Learning experience
CLARION — For 10 minutes, Karns City was playing right with the defending Class A state champions.
Then Seton-LaSalle adjusted, but the Gremlins couldn't.
David Del Greco scored four goals in the first half as the Rebels ended Karns City's 16-game winning streak and its season with a 5-0 victory in the first round of the PIAA Class A boys soccer playoffs Tuesday night at Clarion University's Memorial Stadium.
"We were taught a lesson by the state champions tonight,"Karns City coach Roy Parker said.
But school didn't open until Seton-LaSalle (19-1-3) adjusted to Parker's offside trap.
"Seton-LaSalle has fast forwards and we set up our defense to stay in front of them,"Parker said. "That strategy worked for the first 10 minutes and I was happy with how evenly we were playing with them.
"I knew the caliber of this team we were playing."
Karns City had the first shot on net on a 43-yard free kick by Aaron McGarvey that Rebels goalkeeper A.J. Smigielski stopped easily.
<table width="300" height="275" border="0" align="right" valign="top" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><embed src="/assets/mov/BE32086117.MOV" width="320" height="250" autostart="true" loop="false" ></embed></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/" target="_blank"><span class="style11">Requires Quicktime Media Player </a><br><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Times New Roman">Video by Brandon Gerthoffer</font></span><td></tr></table>The Rebels began sending their midfielders on the attack instead of their forwards, a tactic that gave them quality shots on goal.In the span of two minutes, KCgoalkeeper Josh Grenninger stopped Del Greco from point-blank range, handled 27-goal scorer Anthony Virgara's bullet from the right side of the net and smothered Alex Fischetti's shot from right in front."Josh played an outstanding game,"Parker said. "The final score could have been 10-0."Once they adjusted and sent their midfielders in, our guys were having trouble. We were stopping their forwards still, but their forwards weren't the ones attacking anymore."By the time Parker was able to sit down with his team and adjust at halftime, the Rebels had a 4-0 lead, courtesy of Del Greco, who has 26 goals this season.The junior stopper-midfielder settled down a bouncing ball and drilled it past Grenninger to break the scoreless tie with 18:21 left in the first half.He deked the Gremlins goalkeeper and rolled a shot into the net with 11:53 left. With 6:41 on the clock, Del Greco took a pass from James Del Greco and slipped it past Grenninger.His fourth goal occurred less than two minutes later, when he headed a pass into the net."David and Alex Fischetti have started every game here since their freshman seasons,"Seton-LaSalle coach Aaron Panczyk said. "They are true leaders and they carried the play tonight."David plays a lot of stopper for us, but knows how to jump into the attack when the opportunity is there. That's what he did tonight."Seton-LaSalle lost seven players from its state championship team."But the core is back. I'm hoping we can make another run,"Panczyk said.The Gremlins entered the game coming off a District 9 title run that included shutouts in their last six games. KChad allowed only two goals in its previous 11 games.But Seton-LaSalle outshot Karns City 19-6 and had five corner kicks to the Gremlins' three.All three of KC's corner kicks occurred within a 30-second span in the second half.Virgara scored the Rebels' final goal with 19:02 left in the game. Seton-LaSalle hit the crossbar and goalpost with two other shots during the second half.Karns City's best scoring opportunity came with 1:20 remaining when a penalty kick from 20 yards out deflected off the goalkeeper, then the crossbar. Nick Lopresti rolled a shot just wide left of the net with 31:52 left in the game.The game marked the final high school soccer contest for Karns City seniors Charlie Beck, Jonathan Burns, Corey Terwilliger, Chris Harmon and Cody Zabicki.
