HERSHEY, Pa. — All season, District 1 champion Central Bucks East has been touted as Pennsylvania’s best boys soccer team.
But if Central Bucks East is the state’s best, underscored by the fact it defeated Seneca Valley, 2-0, Saturday night in the PIAA Class AAA boys soccer championship, what does that say about the Raiders?
A lot of good.
Seneca Valley is hardly a mutt, as evidenced by its 18-3-1 record and PIAA runner-up trophy. But the Raiders’ state reputation was 60-watt compared to Central Buck East’s klieg light, what with Seneca Valley’s third-place finish in the WPIAL tournament and survival against Springfield-Delco in the PIAA semifinals.
No one argued the Raiders’ underdog status.
The Patriots (26-0) certainly played their part in the narrative, scoring just 12:13 into the game on Brian Gilligan’s goal and adding a second one later in the first when all-stater Evan Vare deposited another goal with 8:37.
The script was totally in play, only Seneca Valley had other ideas.
The Raiders stormed back mentally and physically with an impressive second half, pressuring Central Bucks East throughout the final 40 minutes. And if the regulation tie or win never materialized, the respect from all corners sure did.
“We did a great job of staying strong in the second half because that team just kept coming after us,” said Central Bucks East keeper Austin Prime, who made a prime save late in the game to preserve the shutout.
“These guys are competitors, right to the very end,” Seneca Valley coach George Williams said of his players. “We were pushing right to the finish. Even late when it didn’t look like we could get two goals, we still wanted one.”
It appeared as if the Raiders would at least knock the zero off of the scoreboard with about 1:40 left when senior co-captain Matthew Saluga fired a point-blank shot at the goal, one Prime was able to knock down while falling to the turf.
Gage Bitzer collected the rebound to Prime’s right and appeared to have a wide-open shot, but Prime incredibly lifted his right foot directly into the path of Bitzer’s shot and knocked it away. It will go down as one of the great save-rebound-save sequences in PIAA championship history.
“When something like that happens, you know it’s not your night,” Williams said.
In the end, Seneca Valley had a strange blend of emotions: Pride in its refusal to cave in to a great team; disappointment in a runner-up frustration, and frustration in playing Central Bucks East straight-up in the second half but coming away with nothing.
“Frustration is a good word,” Williams said. “We were playing our best, and we couldn’t get the ball in the net.”
Seneca Valley goalie Luke Pecora had a bright view.
“I’m not frustrated at all,” said Pecora, who got caught in no-man’s land on the Patriots’ first goal when Lutz and Gilligan banged around headers in front of the net. “That’s one of the best teams in the nation, and we played a great game against them. Our defense is one of the best in our district, and they showed how good they were by being able to get inside.”
First Published: November 22, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
