Raiders robbed
ADAMS TWP — The Seneca Valley boys soccer team certainly had chances.
But with each shot that went just wide or high and with each shot that was corralled by North Allegheny keeper Grant Glorioso, the frustration and urgency grew.
Ultimately, the Raiders could not break through against the Tigers in the fourth meeting of the season between the two schools and a goal by Cam Yurick in the 26th minute was enough to sink Seneca Valley, 1-0, in the WPIAL quad-A quarterfinals Saturday at the Mars Athletic Complex.
“It is heartbreaking,” said Seneca Valley coach George Williams. “They finished their opportunity. They pushed hard and they looked very sharp in the first half. We were working hard and we were pushing back and I was really proud of our guys for not giving up.
“I watched our players do everything they possibly could to win the game,” Williams added, “but just fall short.”
Seneca Valley out-shot North Allegheny 16-6 and 11-4 on shots on goal.
But Glorioso made 11 saves — most of them difficult.
Matt Happ had several opportunities to score for the Raiders. He had a header just one minute into the match that Glorioso made an exceptional save on.
Later in the half, Happ had a breakaway opportunity, but Glorioso left the goal and came out to basically take the ball off Happ's foot near the 18.
“They hung in there tough,” said North Allegheny coach Bobby Vosmaer about his defense. “This is a very, very tough team to play for us. Emotionally. Physically — they're bigger guys. You see them coming off the bus — they're huge man. We don't have that. So, we're happy.”
Yurick's game-winner came off an assist by Alex Goto. Yurick took the cross and threw his shoulder into the ball, sending it skidding past Seneca Valley keeper Dylan Good.
“They played a strong, good game,” Williams said. “I think they should do well.”
The two teams had already played three times this season, including in the WPIAL championship game last week. North Allegheny won that matchup 2-1 in overtime.
Seneca Valley won one of the regular-season matchups 2-0 and the teams tied in the other.
“You try to change a little here and there to try to get an edge on them,” Williams said. “It's just a little bit of a chess match. But the players have to take care of it on the field. Today, the NA players did a little better than us. Today that was enough.”
Seneca Valley, which advanced to the state title game last season, put together another extremely successful season in 2016.
The Raiders set school records for shutouts in a season (16), consecutive shutouts (11) and consecutive wins (15).
“I don't think those will ever be broken,” Williams said.
SV was also nationally ranked for a time.
“Especially after last year, the year that we had, I never would have expected to have the year we had,” Williams said. “I just don't think you could have predicted something like this. That's a really good compliment to our team.”
