Preview WPIAL Boys 1A Final: Winchester Thurston vs Greensburg Central Catholic

Photo by Ed Thompson

WPIAL Boys Soccer 1A Final 

Friday, November 1–  6 p.m – Highmark Stadium 

Greensburg Central Catholic (14-3-1) vs Winchester Thurston (16-1-0)

PSN Coverage: John Krysinsky (Twitter @pghsoccerscribe) | photography – Ed Thompson (Twitter (@Thompson12foto) | analysis – Ryan Kelly (@Rkells14)

 

This is yet another match-up this weekend between section rivals Greensburg Central Catholic and Winchester Thurston where both teams split their head-to-head section encounters this season, as both teams won the away contest.

Coach Adam Brownold and Coach Tyler Solis have seen a lot of each other of the past four seasons.

These teams met in the 2017 WPIAL quarterfinals as well.

This year, both of these teams have been at the top of Class A, and their respective playoff performances have illustrated their dominance.

Winchester Thurston has yet to concede a goal in the first three rounds, while GCC has yet to shut a team out.   This should be a hotly contested game, as this is likely the biggest rivalry in Class A over the last 5 years.

GCC is led by Indiana recruit Nate Ward, who had a stellar performance throughout their playoff run in 2018.

Winchester Thurston is led by senior midfielder Diederik Schlingemann.  GCC will likely rely a little more on being dangerous off the counter attack and set pieces, as Winchester Thurston plays a possession based game.  The larger field of Highmark will provide more opportunity to keep the ball in possession, but it allows for attacking players to make piercing runs with or without the ball due to the space available to players.

Coach Brownold led his team to a WPiAL championship in 2014, with a win in a shootout over Sewickley Academy.  Greensburg lost to Avonworth in OT in the 2018 WPIAL Final – they exacted some revenge by ending Avonworth’s 2019 campaign.

Both teams have qualified for the PIAA tournament, along with springdale who beat Carlynton 2-1 on Wednesday in the third place consolation game.

Prediction: Winchester Thurston 3-1

Players to watch: 

Greensburg Central Catholic

Nate Ward (Sr)
Mason Fabean (So)
Ryan Reitler (So)
Carlo Denis (?)

Winchester Thurston

Diederik Schlingemann (Sr)
Ale Memoli (Sr)
Beck Buchanan
Alex Hauskrecht