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Moon rises over Dice, 2-1 in OT

Regardless of the outcome, regardless of the nervous energy that consumed the fans in the packed stands in Peters Township, it was a joy to watch two technical, tactically-nuanced high school lock horns in the PIAA Boys 3A Quarterfinal as top-ranked Moon (District 7, WPIAL) faced Taylor Allderdice (District 8, PPS/City League) Saturday night. In a well-fought match that was drawn 1-1 after full time, the Moon Tigers outlasted Allderdice, 2-1 on an OT Golden Goal by Moon midfielder Luis Silva.

The game’s vibe shifted frequently. Dice came out a bit jittery, spraying errant passes and opting to clear rather than possess in the first ten minutes. They paid for their nerves almost immediately, as Moon’s Luis Silva dribbled his man to penetrate the final third. Running nearly to the end, Silva then issued a gorgeous cut back pass to central striker Mark Hupt. The Moon man was cool and calm, settling and curling the ball into the top-right upper 90 to jump Moon out to a lead.

The goal was something of a wakeup call. Allderdice pulled it together over the next 20 minutes of game time. They seemed to understand that Moon were overplaying their hand a bit and pushing too many men high up the field. After Moon lost possession on their right side in Dice’s third of the field, the Dragons launched forward with a lightning counter-attack. A pass from the full back into midfielder Aiden Thomas resulted in a galloping 25 yard run right through Moon’s exposed gut. Thomas, seeing his forward Ethan Voight-Cherna race towards the Moon back line, unloaded a perfectly weighted pass into his path. Voight-Cherna dribbled it with three touches to an unbeatable angle against Moon’s keeper and calmly slotted the ball past him to even the score at 1 goal apiece.

Dice began to dump the ball and defend for the rest of the first frame, successfully arriving at halftime with the score tied, 1-1.

The second was fiercely contested. Allderdice regularly used tight two and three-man combinations down the wings to advance the ball forward, while Moon were adept at both switching the point of attack with long cross-field passes and even pinpoint-accurate diagonals and long through-balls. Moon also worked efficiently through the midfield with square balls that Allderdice protected against but couldn’t dispossess the Tigers of easily. Over time, it seemed to wear the Dragons down, and the final 15 minutes of regulation were frequently in Moon’s favor as they overpowered the Squirrel Hill boys.

Dice endured and once again made it to the locker room at full time with the match still even. If they were going to win, they were going to have to do it with a burst of individual flair from one of their main playmakers. Meanwhile, Moon could continue to grind their opponents up with the bulk of possession and by creating more chances.

It wasn’t long into overtime that Moon would strike the fatal blow.

 

Four minutes into overtime, Moon’s Zach Balbech lofted a cross from the left side. Luis Silva made headed contact and bopped a looping floater over the head of Allderdice keeper Hari Arunachalem, who had made a string of excellent saves at the end of the second half to preserve the draw. But he couldn’t save the Dragons forever, and they were, in the end, slain by the 2024 WPIAL Champs, 2-1. But regardless of the ultimate outcome, soccer fans were treated to a great match on this night. Special credit goes to Dice’s backline, including centerbacks Niv Friedman and Ethan Heffley, and outside backs Michael Bishop, Daniel Moya-Gibbons, and Jack Cohen.

Moon will advance to the PIAA semi-finals against tonight’s winners in the other bracket, Conrad-Weiser. That game will take place November 12, location TBD. The winner advances to the PIAA 3A Boys Championship in Mechanicsburg, PA.

 

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Mark Asher Goodman is a writer for Pittsburgh Soccer Now, covering the Riverhounds, the Pitt Men's and Women's teams, and youth soccer. He also co-hosts a podcast on the Colorado Rapids called 'Holding the High Line with Rabbi and Red.' He has written in the past for the Washington Post, Denver Post, The Athletic, and American Soccer Analysis. When he's not reading, writing, watching, or coaching soccer, he is an actual rabbi. No, really. You can find him on twitter at @soccer_rabbi

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