Keller Chamovitz was feeling pretty good about how the WPIAL Class 2A boys soccer championship would break for him.
“Last night going to sleep and this morning in the shower, I was thinking about getting four goals, three goals,” Chamovitz said. “For it actually to happen, it hasn’t registered.”
He may not have wrapped his head around it, but all the senior striker had to do was take a look at the Highmark Stadium scoreboard.
Chamovitz netted four goals, two in each half, and the Quaker Valley defense stifled North Catholic at every turn in a 5-0 romp Thursday. The Quakers (19-0-2) won their second WPIAL title in three years.
“I’ve been here as a player, I’ve been here as an assistant coach, it never gets old,” Quaker Valley coach J.J. Veshio said. “I’m just so happy for these guys after what happened last year. … And this is the result of two years of hard work after our season ended last year.”
Quaker Valley had to forgo the WPIAL playoffs in 2020 because of COVID-19 protocols. The Quakers were the defending WPIAL and PIAA champions heading into last season and their postseason exclusion has been a rallying cry this year.
“We all feel like we were robbed last year and we should have had it last year,” Chamovitz said. “The virus took it away from us instead of another team.”
Chamovitz may have taken care of the offense, but Quaker Valley’s defensive effort was unparalleled. Goalkeeper Zach Buhr never faced a shot on goal as Quaker Valley limited North Catholic (12-8-0) to long-range and bad-angle attempts.
“They did a great job of preventing any through-balls or anything in,” Veshio said. “It was just a credit to our defense and it was the best game they played all year.”
It may not have looked like it, but North Catholic junior goalkeeper Devin Paschall played a solid match. He faced 17 shots on goal and made 12 saves overall. He was stellar in the first half and had Quaker Valley on its heels until Chamovitz scored his first goal at 23:22.
“We couldn’t score at first and we were all over them and in their half the whole game,” Chamovitz said. “As soon as we got one, we knew this was our game.”
Class 4A girls
Seneca Valley had an uphill climb when Elizabeth Hoff scored just 4:21 into the match.
After all, Moon (16-1-1) had only surrendered four goals all season and had not given one up in its previous two postseason matches.
When the Raiders (16-4-2) went down by two, it was over.
After taking the early lead on Hoff’s goal, the Tigers poured it on and rolled to their first WPIAL Class 4A title. defeating Seneca Valley, 4-0. Moon won its previous championship in 2017 when it played in Class 3A.
“We saw some things we wanted to take advantage of and we didn’t want to give up the back,” Moon coach Bill Pfeifer said. “We had a good goal. We’ve been waiting for a goal from Lizzie the last couple of games and it was good for her to get on the board.”
Moon opened with the territorial advantage and capitalized when Hoff scored on a turnaround shot in the box. The Tigers expanded their advantage to 2-0 with 17:14 remaining in the first half when the ball deflected off a Raiders defender in front and past goalkeeper Virginia Fronk.
If there was any doubt about the outcome, freshman Lauren Muhanna took care of it at 32:54. Her shot from the top of the box rang off the post and into the net, giving Moon a 3-0 advantage heading into the intermission.
First Published: November 5, 2021, 3:47 a.m.
