After ending the regular season with 5 wins, 3 losses, and 1 tie,
the Nazareth Academy Soccer Team made a statement by making it into the PCL postseason for the first time. In the quarter-final against Cardinal O’Hara, the pandas were tied for 109 minutes and 50 seconds until Abby Rock ‘25 shot for one last time. She shot from about 35 feet out, but the other team’s goalie had an amazing diving save. The ball deflected off her gloves, and Devon Cheeseman ‘24 followed up and scored with 3 seconds to spare. These girls can never make anything easy. Similar to last year when the pandas played Villa Joseph Academy for one last time. With .7 seconds to score, Ava MacNamera ‘24 made the game-winning goal.
Now, onto the Semi-Final against seeded #2, Archbishop Ryan. The girls came out with fire, keeping the score 0-0 for the whole first half. Then, at the beginning of the second half, Devon Cheeseman scored her second goal in the postseason. Sadly, Ryan came back less than 5 minutes later with a goal of their own. Then, when all hope seemed lost with less than 3 minutes of time left on the clock, Alyssa Browning ‘26 crossed the ball, and Natalie D’Alfonso ’25 scored the game-winning goal. Onto the finals, they go.
For Nazareth’s first time playing in the PCL, they are doing better than anyone expected. Going to the finals and beating out teams as the new kids on the block gave everyone a shock. Sadly, in a tough fight, we lost 2-0 to Archbishop Wood. Even though Nazareth Soccer got second place, it still made a statement getting into the finals.
