriors beat Gladiators, claim 2nd place

By Jose Negron

jnegron@yourmvi.com

Sole possession of second place in Section 4-2A belongs to Elizabeth Forward. 

Natalie Beinlich scored a pair of first-half goals and the Warriors held off South Allegheny to gain separation near the top of the section standings with a 3-1 victory Tuesday at Glassport Memorial Stadium. 

EF (7-5, 7-2) now sits a game ahead of SA (8-4, 6-3) with another game between the two teams slated for Saturday. 

“Having to play them twice in five days is not easy and now, seeing them play for the first time, it’s definitely helpful to get the first win out of the two,” EF head coach Brandon Gerba said. “It gives a boost to the girls and gives us something to work on going into Saturday.” 

Beinlich wasted little time getting the Warriors on the scoreboard as she netted her first goal less than 10 minutes into the game. 

With 30:49 on the clock, Beinlich found space and fired a shot from around the 15-yard line, beating SA goalkeeper Hannah Niecgorski. 

Beinlich’s second goal came with just over five minutes remaining in the half. She took a shot that deflected off an SA defender and trickled past Niecgorski for a 2-0 EF lead. 

“The last couple of games, we haven’t been scoring a lot and we’ve been struggling to get anything going,” Gerba said. “For her to get two and get them reasonably early in the first half, it settled us down some.”

While SA lacked opportunities in the first half, the Gladiators did have a few key chances in the second. They had eight of their 11 total shots in the frame. 

The first came just over two minutes in as a loose ball trickled toward Abigail Allan in front of the net. The freshman had an open cage in front of her, but her shot bounced off the cross bar. 

Just over a minute later, the Gladiators were able to develop a 5-on-0 opportunity on Cochenour. Olivia Stetz showed patience and ripped a shot that sailed wide left. 

“We beat ourselves a little bit,” South Allegheny head coach Andrew Dyson said. “We figured out their offsides trap and that really helped us. We figured out what we wanted to do and we changed formations so we could attack more in the second half.”

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