HomeNewsRagdolls’ state playoff run ends in quarterfinals

Ragdolls’ state playoff run ends in quarterfinals

Three’s up: Despite an exit in the state quarterfinals, Ryan girls soccer became the first team in program history to win three straight league titles. TIMES FILE PHOTO

READING — Eleven seconds.

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In real life, not much can happen in 11 seconds; but in a soccer game, it’s an eternity, time enough to completely flip a game’s momentum and change the course of such a promising season.

Eleven seconds was all that was needed to turn a 1–0 Archbishop Ryan lead in Saturday’s PIAA Class AAA girls soccer state quarterfinal contest into a 1–1 tie with Elizabethtown, of Lancaster County. In this game, timing was everything for the Bears and sophomore midfielder Talia Grynkewicz, who evened the score 11 seconds after Taylor Woods’ head ball off a corner kick gave Ryan the briefest of leads with 28:52 to play in the first half.

Grynkewicz struck again 30 seconds before halftime, and again less than five minutes into the second half. When all was said and done, the Elizabethtown scorer had notched all four of her team’s tallies in a 4–2 victory that ended the truly special Ryan season at Exeter Township High School in Reading.

“The most heartbreaking thing,” Woods, a Ryan junior midfielder, would say later, “was hearing the (public address) announcer counting down the final seconds. There was nothing left we could do at that point. It sucks.”

Indeed, the result was not the one the Ragdolls were looking for, especially after experiencing their first ever state playoff lead for all of 11 seconds.

But while those 11 seconds, in which Grynkewicz and company sliced and diced their way through the heart of a usually impenetrable defense, changed the course of this game, it was not enough to diminish in the long run all this particular group had accomplished.

There were the three straight Catholic League titles, a feat no girls soccer team in school history had ever done; there was the stingy defense of all-state sweeper Kaitlyn McFadden and goalie/career shutout holder Jazmin Gonzalez, two of the most decorated players to ever don a Ryan jersey; and, of course, there was the first-round state playoff exits in 2012 and 2013 left vindicated in 2014, which made getting tantalizingly close to the final four that much more special and validating.

“Winning the Catholic League three straight times, all the shutout records … it’s not like we haven’t accomplished anything,” said McFadden, who will play her collegiate soccer at West Chester next fall. “I always wanted to win a state championship, so this game crushed me. But I can’t go back in time, and I will always remember this team. We made a mark on Ryan soccer, and that’s what it’s all about. We made great friends and memories, which will help us get through it.”

Even after Elizabethtown knotted the score at 1, Ryan still played like the better team the rest of the first half, peppering the goal with chances with nothing to show for it. Grynkewicz’s second tally before halftime hurt, as did her hat trick in the opening minutes of the second frame; however, Ryan junior Casey Rodgers cut the deficit in half with a goal of her own five minutes later, keeping the game very much within reach. But Grynkewicz’s fourth goal with 17:45 to go all but sealed the deal, serving as the dream-crushing blow to Ryan’s storied season.

It was just the fifth loss in the past three seasons for head coach Ryan Haney’s bunch, three of which came in the state playoffs, a pretty telling sign of the dynasty the Ragdolls (21–2 overall) have built.

“Right now, it still hasn’t hit me that the season is over, because we’re just not used to losing,” Rodgers said. “That said, I was proud of how we played on Saturday. I wanted to win, but there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Of course, there can only be one state champion, and Ryan will have to try its luck again in 2015. Although Haney loses two of his top players in Gonzalez and McFadden, who will be next to impossible to replace, he brings back a plethora of talent, especially up top and in the midfield. Woods and Rodgers will return, as will junior forward Jules Blank and her team-leading 23 goals. Tough, hard-nosed midfielders Cecilia Dumond and Erin McIntyre are back, as is junior defender Tayah Naudascher, the one leftover on Haney’s vaunted back line. Not only that, but a strong freshman class that includes Haley O’Neill and Madison Taylor, who scored two of the team’s biggest postseason goals, will be another year older and wiser.

“I believe that if we played this team ten times, we’d win more than we’d lose,” Haney said. “But my hat’s off to them. They had a good day, and we did not have our best game. You can’t judge a whole season based on one game, so we’re going to keep our heads up. There’s a lot to be proud of. We’ll have a lot returning, but we’ll also have two big holes to fill. We’ll look to make some moves and hope to be back here next year to make another run and see if we can win one.”

Outside the stinging feeling of defeat and disappointment, Haney and most of the Ragdolls players polled were filled with gratitude for the opportunity.

“We’ll build new relationships in college,” said Gonzalez, bound for Charleston Southern University. “But nothing will ever be the same as this group.”

“It’s upsetting, but we have to move on,” McFadden added. “We showed we can play at this level, and they’ll get that four-peat next year and be back on this stage. When we’re all 40 we’ll still remember what we did here. Setting records and making a name for our school, it’s rewarding. Some teams never make it here, but we did, and we’ll always have that under our belts. I’m just so grateful.”

The holdovers are already talking about next season, eager to prove that the next logical progression in this program’s story will culminate in a trip to the state championship game.

“We know we need to get back to states and go even farther,” Woods said. “It boosted our confidence competing with these teams and staying with them. The players coming back are all capable, so I see no reason why we can’t win our fourth in a row.”

“Us juniors are already talking about having a great senior year, the same way these girls did,” Rodgers added. “We’re already hungry for it. The juniors would love to say we won a league title all four years we were here.”

And despite the loss resulting in a not-so-storybook conclusion, McFadden said that in the long run, there would be no regrets. How could there be?

“Looking back on all the games we won and the memories we made,” she said. “It’s one of the greatest endings to any story.” ••

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