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WPIAL Boys Class 4A Soccer: Plum, Fox Chapel exorcise recent playoff demons to reach Final

WPIAL (PIAA District 7)  soccer playoffs resumed Tuesday with semifinal round contests.

Plum and Fox Chapel each exorcised their recent semifinal round demons by putting together impressive, gritty victories on a doubleheader played at Gateway High School on Tuesday night.

The winning teams, coached by two veteran coaches who know each other all too well, Raf Kolankowski and Erik Ingram, in a match of longtime rival schools, each looking for an elusive district title at Highmark Stadium on Friday night (8 p.m. kickoff).

Keep in mind, that in Boys 4A, only two spots in the PIAA tournament are allotted, thus the winners of this match will also move on to the PIAA tournament which begins next Tuesday, while Peters Township and North Allegheny’s season come to an end.

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WPIAL Boys Class 4A Semifinal Round

Tuesday’s Semifinal Round Match-Ups played at Gateway High School 

FINAL:  Plum 2, North Allegheny 1

FINAL: Fox Chapel 1, Peters Township 0 

Match Reports

Game 1: Plum Comes Back to Defeat North Allegheny, 2-1

North Allegheny controlled possession for most of the opening ten minutes, but it was Plum who came away with the better chances. Mustangs sophomore Andy Strasser battled down the left side, creating opportunities with physical play as he knocked North Allegheny off the ball, while senior Gage Adinolfi got a couple good looks down low.

Nevertheless, it was the Tigers who opened the scoring in the eleventh minute thanks to senior Mykola Denysenko.

Plum nearly tied it up three minutes later with a point blank kick that somehow bounced away. Mustangs goalkeeper Chase Eber did his part, stopping a breakaway that started when North Allegheny’s Nathan Katari chased down a long pass and stripped it away from the Plum defender who took possession. Eber denied Katari, who hustled to collect the deflection and fought off a pair of Mustangs defenders at the boundary to muscle out a corner kick. Once again Eber made a close range save, and the Mustangs tied things up at 21’ on a long, skipping kick from sophomore Kent Holmes.

Holmes almost put Plum ahead minutes later, setting up just in front of the Tigers’ net, but an awkward bounce slipped out of his reach.

Plum pulled ahead three minutes into the second half, with Christian Alter deflecting a header off his chest and into the net.

The Mustangs found their stride from there, controlling play and limiting North Allegheny’s ability to respond. The Tigers got a handful of chances in the waning minutes, but none found their way on net as they either didn’t have time to set up properly, or were adequately stopped by Plum’s physical play and Eber’s steady presence in net.

Game 2: Fox Chapel Kept Hitting Balls ’til Finding a Game-Winner

The pitch looked even in the early going of the Class 4A semifinal nightcap, with both Peters Township and Fox Chapel playing to a dead heat.

Peters Township forward Alex Parise made his presence known in the early minutes, sprinting down the sideline to turn the corner around his defender and keep the ball in bounds, then finding another gear and rushing Fox Chapel keeper Brady Matthews as he tried to play it.

The Foxes responded soon after, with a blistering kick that sailed just over the crossbar and set up a corner kick.

Matthews sprawled out for a 22nd minute save, just barely getting his hands on a low shot and keeping it out of the net. He came out of his net to stop another excellent look from the Indians, knocking the ball out of bounds with a slide to set up a corner kick, which went nowhere.

Fox Chapel senior Aidan Stein took a close range free kick in the 60th minute, the best scoring chance of either team to date, but sailed it high and out of bounds. Peters Township keeper Markus Bizyak denied Stein’s chance at a do-over soon thereafter, but Stein finally got it done at 69’ with a skipping kick that beat Bizyak to the left corner and put the Foxes ahead 1-0.

Fox Chapel head coach Erik Ingram said the sailing free kick was his idea.

“I actually encouraged them to be hitting balls. Peters Township’s keeper was great, their defenders are really good,” Ingram said. “

So us just kinda floating balls in and trying to be very accurate, we’re not gonna beat their keeper like that. So I was like ‘hey, take some chances, hit some balls.’ I was fine with that all night. We’ve scored quite a bit of those this year… I’m kinda like ‘swing away, take your shot and see what we can get.’”

Bizyak played up for a free kick with 2:12 to go but Matthews gloved it down, the last real chance the Indians would muster.

Pre Match Notes & Recent Coverage

We know this much — as the tournament goes forward in Class 4A — the goals are always harder to come by, so many matches may come down to a key play here or there.

No. 1 Plum were pushed to extra time by Canon-McMillan in thriller, but pulled out 3-2 win as Fedgi Aristyl hit the game-winner in a crowded box at the near post following a corner kick in the 95th minute.

North Allegheny hung on to a tight, 1-0 win against neighboring rivals, North Hills, while Peters Township had enough to get past Seneca Valley, 2-1.  Fox Chapel outlasted Upper St Clair, 3-1 to round out the Final Four.

North Allegheny are back knocking at the door of another Finals appearances, as they escaped a tough third encounter with Section and neighboring rivals, North Hills on Saturday. NA found the contest’s lone goal when junior Leonardo Yu found the back of the net after yet another throw-in from Lucas Henderson. Nick Denysenko and Nathan Katari bookended goals for the No. 4 seed Tigers in a first round win vs Central Catholic in their quest to return to the WPIAL Final.

The Tigers will now face No. 1 Plum, who were pushed to the limit in a wild, back-and-forth match against Canon-McMillan on Saturday, in a match decided by Aristyl’s golden goal in the second period of extra time.  After many years of coming very close but coming up short in the semifinal round, Head Coach Raf Kolankowski was pleased as the top seed to have less travel as they’ll host North Allegheny at Gateway High School.

After the brackets were released, we caught up with Plum Head Coach Raf Kolankowski on Kids on the Pitch Podcast to get his insights as the Mustangs have continued success even in their first year back in Class 4A.  Knowing that they would need to be ready for postseason competition, Kolankowski scheduled a lot of tough non-section matches including North Allegheny. Kolankowski has a strong roster that features seven student-athletes selected to the All-Section squad, including Garrett Chandler, Gage Adinolfi, Austin Kolankowski, Fedgi Fertil, Noah Smith, Marco Tommasino and Andy Strasser.  Leading a balanced attack, is Adinolfi with 10 goals.

As mentioned, these two teams faced off against each other this year, in late August, in a match that went full 100 minutes, ending in a 1-1 stalemate.

In recent years Fox Chapel, has moved into the semifinal round, only to get turned away.  The Foxes’ last Finals appearance came in 201.  This group though, has plenty of confidence, as they came into the tournament having won its last three Section matches, bouncing back from a 5-1 loss in a rematch with Seneca Valley, then opened the tournament by taking control to surge by Upper St Clair on Saturday for a 3-1 win on Saturday. Head Coach Erik Ingram’s squad has been at its best when controlling tempo and possession, which they did so well in the playoff win along with wins against co-champion North Allegheny to get the edge in earning the No. 3 seed.

Now, Fox Chapel will face a different test when it takes on Peters Township in a classic clash of styles contest.

Section 2 — the South Hills gauntlet — it was Peters Township who rose about the competition in the regular season, as Bobby Dyer’s club only lost to Plum early in the season.  Led by scorers Alex Parise and Jeven Kelly, the Indians are riding a 14-game winning streak.  Peters did note have an easy first match of the tournament, but passed the test impressively by taking down a talented Seneca Valley team, 2-1, a Jeven Kelly and Anthony Maiello scored, thanks to playmaking skills of Alex Parise, who had assists on each goal.   The Indians will look to push the tempo, play forward and direct in countering and looking to pounce on Fox Chapel every chance they get.  

WPIAL Boys Soccer Class 4A First Round: North Hills stuns defending champs Norwin in dramatic finish

Kids on the Pitch Podcast: WPIAL Soccer Playoff Brackets are out (Part I w/ Moon’s Tyler Blake and Plum’s Raf Kolankowski)

History WPIAL Boys 4A Champions

  • 2023 – Norwin
  • 2022 – Pine-Richland
  • 2021 – Seneca Valley
  • 2020 – Seneca Valley
  • 2019 – Canon-McMillan

WPIAL Boys Soccer Class 4A – First Round Results (10/21/2024)

WPIAL Boys Soccer  Class 4A Results

Quarterfinal Round

Saturday, October 26

FINAL:  Plum 3, Canon-McMillan 2 – Extra Time/2  (Replay)

FINAL Peters Township 2, Seneca Valley 1

FINAL:  Fox Chapel 3, Upper St Clair 1

FINAL:  North Allegheny 1, North Hills 0

First Round

Tuesday, October 22

Click on links below to each team to find roster (if applicable)

FINAL:  Canon-McMillan 6, Gateway 0

Leading the way for the Big Macs was Adam Kuchera with a hat trick

FINAL:  North Allegheny 2, Central Catholic 1

Nick Denysenko and Nathan Katari bookended goals for the No. 4 seed Tigers in their quest to return to the WPIAL Final.

FINAL:  North Hills 3, Norwin 2

The biggest upset of the night came when No. 12 seed North Hills stunned No. 5 Norwin, Class 4A’s defending champs in dramatic fashion.  Senior midfielder Zach Fritz’s shot attempt toward the goal box resulted in a clearance effort by Norwin, but the ball was deflected off another Norwin player and past the goal line.  It was the first playoff match for North Hills since 2016

FINAL:  Upper St. Clair  3, Pine-Richland 1

Shawn Khurana scored a pair of first-half goals to lead the way for No. 6 Upper St. Clair.

FINAL: Seneca Valley 6, Mt. Lebanon 0

Tyler Prex’s brace led a balanced and deep Raiders’ attack which is starting to click at the right time. 

WPIAL Boys Class 4A Leading Scorers

Adam Kuchera, Canon-McMillan — 21

Daniel Maddock, Norwin — 20

Tyler Prex, Seneca Valley — 17

Alexander Parise, Peters Township — 15

Dylan Shallenberger, Connellsville — 15

Finn Kichi, Pine-Richland — 14

Ben Murtough, Upper St. Clair — 13

Aiden Stein, Fox Chapel — 12

Jeven Kelly, Peters Township — 11

Brett Martin, Peters Township — 11

Gage Adinolfi, Plum — 10

Owen Eastgate, Seneca Valley — 10

 

Boys Class  4A Rosters

Section I Section II Section III
Central Catholic Canon-McMillan Butler
Gateway Connellsville Fox Chapel
Hempfield Area Mt. Lebanon North Allegheny
Norwin Peters Township North Hills
Penn Hills Upper St. Clair Pine-Richland
Plum Woodland Hills Seneca Valley
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