WPIAL boys soccer finals set

On Saturday, eight teams advanced to the WPIAL boys finals to be played at Highmark Stadium next week — Thursday through Saturday, November 2 – 4, with dates/times to be announced later.

4A 

Peters Township vs North Allegheny

3A 

Montour vs West Allegheny

2A 

Shady Side Academy vs Quaker Valley

1A

Springdale vs North Catholic

(see third place / PIAA qualifier match-ups below)
Here’s a quick look at the teams that are heading to Highmark:

• In 4A — unbeaten Peters Township will be facing the defending champions North Allegheny, who after a number of close calls in the early rounds exploded for 9-0 win over Canon-McMillan.
• On Saturday, the fiercely competitive 3A brackets saw the defending champs Chartiers Valley topped by neighboring rivals Montour in extra time. Montour will be facing another traditional stronghold along the “Parkway West’ corridor, West Allegheny, who earned its place in the finals with a 3-2 win over South Fayette.

• We’ll be seeing a rematch in 2A of last year’s final. As expected, Quaker Valley rolled into the final with a 3-1 win over Beaver Area, while Shady Side Academy struggled through the regular season, finishing fourth place in its own section, and scraping into the playoff tournament as 15 seed. From there, the Indians have gotten healthy, and on a roll, capping off a three-game playoff run by beating Central Valley 2-0 on Saturday.
• In 1A, it will be a battle of section rivals, as Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, who finished as runner-up a year ago to a more seasoned Sewickley Academy, have been winning games by healthy margins — including yesterday’s thumping of a 1-loss Winchester Thurston side. Springdale knocked off traditional 1A powerhouse Seton LaSalle in overtime to get a third crack at trying to beat the Trojans.

So there you have the boys match-ups — as they’ll be playing at the home of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds for the fifth year. The WPIAL will announce game dates and times for each classification after the completion of the Girls semifinals that will be played on Monday.
 

Pittsburgh Soccer Report will have coverage of all WPIAL boys finals games from Highmark Stadium next week.   

Be sure to check out our newest episode of Pittsburgh Scholastic Soccer Show podcast — which we’ll be previewing all the match-ups this coming week. 

Boys schedule for the WPIAL / PIAA playoffs is as follows:

• WPIAL 3rd Place / PIAA Qualifiers (semifinal losers): Wednesday, November 1
  • 1A – Seton-LaSalle vs Winchester Thurston – 8 p.m. – location TBD
  • 2A – Beaver vs Central Valley – 7 p.m. – at Ambridge
  • 3A – South Fayette vs Chartiers Valley – 8 p.m. – at Moon
  • 4A – Pine-Richland vs Canon-McMillan – 8 p.m. – location TBD
• Finals: Thursday, November 2 – Saturday, November 4
• PIAA Playoffs
  • First Round: Tuesday, November 7 (Regional Sites)
  • Quarterfinals: Saturday, Novermber 11 (Regional Sites)
  • Semi-Finals: Tuesday, November 14 (Regional Sites)
  • Championships: Friday, November 17 & Saturday, November 18 (Hersheypark Stadium

RELATED: 3 days, 8 games – WPIAL Finals provide for plenty of drama (Nov. 2016)