Heads Up
JACKSON TWP — Nathan Eastgate has been no stranger to scoring goals for Seneca Valley's boys soccer team this season.
But the senior forward's latest one most certainly is his most important tally this fall.
The Raiders were mired in a scoreless tie with Butler in Saturday's WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal playoff.
In the 70th minute of play, SV's Kyle Majeski lined up to take a free kick from 45 yards out. His boot headed straight for the Golden Tornado's net. Eastgate jumped just inside the box and had the ball graze his head before it bounced past Butler goalkeeper Carson Stein, accounting for the only goal in the Raiders' 1-0 victory that sends them to the semifinal round.
“I could feel the ball go off my head,” said Eastgate. “I don't think it changed the direction of the ball, but it changed the pace of it.
“Scoring in the playoffs, it's a whole different feeling. It's incredible.”
The Raiders (12-1-1) will take on Norwin, a 4-1 victor against North Allegheny, in a semifinal at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Being section foes, Butler and SV know each other very well. They both defeated the other during the regular season, with the Tornado earning a 2-1 win in late September before the Raiders avenged the defeat by topping Butler, 2-0, in mid-October.
“The play in the first two games was very even,” said Raiders' coach George Williams, who earned his 300th varsity win with the program. “I believed this game would come down to breaks, specifically, which team got the biggest break. We got it.”
Butler, which had won three straight games entering Saturday, including last Tuesday's first-round victory at Canon-McMillan on penalty kicks, struggled to place heat on SV's net in the first half.
“It looked like we were playing not to lose and we needed to fight harder,” said Butler coach Troy Mohney. “We told our guys that we needed to play with the same confidence we had the last few games.
“We did try to get our midfielders involved more with the attack, but for the most part, it was a different mental approach in the second half.”
With that, the Tornado began to threaten to break the stalemate. In the 45th minute, Landon Mohney took a free kick from 28 yards, but Seneca Valley goalkeeper Adam Davies was there for the save.
Five minutes later, Mohney got around SV defender Sam DeFabbo and got off an uncontested shot from 12 yards to the left of the net, but Davies again kept the Tornado off the scoreboard.
Several other Butler rushes were thwarted before a shot was taken.
“Seneca Valley earned it today,” said Mohney. “Their midfielders put pressure on the ball and they were the better team all over the pitch.”
Both Davies and Stein stopped three shots in the game.
Butler finishes the season with an overall record of 11-6-1.
“If you're playing on Halloween, almost into November, that means you've done some good things during the season,” said Troy Mohney.
