St. Hubert’s Luca D’Andrea hoping third time is a charm against Wood

After losing two straight years in the semifinals to Archbishop Wood, St. Hubert made it back to the Philadelphia Catholic League final for the first time since 2002 by avoiding Wood in the semis this year but the Bambies will need to reverse their fortunes to upend a team looking for their fifth straight PCL title.

Helping to lead that effort from the back is senior Luca D’Andrea, who helped will the Bambies to a hard fought 1-0 win over Carroll on Tuesday night at Gwynned Mercy.

D’Andrea’s defensive effort, which included her defending in areas not typically the domain of center backs, will need to be ramped up another notch against the dynamic Wood attack, which outscored PCL opponents 39-1 en route to an unblemished regular season title.

That one goal, by the way, was against St. Hubert in a game Wood won 2-1 in overtime.

“It feels amazing,” D’Andrea said post-game on Tuesday night. “We’ve been waiting for this the whole entire season. Every single girl worked their butts off, the whole entire game. You could tell that everyone really wanted it.”

The Bambies lone goal came in the first half when Bridie Musial followed up on a Finley Miller shot spilled by the Carroll keeper at the far post.

“Carroll is a really good team so it was a great, heartfelt win,” D’Andrea said. “Bridie Musial came into the game, and you could tell she really wanted it, and she got the ball, put it right in the back of the net.”

Carroll’s bid for an equalizer was cut down by some big interventions both from goalkeeper Quin Miller and the back line led by D’Andrea and classmate Grace Smith.

“I think the energy this year has been really high for everyone,” D’Andrea said. “Last year we had a lot of ups and downs. I feel like this year we stayed very consistent in our games.”

St. Hubert last made the PCL final before anyone on the team was born but the program has a rich history of not only making the final stage but winning trophies as they did in 2002, beating Little Flower 1-0 for their second title in three years.

First-year head coach Shawn Wimsey, who will be rooting for his alma mater Father Judge in the boys final Saturday, said the program has been building to this stage but just needed the kind of performance they put in Tuesday night to get over the hump.

“It was a great run by Bridie to follow up a shot,” Wimsey said post-game, crediting previous head coach Jeanette Graziosi-Hibbs for setting up the program for success. “And our back four has been solid all season. We rely on our back and our goalie.”

The Bambies will need a similar performance against Wood to snap their string of dominance, which has included back-to-back 4-0 semifinal wins over St. Hubert en route to their two most recent PCL titles and a 26-game unbeaten streak against PCL opponents dating back to 2023.

Saturday’s final is slated for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff at Saint Joseph’s University.