There was a sense of calm on the Quaker Valley sideline when the team went to overtime against Ambridge in the WPIAL Class 2A semifinals.
It’s because, in the minds of the Quakers players, like striker Rowan Kriebel, they had already won that match countless times.
“All through the offseason, every day, a couple of us would go out to the field and shoot,” Kriebel said. “We wanted to make sure that, in this moment, we were going to win.”
Visualizing victories helped make that one a reality as Kriebel scored the game-winner for No. 2 seed Quaker Valley (18-2-0) less than three minutes into the first overtime to give the team a 3-2 victory and a trip to the finals at 6 p.m. Thursday at Highmark Stadium.
Making it back to the finals has been a goal for the Quakers ever since they were told the day the 2020 brackets were released that they would be unable to compete because of COVID-19 issues on the team. Finding out they were unable to defend their 2019 title was a hard pill to swallow.
“It’s not that they have anything to prove, because we weren’t given an opportunity last year for circumstantial reasons,” Quaker Valley coach J.J. Veshio said. “We’re looking to capitalize on what we have now with this team and we’re glad we’re back.”
Quaker Valley played one Section 4 match to get to the finals. Now it will have to play another to win its second title in three years.
North Catholic (12-7-0), which came into the tournament as the No. 9 seed, upset No. 1 South Park and No. 4 Charleroi to reach the finals.
And, like Ambridge, Quaker Valley was 2-0-0 against the Trojans in the regular season and did not allow a goal in those two meetings.
“With North Catholic, they had two terrific first games, so we think it will be the same thing,” Veshio said. “We fully anticipate it’s going to be more difficult than [Ambridge] and we have to prepare for that.”
Class 4A
No. 2 seed Peters Township and No. 1 Seneca Valley have been on a collision course to meet at 5:45 p.m. Saturday ever since last year when the Raiders came back from two goals down at halftime to win the 2020 WPIAL Class 4A title, 4-3, in double overtime.
Seneca Valley went on to win the state title while the Indians, thanks to last year’s PIAA COVID-19 restrictions, went home. In 2020, only district champions moved on into the state tournament.
And they both do it at both ends of the pitch.
Seneca Valley (17-0-1) has only allowed six goals all season and the only team to put up more than one in a game was Fox Chapel in a 2-2 tie. It also helps that the team has some outstanding offensive pop with 30-goal scorer senior Nathan Prex and junior striker Beaux Lizewski, who had the hat trick, including the overtime game-winner, in the WPIAL championship last year.
Seneca Valley has not allowed a goal in the playoffs and won both its matches, 1-0.
Peters Township (16-1-1) has given up a few more goals, but it also has its fair share of finishers. Seniors Anthony Massucci, Alexander Grim and Austin Marmol as well as junior Connor Hoye all have touch around the net and will create problems for the Raiders.
Class 3A
Neither West Allegheny nor Hampton had an easy path to get into the finals.
For the Indians, they needed a Johnny Dragisich penalty kick late in the second half to slide by Plum, while the Talbots needed a PK from Zach Panza to eke out a 1-0 victory against Franklin Regional.
But, at the end of the day, the seedings held and No. 1 West Allegheny (21-0-0) will take its undefeated record into Highmark Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Saturday against No. 2 Hampton (18-1-0).
West Allegheny may not have won a WPIAL title for nearly a decade — not since 2013 when it took Class 2A when there were only three classifications — but the Indians have a state title to their credit in the interim after they handed Strath Haven a 4-0 loss in 2018.
This will be the fifth time West Allegheny will play in the championship match since winning the 2013 title. The Indians lost to South Park in 2014, Montour in 2017 and to Franklin Regional in both 2018 and 2019.
And West Allegheny is ready.
Dragisich has 24 goals this season to lead five Indians in double figures.
After winning the 2011 championship, Hampton failed to make the playoffs again until 2016 and this will mark the first time the Talbots have made it back to the finals in a decade.
Class 1A
Lance Nicholls is going to have himself a very busy weekend.
Again.
Nicholls, the senior striker for No. 2 seed Winchester Thurston (18-0-1), is also the top runner for the Bears cross country squad. The Bears will play in the WPIAL Class 1A soccer finals at 8 p.m. Friday then, immediately afterward, he will head to Hershey for an 11:45 a.m. gun in the PIAA Class 1A cross country finals.
“After the game I’ll probably drive about halfway, stay in Bedford and then drive up to Hershey the next morning,” Nicholls said. “It’s kind of similar to what I did last year, but they were on the same day, so I’ll feel a little better.”
Considering how the semifinals went, Nicholls may want to exchange his cross country shoes for track spikes.
No. 1 seed Greensburg Central Catholic (15-3-0), the two-time defending champion which defeated Winchester Thurston in the finals each of the past two years, will be on the other side of the pitch. The Centurions have shown they can play in tight matches, or a breakaway filled run-and-gun tilt like they did in a 6-5 overtime win against Eden Christian in the semifinals.
Greensburg Central Catholic is loaded with players who can score from anywhere. Junior Carlo Denis had a semifinal hat trick, Ryan Reitler scored on a penalty kick against Eden Christian and freshman Jackson Vicanti scored the game-winner with 5:17 left in overtime in that match.
Greensburg Central Catholic trailed, 5-3, at the intermission.
Nicholls has been one of the Bears top performers all year, but the Centurions can’t shadow him all over the field because junior midfielder Alex Hauskrecht will eat them alive. Both Nicholls and Hauskrecht scored in the 4-0 semifinal win against Riverside.
Prior to this season, Winchester Thurston and Greensburg Central Catholic were in the same section. In a rare move, the WPIAL moved the Bears into Section 3 in the second year of the biennial realignment.
First Published: November 3, 2021, 7:30 p.m.
