Comets rout North Pocono to win D2-3A title

Home High School High School Soccer Comets rout North Pocono to win D2-3A title Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin ReddIt Email Print By Kevin Carroll [email protected] The Crestwood girls soccer team captured the District 2 Class 3A championship with a 5-0 win over North Pocono on Saturday night. Kevin Carroll | Times Leader 🔊 Listen to this WRIGHT TWP. — There’s been an awful lot of silver in Crestwood’s recent past: each of the last three years, the Comets have reached the district championship game, only to settle for second place. It was clear from the whistle on Saturday night: there would be no settling for silver this year. Crestwood came out firing, scoring a goal in the first minute of the game, and never looked back on the way to a 5-0 victory over North Pocono to win the District 2 Class 3A girls soccer championship. Sophia Kwarcinski scored two goals for the Comets, who led 4-0 at the half. Gia Caporuscio, Katherine Brozowski and Leah Brady added a goal each for Crestwood in the team’s breakthrough victory. It was North Pocono’s first time reaching a district title game in girls soccer, and the Trojans put forth a game effort to try and keep things close. But Crestwood wasn’t to be denied in this one: Caporuscio set Kwarcinski up with a perfect pass across the face of the goal, Kwarcinski buried it and the Comets were off to the races. “It feels like I just took a breath of fresh air,” Crestwood head coach Mariana Durange said after the win. “I know the group we have, they deserve this … they just proved to themselves that they could do it.” The Comets may have taken some pointers from their classmates on the school field hockey team from their district title win from Tuesday: Crestwood dominated the possession game and took shots from just about every conceivable angle, keeping the North Pocono defense reeling all night. After Caporuscio set up Brozowski for Crestwood’s first goal, it was the senior’s turn to dial one up herself. Caporuscio took a long shot from outside the box that found just enough space underneath the crossbar to slip into the back of the net, doubling Crestwood’s lead to 2-0. Late in the opening half, it was Kwarcinski’s turn: she scored her first goal with five minutes remaining, then tacked on another with 43 seconds remaining to send the Comets to halftime with a 4-0 lead. North Pocono just couldn’t get anything rolling the other way, with very little in the way of sustained offense as Crestwood’s back line sat right around midfield and denied any attempts to pass through or to find space. It wasn’t much different in the second half, though the Trojans did manage to get a few shot attempts on goal. One on a direct kick sailed just side of the net, while Crestwood goalie Nyla Knorr managed to snare another shot without much trouble. Brady drilled one from outside the box for Crestwood’s final goal with 19:53 left to play, and from there on it was just a matter of running out the clock. “We went from the start, from the jump, right to the last second, that was the goal,” Durange said. “They’re (North Pocono) a tough team, they proved in their last game that you can’t let up so I didn’t want to take any chances.” Crestwood will now take the next step into the PIAA Class 3A tournament, with a first-round game scheduled to be played at Crestwood on Tuesday. The Comets will take on Selinsgrove, the champion out of District 4. District 2 Class 3A Championship Crestwood 5, North Pocono 0 North Pocono`0`0 — 0 Crestwood`4`1 — 5 First Half — 1. CRE, Katherine Brozowski (Gia Caporuscio) 39:03; 2. CRE, Caporuscio 25:55; 3. CRE, Sophia Kwarcinski 5:00; 4. CRE, Kwarcinski 0:43. Second — 1. CRE, Leah Brady 19:53. Shots — NP 2, CRE 20. Saves — NP 12 (Anna Havenstrite), CRE 1 (Nyla Knorr). Corners — NP 2, CRE 4. Local journalism matters, and your support makes it possible. You can help sustain this work by making a donation or choosing one of our subscription options. Subscribers enjoy valuable benefits, including full access to our e-edition, a reduced ad experience on timesleader.com, and more. Your support helps ensure independent, high-quality local news remains available today and for future generations. Thank you for standing with local journalism. Click for subscription offers.