HERSHEY, Pa. — Zach LaValle could see Neshaminy getting tired as the PIAA Class 4A boys soccer final moved into a second overtime period.
And he was more than ready to take advantage.
“We’re pretty deep in our bench and we had solid forwards all around,” LaValle said. “One of our juniors [Luke Simpson] in there played a great ball in and, I saw it coming in, had a great opportunity and I put it in the net.”
And when he did, Seneca Valley won its first state title.
LaValle, who also set up the team’s first goal, notched one of his own 36 seconds into double overtime to give Seneca Valley (17-1-1) a 2-1 victory over the District 1 titlists at Hersheypark Stadium and the first state championship in the school’s history.
“It’s the biggest game that this team could possibly play and they won in overtime against a really strong team that’s beaten a lot of really good teams,” Seneca Valley coach George Williams said. “It’s just sinking in, but what a great accomplishment for that group of young men.”
Seneca Valley has made a habit of winning one-goal playoff games. The Raiders finished 4-0 in one-goal decisions in the postseason including their overtime victory against Peters Township in the WPIAL final and a 1-0 regulation win against Cumberland Valley in the PIAA semifinals.
“I think, clearly, we had some nerves starting out and we made a couple mistakes that led to their goal, which was an intervening deflection,” Williams said. “Our guys settled themselves, they collected their nerves and we could feel the game pushing and turning in our favor.”
It took a while, but Seneca Valley finally got the equalizer early in the second half. LaValle laid out a perfect pass for Nathan Eastgate, who one-timed it past Neshaminy netminder Logan Gildea at 49:29 to knot it at 1-1 and eventually send it to overtime, when the senior midfielder won it for the Raiders.
“It’s a pretty unbelievable feeling,” LaValle said. “It’s hard to believe, but we did it and I owe it all to them because we did it as a team and we win as a team.”
Class 2A
There were a lot of reasons why Deer Lakes should have been wary when taking on District 4 champion Lewisburg.
Not only do the Green Dragons have a Penn State recruit up front in midfielder Ben Liscum, the defense headed up by goalkeeper Anthony Burns had not allowed a goal in its three previous state playoffs matches this season.
Make that four.
Junior forward Phillip Permyashkin got things going for Lewisburg with a goal just 12:47 into the match and senior Jack Dieffenderfer scored two goals 3:33 apart late in the first half to help Lewisburg (22-0-0) finish a perfect season and win its fourth PIAA title with a 6-0 romp over Deer Lakes (17-1-0). The Green Dragons have never lost a state final while the Lancers now have fallen twice in the past three seasons.
“We showed them too much respect and gave them too much space,” Deer Lakes coach Dan Yates said. “We were worried about Lewisburg before we even came to the final about Lewisburg and it’s not what we need to do and that’s a mentality thing that needs to be changed within the program.”
Deer Lakes could not sustain any offensive thrust in the first half — in fact, the team only made it across midfield a handful of times — as Lewisburg spent most of that time in the attacking zone and, inevitably, took a 3-0 lead into the intermission.
It’s not a surprise. Lewisburg allowed only six goals all season and never gave up more than one in a match. The Green Dragons finished with 16 shutouts this season.
“They’ve got three good players and we didn’t trouble them in the first half,” Yates said. “In the second half, we actually got in their faces and tried to give them a performance and that’s why it was six and …even 6-0 down, you’ve got to try to win the game.”
First Published: November 22, 2020, 4:26 a.m.
