Mars girls soccer back in stride after rare section setback
Mars girls soccer entered the 2016 season with an 85-game section winning streak.
It also began its Section 1-AAA schedule with the unsaid, mounting pressure of more than six seasons without a section blemish.
After a win against Gateway, the Fightin' Planets allowed a late goal to Franklin Regional last Saturday, falling 2-1 for their first section loss since the 2009 season.
“It's a different year. The classifications are different, the opponents are different,” Mars coach Blair Gerlach said. “Truth be told, we played against a good team, and we didn't finish some chances we felt like we should've, and we put ourselves in a tough spot and they took advantage of their chances and that's how you learn.”
It was the first section loss for senior center forward Kaitlyn McKenzie, who returned this season as a co-captain after missing last fall with a torn ACL.
“We felt a little guilty, so we definitely changed our mindset, like, ‘This is it. This isn't going to happen. We're setting a new streak,' ” McKenzie said. “It was just having a different mindset to prove to everybody that we weren't going to let them down.”
Guilt turned to focus, focus to goals. Two days later, the Planets defeated McKeesport, 15-0. On Monday, they scored three goals against Knoch, allowing none.
The quick and unflinching bounceback, Gerlach said, was the work of a core of veterans that includes McKenzie, goalkeeper Sammy Papik, defender Annabelle Hnath, midfielder Isabel Wroblewski, forward Tori Kopchak and defender Amber Lisman.
With the exception of McKenzie, all saw the field for the Planets' 2015 WPIAL Class AA title run. All have been through tough games, grind-it-out section wins, and now a minor disappointment.
Soccer is a platform to teach lessons, Gerlach said, which gave added weight to his discussions with his team after its loss to Franklin Regional.
“They're going to learn that you can't win every single time you step on the field, and you don't win in life every time that you go into a situation. You have to know how to deal with complication and failure,” Gerlach said. “You've got to be able to regroup and bounce back, and I think for us to lose to a good team the other day just lets us know we're human. It lets us know that we've got areas where we need to improve, and it lets us know what can happen.”
Gerlach said he wasn't made aware of Mars' section unbeaten streak until last year, and it wasn't a record he gave much attention. The near-perfect run that sticks out most dates to 2011, when the Planets won the PIAA Class AA title with 25 wins and a tie against Knoch.
The silver lining in that minor disappointment against Knoch was a state title, which is why the tone Gerlach took the day after the Franklin Regional game wasn't a disappointed one.
“The day after that game, my talk to the girls was, ‘Thank God that's over. Right?' ” Gerlach said. “That's what streaks are for. What a heck of a run. Now we get to start a new one.”
At two games and counting, the new streak is underway.
Andrew Erickson is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at aerickson@tribweb.com or via Twitter @AErickson_Trib.
