Built for low-scoring games, Lower Merion advances to district quarters with 1-0 win

When the name of the game is surviving and advancing in the playoffs, it helps to have a goalkeeper like Cate Cantu and a goal-scorer like Dylan Steinberg guiding the way.

Add in another senior – center back Kendall Baker – and a strong supporting cast around them and you have the recipe for a Lower Merion team that has shown through two rounds of the PIAA District 1 playoffs just how tough an out they will be this postseason.

After a 2-0 win to open the playoffs against Great Valley on Tuesday, the Aces got a first half goal from Steinberg off a rebound from a long free kick and a clean sheet from Cantu to beat Perkiomen Valley 1-0 and advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal at Spring-Ford.

“We have one of the best goalkeepers in the state in Cate Cantu and we’ve let up (six) goals in 19 games so if you’re going to score against us it’s going to have to be special,” head coach Kevin Ries said. “We score first like we did today and you have to score twice to beat us, which is awfully hard to do against a goalkeeper of her caliber.”

You have to go back to Sept. 18 in a 2-1 overtime loss to Radnor for the last time the Aces have conceded, a stretch of 640 minutes. Ries noted senior center back Kendall Baker’s “MVP caliber” performance in the 1-0 win, which was their 7th 1-0 win of the season.

“Kendall Baker was phenomenal for us today,” Ries said. “She stopped a lot of what they were trying to do and was in the right place at the right time a lot.”

With an attack led by junior Brianna Young and senior Giavanna Marciano, Perk Valley sent waves of attacks at the Lower Merion back line but every time it looked like they might be poised to find a breakthrough, Cantu or one of the defenders was there to deny the Vikings on the doorstep.

“I’m just really proud of my team and how we were able to play a full 80 minutes and play with each other and trust each other,” said Cantu, who is committed to play soccer at the University of Louisville next fall. “Perk Valley’s an amazing team and has a really good offense so I’m just really proud of the entire back line and the entire team.”

The lone goal came when Nieve Clifford’s long free kick fell to Steinberg after a bobble by the Perk Valley keeper and the senior slid in quickly to put it in the back of the net.

“We fought to get another goal but a one nothing win is all it was,” said Steinberg, a Cornell commit. “Tight games like these playoff games, that’s all you need.”

After two straight double headers at Arnold Field with the boys team also hosting – they beat Pennsbury 3-0 Tuesday and Norristown 2-0 on Thursday – Lower Merion will travel to Spring-Ford with a chance to book a spot in the district semis and earn a berth to the state tournament. The game kicks off at 1 p.m.