PIAA Boys Soccer Quarterfinal Round: Match Capsules highlighted by Moon-Allderdice, WPIAL-City League clash in Class 3A

The WPIAL will be well-represented, with seven schools, along with the City League’s Allderdice Dragons, as the PIAA playoffs reach the Quarterfinal Round with matches being played on Saturday from Noon until night.

Most boys teams will not have to venture too far, that is, except Franklin Regional (3A) and Fox Chapel (4A), who will have to take the long, three-hour trek to Chambersburg and Plum will head East on Route 22, where they’ll be playing at Altoona’s Mansion Park Stadium against Cumberland Valley.

Here our look at each match featuring remaining WPIAL schools below.

PIAA Boys Soccer Quarterfinals

Saturday, November 9 

WPIAL / City League teams in bold

Full bracket for each classification can be found by clicking link

Class 4A

12 Noon — Plum (18-1-3) vs Cumberland Valley (19-1-1) at Mansion Park Stadium, Altoona

Plum Mustangs have lived dangerously at times through the postseason, having been pushed to the limit in its opening match of the WPIAL playoffs, when Canon-McMillan took them to the brink, but Fedgi Aristyl hit the game-winner in a crowded box at the near post following a corner kick in the 95th minute.

The Mustangs trained in the WPIAL semifinal against Peters Township early, but stormed back for the 2-1 win.

Then. for the second time this postseason, in the PIAA First Round, Plum were pushed to extra time against McDowell (Erie), but couldn’t find a winner in the run of play.

Plum goalkeeper Chase Eber, who’s had a monster playoff run, which included some big moments in the WPIAL playoffs and Final (seven saves vs Fox Chapel), shut it down in the seventh round of the shootout to help the Mustangs  pull out the win against the District 10 champions.

Now, Plum faces a team that is red-hot — Cumberland Valley — who’ve won 19 straight matches and earned the District 3 title.  In their first round PIAA match, Cumberland Valley defeated District 1’s 6th place finishers, Souderton, 2-1, as Jayden Handy scored the game-winner in the 64th minute.

1 p.m. — Fox Chapel (14-4-2) vs Warwick (19-5) at Chambersburg

The last time Fox Chapel Head Coach Erik Ingram led his team into the PIAA playoff quarterfinal round, they also made the long trip to Chambersburg, not once, but twice, in 2015.

The Foxes broke through to win the storied program’s first WPIAL title since 1990 last week, beating Plum, 1-0 on Friday night.

Fox Trot: Foxes’ Late Goal Upsets Plum, Ends 29-Year WPIAL Title Drought

To open this year’s PIAA run, Sean Regan, Rocco Poli and Aidan Stein each netted a goal to help Fox Chapel (14-4-2) to a 3-0 victory against District 3 fourth-place finisher Mechanicsburg (10-9-3) in the opening round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs.

Now, the Foxes will take on Warwick, who pulled out what many might consider a pretty big upset, 3-2 win in a back-and-forth affair in the first round against the 2023 defending PIAA champs, Conestoga.

Eli Yerger scored a pair of goals, leading Warwick over Conestoga in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs on Tuesday at Berwyn.  Yerger scored 18 minutes into the first half and 57 minutes into the second half to counter District One runner-up Conestoga’s first-half goal. Riley Bills tallied for Warwick eight minutes into the second half.

The Foxes, who have proven to be effective on the ball and creating chances from the width, will likely need to minimize mistakes to deny Warwick from having another fast start.

In the WPIAL playoffs, in nip-and-tuck matches ending in 1-0 scorelines against powers Peters Township and Plum, the difference proved to be shots from distances, as Carson Krushansky nailed a clever turf-burner from the edge of the box in the WPIAL final and Aidan Stein had skipping kick that found the left corner in the district semifinal.

“I told myself I wanted three, but I got one, and I’ll take it,” a smiling Krushansky said after the WPIAL final.

“I got a wide lane, and I cut in and had space to keep going, so I drove and hit it as hard as I could.”

With All-WPIAL defender Garrett Chandler on the back line and Brady Matthews in goal, the Foxes have been stellar defensively through the postseason, allowing one goal in a 3-1 win vs Upper St. Clair in WPIAL quarterfinal, but have not allowed a goal since, through 240-plus minutes of action.

Class 3A

5 pm — Franklin Regional (16-3-3) vs Conrad Weiser (22-1-0) at Chambersburg

Also making the trek to Chambersburg on Saturday will be Franklin Regional, the WPIAL Class 3A runner-up squad that showed that they can score with some of the best teams in the State, rolling to a 6-0 win against Bellefonte on Tuesday.

Midfielder Jovan Sankoorikal was having all kinds of opportunities in his playmaking role in his return to the team after sitting out the WPIAL semifinals and final due to a red card suspension.

The senior midfielder had a goal and four first-half assists in the First Round victory, including one on each of Danny Christafano’s two as the Panthers won their first state tournament match since 2021. Sankoorikal and Christafano have been keys to the Panther attack this season — and both were deserved All-WPIAL honorees.

The Panthers may be looking to lock down Conrad Weiser’s Gavin Rapp who went for a hat trick on Tuesday in a first round 4-0 win against another WPIAL side, Mars.   In its last two matches which includes the District 3A title game against Kennard-Dale and Tuesday’s first round triumph against Mars, Conrad Weiser have exploded each time with second half scoring surges, putting three goals in against Mars and four against Kennard-Dale in the last 4o minutes.

7 pm — Moon (23-0-0) vs Allderdice (14-4-1) at Peters Township

This is a collision of two boys soccer programs who have — arguably — made the most headlines this season.

Moon has been perfect this season — without a loss or without a draw — against a Class 3A field that appeared to be pretty strong in the WPIAL.  However, stepping foot outside the WPIAL for the first time, the Tigers were tested against District 3’s fourth place team, Lampeter-Strasburg.  Trailing in the match, Aedan Costa and Billy Sprott came up with the goals in a 2-1 win to shake off Lampeter-Strasburg.

Allderdice were competing as a provisional member in the WPIAL from 2011-2023, but change in PIAA rules now requires the Pittsburgh City Schools teams (in District 8), to now compete and qualify separately for the PIAA.  The last two times Allderdice were the District 8 representative in the PIAA tournament were back in 2008 and 2011, when they lost in the first round to Peters Township (4-0) and Upper St Clair (2-0).  Schenley (now Obama Academy) also made the PIAA tournament in 2009 and 2010.

PSN’s Mark Goodman was there as Allderdice made its first appearance in the PIAA playoffs since 2011 a successful one on Tuesday.  The Dragons scored early, in the third minute, then showed plenty of organization and resilience to hold on to force General McLane to surrender its PIAA hopes. The goal came on a pass from the central attack, as Ethan Voight-Cherna slotted home a goal low and to the right past McLane’s keeper for the lead that would hold up.

Allderdice Boys power past McLane 1-0 in PIAA First Round

Class 2A

1:30 pm — Avonworth (18-3-2) vs Fairview (20-2-0) at Franklin High School

The WPIAL runner-up Lopes are the only Class 2A team to survive the first round, as they took down the District 5 champion (14-4-3). Rowan Carmichael and Cody Cwynar each scored twice to help Avonworth move into the second round for the first time since it played in the 2018 Class 1A tournament.

Avonworth has proven the past few season they have lots of attacking firepower, to the tune of scoring over five goals per season. In the first round of the WPIAL playoffs, the Lopes’ put it on full display, rolling to a 7-0 win against McGuffey, but Shady Side Academy slowed down them down a bit in the Quarterfinals, forcing the match to go to extra time. Still, patience paid off for Avonworth as Rowan Carmichael scored the winning goal off an assist from Abdul Basit Sleiman Kaije.   Basit ended the regular season as the ‘Lopes’ leading scorer, with 18 goals.

In the WPIAL final, South Park slowed them down, winning a tight affair, 1-0, as GK Cooper Hochendoner made four big saves to keep the Lopes off the board.

In the next round of the PIAA tournament, Avonworth now faces Fairview side that absolutely blitzed WPIAL’s third place team, Deer Lakes, 6-0.

The ‘Lopes will have to contain Jackson Chiocco, who had a first-half hat trick.  The Tigers jumped out to a four-goal lead little more than halfway through the first half and led 5-0 at the intermission to oust the Lancers.

Class 1A

Noon — Bentworth (22-0-0) vs Mercyhurst Prep (16-6) at Grove City

The Bearcats reached the state quarterfinals for the second consecutive season with a victory against Westmont Hilltop on Tuesday.

It was Aiden McMurray set up Adam Moessner for the only goal of the match in the first half.

Bentworth made good on its quest to repeat as WPIAL champions, beating Beaver County Christian, 3-0 in the District Semifinal, then taking down OLSH in the Final that went to a penalty kick shootout.

Bentworth repeat as WPIAL Boys 1A Champions, beat OLSH on PKs, 5-4

From looking at the sheer dominance exhibited by the Bobcats — carried a whopping +119 goal differential into the district final match-up but have been tested with each passing round.

Bentworth steamrolled through the regular season, looking for back-to-back WPIAL titles with a roster that’s filled with postseason experience from last year, when they defeated fellow Mon Valley/Washington County side, Charleroi, in the WPIAL Final and also made it to the PIAA Semifinal Round. Among the upperclassman leading the way for Bentworth include brothers Adam Moessner and Ryan Moessner (who combined for 60 goals and counting) along with Andrew Vipperman.  The Bearcats have outscored their opponents by a whopping 117-4 margin this season. Ryan Moessner was recently named as the Player of the Year in Class 1A by WPIAL coaches for his accomplishments this regular season.

Adam Dahl accounted for all of Mercyhurst Prep’s offense over a 59-second span of the first half of the Lakers’ win against WPIAL’s Third Place finisher, Eden Christian.

The senior scored on a penalty kick, then and converted a standard goal on his next shot.

Eden Christian’s Emerson Miller scored with 15:30 left in the half. However, the WPIAL third seed couldn’t get an equalizer against goalie Lorenzo Baker, who preserved the Lakers’ 2-1 victory.

Noon — OLSH (17-3-0) vs McConnellsburg (18-3-1) at Price Field, Westmont Elementary Johnstown

A goal from Luke Wrabley in the 26th minute was the difference for OLSH in the first round, as they held on for a 1-0 victory on the road over Brockway.

OLSH, now 16-3, will take on McConnellsburg, a 1-0 winner over Halifax Tuesday night.

The Chargers have been living dangerously through the postseason thus far, needing a penalty kick shootout to get past No. 6 Springdale in the quarterfinal, won in extra time against Freedom in the first round.  And, in the semifinal, were aided by an own goal  that came from a ball into the box from  Jonathan Mackin that proved to be the difference in beating Eden Christian.

Then, of course, they nearly walked away with a first-ever District title, but came up short in the PK shootout despite a stellar defensive effort.

Leading OLSH, Holland Cobourne and Owen Minzer each earned All-WPIAL honors.

WPIAL Teams in PIAA Tournament

Here’s a snapshot of WPIAL teams history in the tournament:

1A

• Bentworth – Last appearance (2023) — lost in Semifinal to Charleroi  
• OLSH – Last appearance (2011) —  Beat Bishop McCort, lost to Sewickley Academy

2A

• Avonworth – last played in the PIAA Final (1A) in 2018 (Runner-up).

3A

• Moon – Having won seven District titles, Moon has appeared in PIAA tournament many times, with one Runner-Up placement (1987) and have never won a State title on boys side.
• Franklin Regional – in its last PIAA appearance, in 2021, made it to Quarterfinal Round (loss to Hampton).  Made back-to-back PIAA Semifinal appearances in 2018 and 2019.
• Allderdice – Allderdice were competing as a provisional member in the WPIAL from 2011-2023, but change in PIAA rules now requires the Pittsburgh City Schools teams (in District 8), to now compete and qualify separately for the PIAA.  The last two times Allderdice were the District 8 representative in the PIAA tournament were back in 2008 and 2011, when they lost in the first round to Peters Township (4-0) and Upper St Clair (2-0).  Schenley (now Obama Academy) also made the PIAA tournament in 2009 and 2010.

 4A

• Fox Chapel – Only PIAA Title came in 1990. Also have another PIAA Finals appearance (1987).  Last played in the tournament in 2015, when losing in the Quarterfinal Round (losing to Springfield Delco, 2-1).
• Plum – the Mustangs lone deep run in the PIAA tournament came the same year of their only WPIAL Finals appearance — as they made it to the PIAA Semifinal round that year, losing to WC Henderson, 1-0.

John Krysinsky

John Krysinsky has covered soccer and other sports for many years for various publications and media outlets. He is also author of 'Miracle on the Mon' -- a book about the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, which chronicles the club, particularly the early years of Highmark Stadium with the narrative leading up to and centered around a remarkable match that helped provide a spark for the franchise. John has covered sports for Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, DK Pittsburgh Sports, Pittsburgh Sports Report, has served as color commentator on Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC broadcasts, and worked with OPTA Stats and broadcast teams for US Open Cup and International Champions Cup matches held in the US. Krysinsky also served as the Head Men’s Soccer Coach at his alma mater, Point Park University, where he led the Pioneers to the first-ever winning seasons and playoff berths (1996-98); head coach of North Catholic boys (2007-08), associate head coach of Shady Side Academy boys (2009-2014).