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FINAL: Deer Lakes 1, Beaver 0, AET1 (WPIAL Boys Soccer Class 2A Championship)

Photo courtesy Ed Thompson

WPIAL Boys 2A Soccer Championship

FINAL: Deer Lakes 1, Beaver Area 0,AET

PSN Coverage Team: Matt Popchock (reporting) & Ed Thompson (photography)

Live Stream: TribHSSN

The Super Quick Match Summary

Despite being on the front foot for much of the match Deer Lakes Lancers boys soccer team couldn’t break through against a stingy Beaver Area side.

Eventually, eight minutes into the first period of extra time, Jacob Orseno delivered the game-winner, handing the Lancers (20-2-0) their second district championship in the last three years.After some heavy buildup around the Bobcats’ box, Orseno broke behind the defense and puts a ball off the right post and in behind Beaver’s keeper, Robert Cestra. Peyton Kushon was credited with the assist.The Bobcats (14-7-0) didn’t get the result Thursday night, but their amazing playoff run does get them the second WPIAL berth in the PIAA playoffs. Beaver will join Deer Lakes (obviously) and Quaker Valley, last year’s WPIAL champ, in next week’s Boys 2A state tourney.Look for a more detailed recap along with post match reaction to follow here on Pittsburgh Soccer Now.

Ed Thompson Photo Gallery

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Final Stats

Match Updates

4′ – First quality chance for Deer Lakes. Mason Metzler, deep on the left wing, crosses deep into the box for Ruger Beer, who airmails his one-timer wide right of goal. Big break for the Bobcats. 0-06′ – Zane Spence of DL with the game’s first corner kick, from the right flag. The inswinging ball is punched away by Robert Cestra to his right, and the Bobcats will take over. 0-016′ – Spence with a diagonal ball from the right flank is a little that’s a little too heavy for Peyton Kushon. Deer Lakes continues to push for that first goal. 0-018′ – The Bobcats finally get a good look at Nick Braun. A ball along the far touchline is teed up for Kyle Carlsen at the top of the 18-yard box, but he pushes it over the bar. Goal kick to the Lancers. 0-022′ – Scott Hazuda continues to substitute liberally for his Bobcats, trying to spark their attack. Meanwhile, Ruger Beer, the semifinal hero for Deer Lakes, misses from the right edge of the box. 0-024′ – A great chance for Evan Baker is denied at the other end, point blank, by DL keeper Nick Braun, and the Lancers clear the rebound. Best chance of the night for either team since Beer’s botched one-timer. 0-028′ – Jacob Harris of Beaver has done a fine job defensively on Spence so far. Spence earns a corner kick at the right flag for the Lancers that goes over everyone’s head and out for a goal kick. 0-035′ – Ryan Hanes nods a ball into the box, but sound positional defending by Luke Tomalski thwarts any possible scoring threat posed by Deer Lakes. 0-037′ – Caden Biela, on the right wing, fires away from a good 20 yards beyond the box, but it’s an easy at-’em ball for Braun. Not too many cracks in the defensive armor on either side tonight. 0-040′ – Wow! Beer with a last-second shot from distance is parried away by Cestra, diving to his right…and Peyton Kushon misses a YAWNING net on the rebound. 0-0Halftime at Highmark, and, somehow, it’s still Deer Lakes 0-0 Beaver. The Lancers missed a golden opportunity to take the lead, but, generally, they moved the ball skillfully in their 3-4-3. The back line of the Bobcats’ 4-4-2 has kept DL to the outside, for the most part.47′ – Collin Rodgers breaks into the left side of the box for Deer Lakes, but Luke Tomalski of Beaver bodies him off the ball before a shot can be taken. Lucky bounce for the Bobcats leads to a goal kick. 0-050′ – Kyle Carlsen is fouled and earns an indirect free kick for Beaver, 30 yards beyond the box on the right side. His long hit, however, is easily snagged by Braun. 0-054′ – Beer, with some clever dribbling on the right wing, sets up Ryan Hanes right in the middle of the box, but Cestra is right there, well off his line, to cut off the shot attempt. Hanes a bit shaken up on the play. 0-055′ – DL continues to mount pressure in the attacking third. Hanes, deep on the left, centers for Beer as a Beaver defender slips and falls, but luckily for the Bobcats, Beer can’t tee it up before Cestra grabs it. 0-063′ – A cheeky back-heel pass from Hanes to Beer opens a scoring path for Beer, but he hurries a shot from the top left corner of the box right at Cestra. 0-068′ – The Lancers earn a corner at the left flag, but Spence swings this ball right into the outstretched hands of a leaping Cestra. 0-070′ – Spence with a long ball from the right wing, atop the attacking third, into the box for Hanes, but Hanes’ header goes wide left for a Beaver goal kick. 0-072′ – This time, Spence drives a corner kick from the opposite flag beyond the 6-yard box, and the leaping header from Hanes, who is very well marked at the near post, goes out of bounds. 0-078′ – Oh my goodness! Back-to-back corner kicks to the Bobcats, one at each flag…and Nate Litrun has to clear TWO balls off the line for the Lancers to keep it scoreless! 0-079′ – What a night for Peyton Kushon. He seems to have sustained a lower-body injury of some sort after colliding with Beaver defender Jacob Harris at the top of the box, trying to collect a loose ball misplayed by Cestra. Kushon appears to be okay. 0-0We will have extra time in the Boys 2A Final! Deer Lakes 0-0 Beaver at the end of the second half.88′ – GOLDEN GOAL DEER LAKES LANCERS! After some heavy buildup around the Bobcats’ box, Jacob Orseno breaks in behind the defense and puts a ball off the right post and in behind Cestra! Peyton Kushon gets the assist, and the Lancers are Boys 2A champions! More to come…


Preview / Tale of the Tape

Deer Lakes vs Beaver? Who would have guessed that one?It’s a No. 4 vs No. 6 seed for the Boys Class 2A Final at Highmark Stadium.Beaver had made a remarkable run to get to this point. They had to run the gauntlet of being a few of the dynastic programs in this classification, by outlasting both Shady Side Academy and Quaker Valley in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds to reach the Championship.As the theme this year may how hard it is to beat any team in the season three times, Beaver lived up to that billing, as they avenged their 5-0 and 2-0 losses to Quaker Valley by taking the 10-time defending WPIAL champions to a nerve wracking penalty kick shootout on Monday night.Senior Jameson Bonnar leads Beaver in scoring with 16 goals to go along with six assists.You have to go back to 2017, when these two schools faced off against each other in the playoffs, as Beaver won in the quarterfinal round.

Deer Lakes had a pretty impressive win of their own, defeating No. 1 South Park, 1-0, off a Ruger Beer goal.

The Lancers program has had a recent blueprint of success. Led by current Pitt forward Michael Sullivan, they made it to the PIAA Final in 2018, even after losing in the district semifinals, then they pulled off consecutive WPIAL Finals in 2019 and 2020, getting the WPIAL gold in 2020.There are seven Lancers seniors who were part of those teams. Veteran forward Ryan Hanes is the scoring catalyst for this group. Hanes leads the team with 31 goals and 18 assists. Freshman Peyton Kushon owns 17 goals and four assists, and senior Beer has nine goals.Beer scored one of the biggest goals to date for the Lancers with the lone score against South Park, an unassisted tally with 27 minutes left in the second half.The Lancers defense and senior keeper Nick Braun made the lead hold up in the triumph. Braun is also another veteran of those Championship runs, who was one of the heroes, making penalty kick shootout saves against Shady Side Academy in 2020.

Hazuda told Beaver County Times‘ Rachael Kriger that Beaver needs to stay focused on their game plan for the big match on Thursday night.

“We have to play our game,” Hazuda said. “We have an identity, and we need to stick to it and bring the same fight we brought for every playoff game, and I like our chances.”

How They Got To Highmark

Deer Lakes (Section 2 Co-Champs) Head Coach – Aaron Smith

  • 1st Rd – Beat Hopewell, 1-0
  • Quarterfinal Rd – Beat West Mifflin, 1-0
  • Semifinal Rd – South Park, 1-0

Beaver Area (2nd Place Section 1) Head Coach – Scott Hazuda

  • 1st Rd – Beat Brownsville 8-2
  • Quarterfinal Rd – beat Shady Side 1-1 (advanced on penalty kicks)
  • Semifinal Rd – beat Quaker Valley 0-0 (advanced on penalty kicks)

PSN Recent Coverage of Class 2A Boys Soccer

https://pittsburghsoccernow.com/2022/11/02/kids-on-the-pitch-podcast-wpial-boys-and-girls-soccer-championship-preview/https://pittsburghsoccernow.com/2022/10/27/wpial-boys-soccer-class-2a-quarterfinal-round-10-26-2022/https://pittsburghsoccernow.com/2022/10/19/wpial-boys-soccer-class-2a-playoff-bracket-south-park-quaker-valley-head-the-class/

Glory on the Grass

Riverhounds MF Kenardo Forbes

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