Too tough
JACKSON TWP — The Seneca Valley boys soccer team had plenty of chances in the first half against Allderdice.
The shots, however, just weren’t finding the net as the Raiders went into halftime with a huge advantage in shots, but just one goal off the foot of T.J. Turley late in the first half to show for it.
“(Allderdice) came out with a lot of energy,” said Seneca Valley coach George Williams. “They really threw a lot at us.”
But Williams said the Raiders had faith those errant shots were eventually going to go in.
And they did.
Seneca Valley (15-1-1) broke the game open with a goal from Danny Wallowicz less than two minutes into the second half and tacked on two more goals for a 4-0 win over Allderdice in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs at NexTier Stadium Monday night.
Allderdice (7-9-1) played well for the most part, especially in the first half when the Dragons made life difficult for Seneca Valley.
“We’re a pretty good possession team,” said Allderdice coach Sam Bellin. “Obviously, they were fast and we were glad to keep them off the board as long as we did. I thought maybe we could have tried to create a little more. In the second half they really started rolling.”
While the Seneca Valley offense was firing shots wide of the mark, the Raiders’ defense was doing well keeping Allderdice’s attackers at bay.
Seneca Valley out-shot the Dragons 17-2 in the game.
“We were able to kind of squash their attacks as they came into our own third and kept them from getting dangerous almost at all,” Williams said. “That’s a compliment to our defense and our midfield play. We were able to continue to hold and wear them down.”
Matt Saluga scored just seven minutes into the second half to give Seneca Valley a 3-0 lead.
Connor McCandless scored the final goal of the game off an assist from Kyle Jennings with a little more than 10 minutes remaining.
Saluga also had an assist on the night for the Raiders, who will play Peters Township Thursday at a site and time to be determined.
“It’s nice that’s it’s coming from different places,” Williams said of his scoring diversity. “Hopefully we can keep that up.”
