Indians' speed kills Golden Tornado in 5-1 playoff loss
BRIDGEVILLE — The conclusion was forgone before the second half began.
For the first 25 minutes, the clock was ticking on the Butler boys soccer team's Cinderella season. In the final 15 minutes of the first half, the clock loudly struck midnight.
Christian Brandstetter scored a natural hat trick for Peters Township, finding the net in the 25th, 35th and 37th minutes of the first half.
Nate Troscinski added the fourth score with 1:09 remaining before halftime as Peters Township cruised to a 5-1 win over the Golden Tornado in the second round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs at Chartiers Valley Thursday night.
While the second half was much more evenly played, the damage inflicted by the Indians in the first half was more than enough to doom the Tornado.
"We were fine, even with just that one goal," said Butler coach Troy Mohney. "As soon as they got their second goal, they gave up there for five, 10 minutes and your are down 4-0 at halftime and it's tough to come back from that."
Peters Township (15-5), the defending state champion, showed off its superior team speed all night. Butler (9-7-4) feverishly tried to match it, but could not.
Butler goalkeeper Aaron Voelker was the busiest player on the field for the Golden Tornado. Before the first half was 20 minutes old, he had made five spectacular saves to stave off what would become inevitable.
One bright spot for Butler was the play of senior Jake Gamble. He booted a bending shot that was snatched out of the air by Peters Township goalkeeper Ryan Koepka to turn away a scoring chance.
But Gamble scored later on a penalty kick for his 20th goal of the season.
He has other solid scoring opportunities in the second half thwarted by Koepka.
"He's been our goal scorer. Alot of our offense goes through him," Mohney said. "Every time Jake got the ball, they were aware of him. Jake played well tonight again."
Despite the loss, Mohney chalks this season up as a success.
The Golden Tornado began 0-4-3 before rallying. Butler forced a match for the section title against Seneca Valley late in the year, but lost.
In the first round,Butler upset Penn-Trafford.
"Even this game, without that 10, 15 minutes, we played even with them," Mohney said. "When you let down against a team like Peters, they are going to make you pay."
