#2 Franciscan 0, #1 Westminster 2

Franciscan Starters 
Claire Salyer, Tania Davidson, Teaghan Elmore, Anni Winogradoff, Juliana Rubino, Gabriella De La Torre, Angela Postage, Abigail Parker, Bella Rubino, Theresa Ryan, & Goalkeeper - Rebekka Dill 

Westminster Starters
Augustine, Galietta, Kaplan, Redilla, Maloberti, Vilchek, Powell, Hunter, Horvath, Jones & Goalkeeper - Murphy

How It Happened 
     Franciscan was two PK kicks away from hosting the PAC championship. #1 Westminster went into a shootout in their semifinal game. Had two kicks gone differently #2 Franciscan would have hosted #4 Chatham. Instead they hit the road to face the Titans in their place for the second time this season. The 1.5 hour trip didn't stop Baron fans. After sending the team off in a big celebration on campus, dozens of fans jumped in their cars or took the shuttle to make the trek up to New Wilmington. 
    In their first match, Bri DeChristopher recorded 13 saves and Tania Davidson had 2 first half goals. The big difference in the first contest to last night's contest was the early goal. In the first meeting, Davidson grabbed an early goal. DeChristopher paired that with a few early saves. This kept the Titans extended on the field as they tried to apply pressure on the offensive end. The over-extension allowed Davidson to break free for a second goal. A 2 goal lead allows teams to sink into their defense and protect their lead.
    Last night was a mirror game. Westminster snuck in the early goal. Their coach still had Davidson's two goal performance fresh in his mind, so he chose to pull a midfielder back and double team Davidson foregoing offensive opportunities. Without any runs for Davidson available and the physical play from the Titan midfielder's, the Barons struggled to apply consistent pressure. They had to resort to quick counterattacks and hope for a big shot to slip through and find the back of the net.
    Coach got into them during halftime. Davidson may be a great player, but this is a team full of talented players that needed to adapt and find a way to pressure the defense. The women responded. They came out in the second half and controlled the ball. For the first time in the game mid-2nd half, the Barons earned a corner kick. Three more times the offense was able to get all the midfielders on the attacking end and filled the box with scorer's, but none got through. The biggest opportunity came off a free kick 25 yds out. Angela Postage put the ball on the front of the net on the left side. Juliana Rubino rose above her defender and headed the ball to the top left of the goal. The keeper just barely got her fingers on the ball and made the save. 5 minutes after that Bella Rubino took a free kick from 30 yds out. She decided to try and catch the goalkeeper sleeping. Instead of playing the ball on the ground or creating a header opportunity, she went straight for the goal. She perfectly kicked a high ball that dropped right beneath the crossbar. Once again the keeper made a great play to time her jump and just get a finger on the ball to poke it up over the crossbar. 
    The Titans completed the shutout to become the 2022 PAC champions. Exhausted from fighting for 90 minutes straight, the Barons looked on and congratulated their opponents knowing they'll be back for more next year.
    The Barons came from a 2021 campaign that missed the playoffs to a 2022 PAC Championship birth. Their performance all season stunned the opposition. After collecting her thoughts and overcoming the initial sorrow of loss, Coach Salamida was gleaming in pride for her team with this to say, "[Speaking on behalf of the entire coaching staff], we are BEYOND proud of what this team accomplished this season. We have a young team, one who got a taste of what PAC competition is day in and day out, and this team is hungry to come back. The leadership of our five seniors this season was outstanding and the roots of the unity on our team. We talked all season about response and our focus as a team culture was 'how will we respond'. That mantra fueled and spurred on the success of the season and will be the backbone of our off-season training. It was an exciting day for Baron Soccer both programs being in a conference championship. Congratulations to our men's team on a tremendous season!! It's a great day to be a Baron!"

Inside the Numbers  
-Tania Davidson finished the season leading the PAC in; shots, SOG, goals, points, and Game-Winning Goals
-All 3 of Bella Rubino's shots were recorded as SOG
-Rebekka Dill recorded 7 saves
-The Barons were out shot 16-15
-Angela Postage finished the season as the PAC leader in assists with 11 on the year.

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