Times Observer Photo by Tim Frank Warren’s Meea Irwin shows off her MVP plaque after she helped Pennsylvania to a 4-3 win over New York in the NY/PA Corporate Cup Soccer Showcase on Sunday.

KANE — The past two years the New York girls won the NY/PA Corporate Cup Soccer Showcase and the Russell girls from Fillmore had a big hand in that, with Hope winning MVP last year after scoring four goals.

Pennsylvania took a 2-0 lead in the first half at Kane High School on Sunday evening, but in the span of a minute, just before stoppage time, goals from Hope and Grace Russell tied the game 2-2 headed into halftime. It looked like New York was poised to take home the Corporate Cup for a third straight year, but the Pennsylvania girls had other plans.

The sudden change in momentum before half did not deter Pennsylvania as it came back out in the second half with a goal from 2023 PA MVP Bella Prince of Bradford and then in the final 15 minutes of the game Warren’s Meea Irwin scored her second tally of the game which secured put Pennsylvania in front for the eventual 4-3 win and earned her the MVP of the game for Pennsylvania.

“That was our talk at halftime,” PA head coach Jim Warnick from Bradford said about responding to the late goals. “We had to keep the communication, we had to stay with that and get back to playing simple ball. Everyone was trying to do everything themselves and that’s where we run into the issue.”

Irwin opened the scoring in the contest on the counterattack and then hammered home the game-winning goal from quite a distance, labeling it for the top corner. The go-ahead tally came minutes after Chautauqua Lake’s Jada Cole sent a shot off the crossbar and was the third goal by a Warren player in the game.

“It was such a good feeling,” rwin said about winning the game and the MVP. “It was kind of stressful, New York kept coming back, but we all kept our composure and got it, so it was pretty exciting.”

In the final 10 minutes of the first half, Pennsylvania received its second goal from a Warren player as Lani Wenzel tapped home a goal in the box to go up 2-0. Irwin and Wenzel were two of five Lady Dragons in the contest as Leyna Irwin, Lilly Stanley and Lucy Bigelow helped Pennsylvania win back the Corporate Cup for the first time since 2021.

“We have a lot of connections on that team, friendships,” Irwin added about the PA team. “I kind of consider all of us family. We all play together, we kind of all took part in rebuilding PA. We (Warren teammates) connect really well, Lainey Wenzel is a freshman and she’s coming together, she’s really smart and knows what she’s doing and same with Lucy Bigelow.”

“They bring a lot,” Warnick added about the Warren girls. “We know it, we play them throughout the season so we know what they brought to the table and we’re glad it showed up on the field with a whole different team.”

While the Fillmore girls have been a problem for Pennsylvania the past two years, it was not the top priority of marking specific players, but it was about Pennsylvania playing its game.

“We never really singled out anybody on New York,” Warnick stated. “We wanted to play our game and they had to stop us from our game. We didn’t want to go the other way around, because then it puts us at a disadvantage. We didn’t go in thinking we’re going to man-mark, we went out playing our game and they got to stop us.”

Aside from the minute in which it surrendered two goals, Pennsylvania did a great job limiting all of the New York playmakers and if there was a breakdown a big save followed. Holding on to its 4-3 lead, Maple Grove’s Kylie Kress looked poised to net her second goal of the game for New York having gone bardown earlier in the half, but Brockway goalie Josie Orinko made a huge save to preserve the lead.

Orinko was named the Sportsmanship Player of the Game for Pennsylvania while Grace Russell was the New York recipient.

Pennsylvania’s victory swings the all-time record back in its favor 4-3, having won three events in a row from 2019-21.

“Through all the practices and all the tryouts our biggest goal was we better bring it back to PA,” Warnick said about winning the Corporate Cup Soccer Showcase. “New York has beaten us the last couple years and we’ve got to come back with it and we knew we had the players to do it, this is just the first time we’ve had all 22 at the same place. We didn’t know what to expect, but they showed up to play.”

PA BOYS MAKE HISTORY

KANE, Pa. — In the seven years of the NY/PA Corporate Cup Soccer Showcase, the Gold boys game has never gone beyond regulation. That changed in the eighth edition on Sunday at Kane High School when the Gold game wasn’t decided in regulation and even the overtime period, but rather went to penalty kicks.

The best chance in the 10-minute overtime period came off the foot of New York’s Connor Young from Southwestern, but Pennsylvania goalkeeper Casey Seymour from Eisenhower made the diving stop which extended the game to penalty kicks.

“Really nothing,” Seymour said what he was thinking about when he made the breakaway save. “I can’t lie, I am a reaction player and the only thing was close the gap and try to make the save. And I was screaming to take out the cross because I was going straight for it.”

“I have not seen Connor Young get stopped like that in his career,” NY head coach Jason Deering from Southwestern stated. “That was a fantastic save and that goalie really should have won the MVP. I have not seen many players stop that shot from Connor. As he broke away I thought that was in, I’ve seen that so much.”

However, Seymour didn’t go on the line in penalty kicks. It was Carter Dush from St. Marys and that was the correct decision as he made one more stop that secured Pennsylvania the 2-2 (4-3 PK) victory.

“You can’t write it better than that,” PA head coach Steffen Blair from Warren said about the dramatic victory. “We just trusted these guys all the way through and we just kept telling them ‘Everyone had talent here, but talent is not enough, you have to want it,’ and they went out and they had heart and they wanted it so they deserved it.”

New York was chasing Pennsylvania on the scoreboard throughout the game as Mitch Strauss from Bradford opened the scoring and then regained the lead for PA in the second half with his second tally. Strauss did his part in regulation, but it was his teammates getting his back after his penalty kick was saved by Jonas Gesing from Southwestern.

“He’s a special player,” Blair said of Strauss. “We ask so much of Mitch and that’s because we know he’s always going to exceed expectations. We know that in the big moments he is going to come up big and despite the penalty miss he was the heart of this team for 100 plus minutes here.”

Pennsylvania generated most of its offense on the counterattack with Strauss finishing off plays turning up the field on New York. Otherwise the PA defense had its hands full holding off a potent New York attack led by a quartet of Randolph’s Cooper Freeman, Young from Southwestern, and both Sam Edwards and Owen Doherty from Ellicottville.

“We had a lot of faith,” Blair said about his defense. “We knew how the game was going to go, we had been working on for weeks our counterattack (and) them pressing us. They have a lot of talented players in the middle and at the top of the field, so we knew how this game was going to go. We were reading for it, we had been drilling this for weeks.”

New York did manage to break through just before halftime when Young made a run just short of the box before passing off to Edwards who ran to the goal line before executing a perfect low cross to the heel of Freeman that equalized the score at 1-1.

After Strauss’ second goal, Pennsylvania really buckled down defensively and both Seymour and Dush swiped away every opportunity New York had. If New York was going to equalize, it was going to have to be something special and that’s what happened with five minutes remaining.

Turning up on the counterattack, Young was fouled hard from nearly 50 yards out and Allegany-Limestone’s Luke Griffin stepped up for the set piece. Looking to loft the pass into the box it looked like Griffin put too much mustard on his shot as it was sure to miss his teammates’ leaping heads, but it missed everybody, and went exactly where it needed as it made its way into the top of the net to tie the game 2-2.

“It was about 3/4 the way there and I was like ‘that’s in’,” Deering said about the tying goal. “Sure enough, he stuck it right in that corner, that was amazing.”

The goal put wind in New York’s sails and Doherty had a prime opportunity to end the game in the final minute on a breakaway, but Dush redeemed himself by stunning Doherty and sending the Corporate Cup Soccer Showcase to overtime for the first time.

Pennsylvania’s award recipients rightfully went to the goalies as Seymour received the MVP and Dush was the sportsmanship recipient. Randolph’s Freeman was the New York MVP thanks to his crucial play in the midfield, while Southwestern’s Gesing earned the sportsmanship award after making big saves all game.

“It feels amazing,” Seymour added. “I can tell you going into this game I was super nervous, but I kept telling myself the next important shot is the next one and just kept trying to make the saves. Carter (Dush) had some amazing PK saves.”

“That was special,” Blair added about his goalies. “I wish we could have split that MVP down the middle because they both deserve it. Casey Seymour at the beginning of the game was just keeping us alive, we took some time to settle into that game, he was making some ridiculous saves. That really set the tone for us and let us settle in and gave us a chance. We went up 1-0 when we could have been down two or three pretty easy.”

Sunday’s victory marks the second straight victory for Pennsylvania, but New York still holds the all-time record of 5-3.

NOTES: The Silver Games were both won by New York with the girls defeating Pennsylvania 5-0 and the boys holding off their southern neighbors 3-1.