As time wound down in Fox Chapel’s first-round PIAA Class 3A tournament game with State College at Cumberland Valley, the shoe was on the other foot for the 21-1 Foxes.
Not quite a week earlier, Fox Chapel had led in the waning minutes of regulation before falling to Pine-Richland, 12-11, in overtime.
This past Tuesday — in a driving rainstorm — it was State College that held a 9-7 lead with 5:17 left in regulation. But Fox Chapel pressed on, and the Foxes got late regulation goals from Mikayla D’Cunha and Ali Wessel to force overtime, and Kate Goodwin sealed the deal in the extra frame with a free-position goal to give the Foxes a 10-9 victory over the District 6 champions and a berth in the second round.
Fox Chapel gave the Lady Little Lions the same medicine the Foxes had received when Pine-Richland rallied with two late goals to force overtime and then go on to win in the extra frame.
In an ironic twist, Fox Chapel will play on State College’s home field when they meet Downingtown East, the sixth-place team from District 1, in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Balance keyed Fox Chapel’s effort as Goodwin and Meg McCrady each scored three goals to pace the Foxes.
Now, they will meet a team that knocked off a district champion in the quarterfinals.
Downingtown East knocked off District 3 champion West Lawn Wilson, 12-6, in a first-round game.
That win lifted the Cougars’ overall record to 13-6, and it ended Wilson West Lawn’s season at 22-2.
With six losses, Downingtown East has had plenty of heartache. But after a 12-11 overtime loss to West Chester Rustin, the Cougars won eight games in a row before falling to Central Bucks West, 6-1, the No. 3 ranked Class 3A team in Eastern Pennsylvania.
This game features teams with much to prove. Fox Chapel wants to display the confidence that earned the Foxes a regular-season unbeaten record. Downingtown East, which competes in the very solid District 1 grouping, wants to show that it belongs and deserves to advance. The winner meets the survivor of the quarterfinal game between District 1 runner-up Springfield and District 3 runner-up Manheim Township, the team that eliminated WPIAL champion Pine-Richland, 16-9.