SV girls end Butler's hopes of undefeated season

BUTLER TWP — Trying to stay in stride with North Allegheny in WPIAL Class 4A Section 1, the Butler girls soccer team suffered its first defeat of the season at home against Seneca Valley Tuesday night at Art Bernardi Stadium.

Raider forward Julia Lozowski's 77th-minute marker ended up being the match-decider in the visitors' 2-1 victory.

“We knew coming in tonight that we couldn't win the section,” Seneca Valley coach Mark Perry said. “But, we could stop them from winning it. That was our goal.”

The teams met for the first time in late September, playing to a scoreless draw. Similarly to that matchup, Butler coach Steve Perri said, the Golden Tornado were dealing with injuries.

The group had only two readily available players on the bench Tuesday night.

“We kind of know how they play, they know how we play,” Perry said. “The last time we played them, both teams played better soccer. Tonight was sort of a slugfest, so to say.”

“Last game, we were hoping to get out of there with a draw,” Perri said. “Today we were coming in thinking we're the better team.”

The Raiders' Liv Senff nodded in a Zoe Simpson crosser a little over ten minutes in.

“When we get scored on, we know we're going to get one,” Perri said. “Even (after the early goal), it was a normal game (to us).”

Butler (5-1-2, 11-1-2) could manage only one shot on goal in the first half. Perri recognized the visiting defense's physical dominance and tweaked the Golden Tornado's attack in the second half, choosing to try to push the pace.

“When you limit a team that has capabilities like they do to, really, no shots until three minutes left in the game, you control defensively,” Perry said.

“I think, in the second half, we created enough chances,” Perri said. “We just didn't create enough goals.”

Lozowski buried a rebound with five minutes to go for the Raiders (7-2-1, 10-3-2). Two minutes later, Claire Weiland's shot was blocked and Maddie Rose collected it and deposited it to cut the lead in half. The Golden Tornado's comeback effort came up short, however.

“The second (goal) was the killer,” Perri said. “There just wasn't enough time to battle back.”

The loss makes it harder for Butler to catch North Allegheny. For Seneca Valley, the win is a confidence boost.

“(The win's) a momentum-builder going into the playoffs,” Perry said. “It (shows us) we can beat a team that's highly-ranked.”

Now done with section play, Seneca Valley will play host to Penn-Trafford on Thursday. Butler hits the road to play Pine-Richland on Saturday.