Penns Valley girls soccer ends historic season in first round of PIAA Class 1A playoffs
Penns Valley girls soccer never made it to the state playoffs.
That is until Tuesday, where the Lady Rams played against Karns City in the first round at Philipsburg-Osceola.
Karns City scored in the first half with 34 minutes left on an own goal by Penns Valley. Emma Dailey pushed the Lady Gremlins to a 2-0 lead with 19:15 remaining in the first. Lyrik Reed went on to score two goals — first with 13:24 left in the first half and with 33:12 remaining in the second to give her team a 4-0 advantage.
While they lost 4-0 and ended their season, the Lady Rams looked fondly back on their year.
“We just have a bond,” senior midfielder Nicole Denger said of her team. “When you come to one practice, you can see that we all get along, we all try to have fun and focus when we need to be — we always are — and have some fun. That’s what made this season so enjoyable.”
Denger entered the program three years prior with the team going 7-9-2 in 2019, 12-5 in 2020 and 6-10-1 in 2021. While her team saw its ups during the 2020 season, the years on the outside didn’t have the same stability. Even when the team had a strong season in 2020, Penns Valley didn’t make it to states. Through it all, Denger and her eight fellow seniors on the team expected greater.
Sean Herrmann, 39, became the girls varsity soccer coach just weeks prior to the 2022 season. He previously served as the boys junior high school coach at Penns Valley for three years. Herrmann made a full commitment to coaching and has enjoyed the opportunity that he’s received.
“I really love it and I really enjoy it,” Hermmann said of coaching. “The girls program has welcomed me in and I’m really thankful for that. It’s really tough to get a coach just two weeks before the season starts.”
The team grinded its way through preseason and began the year 7-0. With Penns Valley’s hot start, Hermmann understood that his team was special and they could accomplish more.
One of his greatest successes was to move Ellie Romig to center back after playing as a forward for the majority of her soccer career. The first-year player immediately took over the starting role and has excelled ever since.
Her older brother, Jackson, is Penns Valley football’s quarterback. He too was once a young starter and took over the position as a sophomore. He gave her a bit of advice to be successful before she joined the team.
“He said, ‘You can’t let it get to your head as a freshman, even though you’re starting,’” Ellie Romig recalled. “Because yeah you’re starting and you think you’re going to do well, but if you let that get to you, you’re not going to play well. So, you have to keep it in your mind that you’re not going to be starting every single game and you’ve got to work hard. You just need to put everything into every single game and practice.”
Penns Valley ended up making it to the District 6 Class 1A playoffs as the No. 4 seed — defeating No. 1 seed Bald Eagle 2-1 in the semifinals. The Lady Rams went on to defeat Bishop Guilfoyle 2-1 on Nov. 11. It was a culmination of the hard work of everyone from the seasoned seniors, to the youthful first-year players.
There are approximately 10,000 people that live in Penns Valley. As a team representing the small, but tight-knit community, the Lady Rams had a number of family members, teachers and classmates travel 45 miles away to Philipsburg-Osceola to watch them play in temperatures under 40 degrees.
That’s what Denger knows and loves about Penns Valley.
“Penns Valley is just a great community,” Denger said. “Honestly, we’re sisters and we’ll forever be sisters. Whenever we need each other, we’ll always have each other’s backs wherever we go. It’s a tight bond. I can’t really explain it other than a Penns Valley bond.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 10:32 PM.
