WPIAL Boys Soccer Class 4A and Class 1A Semifinal Round Scoreboard (11/1/2022)

File photo courtesy Ed Thompson

It’s down to the Final Four in the WPIAL Boys Soccer playoffs.

On Tuesday night, both Class 4A and Class 1A matches will determine who makes it to Highmark Stadium for the championship games this coming weekend.

The winners of the semifinals will advance to the WPIAL Championship matches to be played at Highmark Stadium on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 3-5.

Remember, feel free to share in-game updates, lineups, highlights, pictures on Twitter using #WPIALSoccer or include @pghsoccernow.

BOOM ‼️ The boys are headed to Highmark after beating Eden Christian 1-0 in the semi finals. TEAMWork til the final whistle. #WPIALSoccer

Goals @ArloMac17 ⚽️

Clean Sheet:@nathan_mazon 🧤 @MVI_sports @pghsoccernow @AthleticsCasd @CHSstudsection1 pic.twitter.com/yMb0PfFqa1

— Charleroi HS Boys Soccer (@CharleroiSoccer) November 2, 2022

WPIAL boys soccer final: Raiders are on their way to Highmark Stadium to compete in WPIAL 4A championship game with 3-2 win over Fox Chapel. Well played tonight Raiders! #SVRaiderPride ⁦@Big56Conference⁩ pic.twitter.com/MEEo6pR5Ga

— Seneca Valley Sports (@SV_Sports) November 2, 2022

FINAL
Charleroi – 1
Eden Christian – 0

No. 8 @CharleroiSoccer is off to Highmark Stadium to take on No. 2 Winchester Thurston in the Class 1A WPIAL Final on Friday. pic.twitter.com/ltkzFttgX0

— Liam Belan (@lbelanMVI) November 2, 2022

WPIAL boys soccer semifinal action: with 8 min to go in game Beaux Lizewski extends Raider lead to 3-0. @Big56Conference

— Seneca Valley Sports (@SV_Sports) November 2, 2022

GOAL @CharleroiSoccer

Eden's Anthony D'Ippolito made a save on a free kick, but @ArloMac17 was there to finish the rebound and put the Cougars up 1-0

10:00 1H
Charleroi – 1
Eden Christian – 0@MVI_sports

— Liam Belan (@lbelanMVI) November 2, 2022

RAMS BEAT BUTLER TO ADVANCE TO THE WPIAL CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/8CPn4ysUOm

— P-R RAMS BOYS SOCCER (@PR_Rams_Soccer) November 1, 2022

@wt_news Boys Soccer win!!! Defeat Sewickey 4-3 in 1st OT. Golden goal by Tomer Tuti. @pghsoccernow @TribLiveHSSN @Brownold #betall #gobears

— Dr. Joshua Andy (@joshuaandy17) November 1, 2022

---

WPIAL BOYS SOCCER: CLASS 4A & CLASS 1A PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

Class 4A 

Saturday, October 29 – Quarterfinal Round results 

Tuesday, November 1, 2022 – Semifinal Round 

FINAL: Pine-Richland 1, Butler 0

FINAL:  Seneca Valley 3, Fox Chapel 2 

Saturday, November 5, 2022 – Championship Game

5:45 p.m.  # 6 Pine-Richland (13-4-1) vs  #1 Seneca Valley (17-0-1)

Class 1A

Tuesday, November 1, 2022 – Semifinal Round 

FINAL:  Winchester Thurston 4, Sewickley Academy 3 OT 

FINAL:  Charleroi 1, Eden Christian 0 

Friday, November 4, 2022 – Championship Game 

#2 Winchester Thurston (15-2-1) vs # 8 Charleroi (16-2-0)

---

4A Preview

In a fairly unprecedented scenario, all four teams in this year’s Boys 4A semifinal round are from the same section.  It did help that this year, there were only two sections in the ever-shrinking classification, which is down to 16 total teams.  Yet, it’s still impressive that all four teams from the same section ran a clean sweep in the quarterfinal round.

Can the third time be the charm this year for Erik Ingram and his Fox Chapel squad against section rival Seneca Valley this year?  The Raiders beat Fox Chapel in two tight games, 3-1 and 2-0, already this season.

In the past few years, the Foxes are the only team (besides Butler’s tie) that have been able to put a dent in Seneca Valley’s perfection.  Last year, the Foxes were so close to returning to the WPIAL final for the first time since 2015, but they were overtaken late in the semifinal by Peters Township.  Seneca Valley may have had a lot of turnover from its back-to-back WPIAL and PIAA winning squad from the previous two seasons, but they still have Beaux Lizewski, who earned all-State honors again this season.  Fox Chapel has been playing well thanks to contributions from throughout the lineup. Senior George Tabor, who is the only returning all-section selection for the Foxes last year, leads a solid group up front along with senior forward John Paul Brach and sophomore forward Carson Krushanshy.

Pine-Richland and Butler proved that they’re as good as any team in section two, with their quarterfinal round wins against both No. 2 Peters (Butler won 1-0) and No. 3 Norwin (Pine-Richland topped 3-1).

At the start of the season, PSN caught the Rams at their tournament (JRK Memorial Classic), where they began with wins against both Penn-Trafford and Frankin Regional.  Led by Colin Zvejnieks, Ben Rishel and Cale Klaff, P-R has solid senior leadership (in total they’ll have seven returning seniors) which has helped carry them though the rigors of Section 1 battles this season, as they finally earned a playoff spot in Head Coach Jordan Wiegand’s fourth season at the helm.

The Golden Tornadoes were right in the mix with Pine-Richland this season, finishing fourth, edging out a pretty strong North Allegheny side,

In two previous matches this season, the teams split, with Pine-Richland winning 1-0 in September, but Butler returned the favor, 2-1, in October.

Original Bracket 

 

1A Preview

With the top seed Greensburg Central Catholic upended in a bit of a shocker by section foes Charleroi, 3-2, on Saturday, the pecking order has been reshuffled a bit and we’re not going to see the same old final we’ve had in the previous three seasons in Class 1A.

Defending champs and No. 2 seed Winchester Thurston are still in it though. The Bears feature a strong returning core that includes all-State selection Alex Hauskrecht, but have been challenged a bit more this season than maybe some expected.

They’ll have a daunting challenge against No. 3 Sewickley Academy, while Eden Christian and Charleroi will provide for an interesting battle for a chance for one of these programs to make an unprecedented trip to Highmark Stadium.  Sewickley and Eden ended up in a tie in their section, while Sewickley outscored the opposition by a 51-19 overall margin this season, posted five shutouts and held six other teams to one goal. Sewickley have scoring punch with forwards Michael DiSantis with 18 goals and Adin Zorn with 13 goals and senior midfielder Hudson Colletti with 10.

Eden Christian have not lost since early September, when the fell in a non-section match to Greensburg Central Catholic. They appear to be a group determined to make amends for last year’s semifinal loss to Greensburg Central Catholic, as they held a 2-0, 4-1, then 5-2 leads before losing in overtime.

As for Charleroi, after lopsided losses in the regular season to GCC, they made some significant adjustments, and pulled off the upset victory when it counted most.

“We changed some strategy around from what we didn’t do well the last two games and proved that we’re able to compete with the top-seeded team,” Charleroi coach Jon Ducoli told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Landon Barcus scored two goals, and Arlo McIntyre converted from the penalty spot. Goalkeeper Nate Mazon finished the match with eight saves, including one on the first of the Centurions’ two penalty kicks.