By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
All good things come to an end. For the Bradford girls’ soccer team, that good thing was their near-decade long dominance over District 9. While that loss certainly comes with a sting, the Lady Owls can still look back at the 2024 season with pride.
In Pennsylvania’s District 9 Class 3A bracket, there has been just one name synonymous with elite level soccer: Bradford. Over the past decade, the Lady Owls have been dedicated to winning, growing a program that pumps out collegiate level athletes as well as numerous championships – the past six, to be exact. However, this season, the streak ended. After taking home the title in six consecutive postseasons, Bradford finally came up empty.
The Lady Owls came into the regular season as powerful as ever. Despite losing a large core, including star player in Kelsea Austin, Bradford turned towards their former star’s counterpart to carry the load. Taking the torch, Bella Prince led by example, amassing 37 goals and 33 assists while Bradford posted a 14-4 record that secured yet another No. 1 seed ranking in the Class 3A bracket.
“It was a lot better than what we originally anticipated, especially with the core of girls that we lost. We had a lot of newer faces in the lineup, a couple freshmen that got a lot of starting time that really had to step into the job,” said Bradford head coach Jim Warnick. “We were pleased and it was a little unexpected how well we did.”
Entering the playoffs, the Lady Owls started their finals run with a win over Clearfield, shutting out the Lady Bison behind two goals from sophomore standout Alyssa Mangold. Moving to the championship match, Bradford met their rival DuBois once again, over whom they’ve won each of their previous six titles. Although the Lady Owls had proved to be the superior team in years past, the Lady Beavers had swept Bradford in their two regular season matchups, winning 4-2 and 2-1. DuBois would keep their unblemished record against the Lady Owls untainted, sneaking out a 2-1 win for a long-awaited D9 title and state tournament berth.
“That was a game that the girls wanted. The big game players, Bella, Alyssa, (Maddy) Stark, they really stepped up and got us on the board first,” said Warnick. “ We had some missed opportunities, but DuBois was tough and we knew that. They’re going to be the team to beat the next few years.
“All streaks have to come to an end sooner or later. I’m not disappointed, I know that with the team we had the girls put forth a hell of an effort and we just came up short,” said Warnick. “Looking back on it, we had our opportunities and we just didn’t capitalize on it.”
Despite leaving the pitch without a championship for the first time in her career, Prince can look back on her gleaming resume satisfied. In her fourth year with the Lady Owls, Prince became the fourth 100-goal scorer in Bradford program history, ending with 137 which stands as the third highest. She also ends her career with 124 assists, the most ever in Lady Owls history, making her only the second player to post 100-plus goals and assists. Along with Prince, fellow senior Grace Close will be leaving the program after four years in black and red.
“As far as Bella goes, she’s one I would consider the big game player. It didn’t matter if it was against McDowell, DuBois or even Oil City, she always put forth 110 percent and gave us everything. Maybe she wasn’t the loudest voice but she led with her actions and she’s going to be a tough one to replace,” said Warnick. “Grace started out as a freshman with very few minutes of playing time and just worked. She always laughed, we always got a good time out of her. We only had two seniors but they were very memorable and we’ll miss them both.”
Losing only two players this offseason, Warnick and the Lady Owls will return a hefty core and while they will be losing the stat-sheet-stuffing talents of Prince, they have another up-and-comer in Mangold. In her second season, she led the team in goals with 48, also recording 14 assists. Alongside Mangold will return Kierstin Taylor, Rylie Corbitt and Liv Niermann, who combined for 20 goals and 29 assists this past season.
“Mangold can definitely be in that talk with (Prince and Austin.) It’s just going to be her really taking that mentality of a team leader and grasping it,” said Warnick. “With all the girls coming back, I’d like to think that we could be as competitive as we were this year. Losing Bella is going to be tough so I guess it’ll really come down to who wants to take the torch next year.”
