Raiders, Knights advance
JACKSON TWP — It was win or go home at NexTier Stadium on Saturday afternoon in a WPIAL soccer postseason doubleheader.
The Seneca Valley girls and Knoch boys earned the right to play again.
Knoch edged Beaver 1-0 in a WPIAL Class AA preliminary matchup, before the Raiders ousted Plum with a 3-0 victory in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs.
“It's always good to move on,” said Seneca Valley coach Dave Sylvester. “It's always good to keep your uniform for another week.”
Alex Bilka scored two goals and assisted Rachel Leake on another to lead the Raiders to their 17th consecutive win.
Seneca Valley (17-1) seized a quick 1-0 lead when Bilka found the back of the net at the 32:51 mark of the first half. Kayli Kumanchik tried to fire a shot, but the ball squirted to Bilka, who put it in the bottom-right corner of the goal.
Eight minutes later, the Raiders struck again. Bilka slipped a pass back to Leake and the senior buried a shot into the net for a 2-0 cushion.
Bilka added her second goal unassisted on blistering 32-yard blast with 26:57 remaining in the contest.
Seneca Valley played without standout senior forward and Kent State recruit Morgan Williams, who is sidelined with injury. Bilka helped fill the void.
“With the loss of Morgan, we told (Bilka) that she really needed to pick it up and she's done that for us the last couple of weeks,” said Sylvester. “I didn't expect anything less out of her.”
The Raiders outshot Plum by a 13-1 margin. Jess Neill made the lone save to preserve the shutout.
“In spurts, we were pretty good, then I thought we got sloppy,” said Sylvester. “We picked it back up in the second half.
“You have to try to stay sharp all the time moving forward. You don't want to have any letdown,” he added. “The girls, all in all, played well.”
The Lady Mustangs finished the year at 9-7-2, but will bring a bright outlook into next season.
“We're a young team. We start seven freshmen and sophomores,” said Plum coach Michael Proviano. “We'll be back. That was our first trip to the playoffs in 10 years.
“We're playing a good program,” he added. “We knew what we had in store for us.”
Seneca Valley, the Section 2-AAA champs, will square off with Upper St. Clair (11-5-2) in the WPIAL quarterfinals on Wednesday at a time and place to be determined.Knoch 1, Beaver 0 — The Knights couldn't muster a shot against the Bobcat defense during the first half of play.In the second half, Brandon Vargo fired the only one that mattered.Alex Slomers fed Vargo in front of the net and the junior beat the keeper with a shot to the botom-left corner of the goal to break a scoreless tie with 11:49 remaining in the game.“We just mentally weren't here (early in the contest). We sorted it out at halftime,” said Knoch coach Malcolm Cook. “We played better in the second half, scored the goal, and kept it.”Cook tweaked the lineup at halftime after the Knights initially struggled, moving Slomers from defense to midfield and shifting Vargo from the outside to the middle of the field.“We made about three adjustments at halftime. … It feels more like a game of chess right now, moving things around to see where they're vulnerable and where we're vulnerable,” said Cook. “Luckily, so far, we've come out on top.”Slomers and Vargo eventually combined to push Knoch (9-8-1) into the Class AA first round against top-seeded South Park (18-0) today at Bethel Park. Opening kickoff is at 6 p.m.The Bobcats (7-9-1) outshot Knoch 3-0 in the first half, but the Knights weathered the storm and had a 4-1 advantage in shots on goal in the second half. Knoch goalie Andy Fritz made four saves to keep Beaver off the board.“We had a couple of chances and didn't capitalize on it and that was disappointing,” said Beaver coach Scott Hazuda. “But I still felt at halftime that we were eventually going to break through, but it never came.“I give Knoch credit, they played a good game and were able to capitalize on one of the few opportunities that they had and we just weren't able to do the same,” he added. “The boys played their hearts out, but eventually you have to put one in the net in order to win.”
