The Concord Women’s Soccer team knows the road to a conference championship means literally going on the road.
For the Mountain Lions to win a league title, they’ll have to play away from home in the second round, and very likely the third round, too.
Plus, a loss in the regular season finale at Pitt-Johnstown Tuesday could also force Concord on the road for its first-round match in the WVIAC Tournament next Monday.
On top of that, the normally potent Concord attack had lately been stuck in neutral, scoring just four goals in its last three matches -- suffering defeats in two of them.
But Concord got its offense back in gear and secured home-field advantage in the post-season’s first round with a 7-1 victory over UPJ.
“The thing we were able to achieve today is scoring. That’s something we’ve been lacking the last few games,” head coach Carol Bonnes said. “I’m very pleased with the way we played on offense today.”
The host Mountain Cats took the lead on Kristin Kelly’s goal, assisted by Lindsey Roessler, just 94 seconds into the game.
But Concord All-American candidate Gemma Nortcliffe got the equalizer only 1:42 later, assisted by Terri Donnelly. It was the first of Nortcliffe’s three goals on the day, giving her 21 on the season and moving her into a tie for the league lead with Kara Houston of Wheeling Jesuit.
“We gave up that first goal to get behind, but once we got our first goal it really opened the floodgates,” said Bonnes. “Obviously, we’re going to need to keep our offense going for the tournament.”
Katie Cuviello would put Concord ahead for good at 11:13 of the first half, taking a pass from Kelsey Ballard at the right corner of the penalty box and putting the ball past UPJ goalkeeper Stephanie Paha. It was Cuviello’s fifth goal of the season.
The Mountain Lions took a 2-1 lead into halftime and extended promptly after the break. Just :44 into the second half, Nortcliffe got her second goal off a scramble in front of the UPJ net. Donnelly would get credit for her second assist.
Donnelly would find the net herself at 66:15, burying a header off a free kick from Cuviello. The defender’s third goal of the season put CU ahead 4-1.
Lindsey DeVaughn would follow with two goals in short order – her sixth and seventh of the season -- that quashed Pitt-Johnstown’s comeback hopes. DeVaughn scored off a cross from Nortcliffe at 76:45, then tallied again off a pass from Nicole Dirnagl only 2:31 later.
Nortcliffe closed out the scoring at 87:53, assisted by Dirnagl.
“We distributed the ball all over the field. We moved the ball all over the place and worked very well together,” Bonnes said. “It was like everyone saw the whole field and we were able to get the ball to the right person at the right time.”
Concord concludes regular season at 10-6, 7-3 in the WVIAC.
In a game in which five Concord players scored multiple points, Bonnes pointed out a performance that didn’t make it into the ledger.
“She won’t show up in the statistics, but Kate Armentrout was an unsung hero today,” Bonnes said. “She was very strong, very fluid in the midfield. She was able to control her area and get the ball up front to set up our attack. If we can get the same level of play from her and the rest of the ladies in the tournament we may be able to do quite well.”
Concord and Pitt-Johnstown each attempted 17 shots, but the Mountain Lions had a 12-7 advantage in shots on goal. Concord also attempted nine corner kicks to just three for the Mountain Cats.