Raiding the WPIAL finals
ADAMS TWP — In the last calendar year, the Seneca Valley boys soccer program has taken a liking to making history.
The 2015 squad made the state playoffs for the first time in program history and went on to play in the PIAA title game.
Saturday afternoon, the Raiders earned their first-ever berth into the WPIAL championship game.
Matt Happ's goal off an assist from Louis Newell in the 68th minute was the only score in a 1-0 victory against Upper St. Clair in a Class 4A district semifinal at the Mars Athletic Complex.
“After last year, people were thinking, 'How can we ever do better than that,'” said Raider coach George Williams. “Well, this is how.”
The Raiders had managed several scoring chances prior to their goal, most of them generated by Happ, a senior forward.
His tally was set up by a perfectly-timed centering pass by Newell on the left side of Upper St. Clair's net. Panther goalkeeper Mac Dominick slid to his right because of the threat of Newell's advance. When Happ received the pass, he had created just enough separation from a USC defender to get off a clean shot.
“The angle was too far for me to take a shot,” said Newell, “but I saw Matt coming in the middle and made the pass.”
Dominick played an otherwise solid game with five saves.
After taking the lead, Seneca Valley turned to its defense to preserve the win. The unit, which has allowed just three goals all season against keeper Dylan Good, closed out the victory.
There was a tense period of 40 seconds when the Panthers had two solid opportunities. In the 72nd minute, Tommy Davidson had possession to the left of Good and charged the net. Good came off his line to challenge and deflected the ball out of bounds, leading to a corner kick for the Panthers, their only one of the game.
The result was a header by Ryan Mertz, but it was directed right at Good, who easily made the save.USC (12-5-1) won a pair of 1-0 playoff games against Franklin Regional and Allderdice to reach the WPIAL's final four. But a goal was not to be against the undefeated Raiders (18-0-1).Mertz was a focal point of SV's defense.“He's a center-midfielder and distributes the ball really well,” Happ said. “Our guys did a nice job of shutting him down.”“Mertz can sting you, but their team is full of good players,” said Williams. “If you leave them open, then they'll have opportunities.”SV's defense did the job on nearly everything the Panthers threw at them as Good needed to make just three saves on the afternoon.“We played the ball well until we got to the 18 (yards from SV's net),” said USC coach Uwe Schneider. “We just weren't able to do enough after that. Seneca Valley is a good defensive team. You can't take anything away from them.”The Raiders will face Section 1 rival North Allegheny in the WPIAL title game at Highmark Stadium at a date and time to be determined.“We're not just playing well defensively, we're playing exceptionally well,” Williams said, “but we're also finding ways to score. That's a good combination.”
