WPIAL Boys Soccer Semifinals: Beaver Area, Deer Lakes advance in 2A; OLSH-Bentworth 1A Final rematch is set

On Monday night, the WPIAL Soccer playoffs continued on the boys’ side, with the Class 2A and 1A semifinal round matches.

Earning a trip to Highmark Stadium included Beaver Area and Deer Lakes in Class 2A

Be sure to follow along here with the latest updates, highlights and scores.

Monday WPIAL Boys Playoff Soccer Schedule / Scoreboard

2A

FINAL: #9 Beaver Area 8, #4 Avonworth 2

FINAL:  #6 Deer Lakes 2, #2 Quaker Valley 1

Championship Game — #9 Beaver Area vs #6 Deer Lakes – Highmark Stadium (Date/Time TBA)

PIAA Update: Beaver Area and Deer Lakes will advance to PIAA tournament; Winner of Avonworth vs Quaker Valley (Wednesday, site/time TBA) will also advance to the State Playoffs.

1A

FINAL:   # #1 Bentworth 2, #4 Beaver County Christian 0

 FINAL:    #2 Our Lady of Sacred Heart 1, #3 Winchester Thurston 0

Championship Game — #9 Beaver Area vs #6 Deer Lakes – Highmark Stadium (Date/Time TBA)

PIAA Update: Bentworth and OLSH advance to State Playoffs; Beaver County Christian will face Winchester Thurston in PIAA Play-In game on Wednesday

The winners will advance to the WPIAL Finals to be played at Highmark Stadium.

Check out the latest Kids on the Pitch Podcast, as PSN’s John Krysinsky and Westmoreland Sports Network broadcast analyst Mike Powers took a look at Championship Week and discussed upcoming semifinal round matchups.

Kids on the Pitch Podcast: It’s WPIAL Soccer Championship week with Westmoreland Sports Network’s Mike Powers

 

BOYS 2A Semifinal Match Capsules and Updated Tournament Outlook

Semifinal Round (Monday, October 27)

6 p.m.  #4 Avonworth (17-2-1) vs #9 Beaver Area (15-4-0) (at Hampton)

How They Got Here: 

• Avonworth — def #13 McGuffey, 3-0; def Mount Pleasant, 4-0
• Beaver Area — def #8 Charleroi, 8-0; def South Park, 2-1

 

8 p.m.  #6 Deer Lakes (16-3-1) vs #2 Quaker Valley (17-2-1) (at Hampton)

How They Got Here: 

• Deer Lakes — def #11 Central Valley, 5-1; def North Catholic, 1-0
• Quaker Valley — def #15 Highlands, 5-1; def Shady Side Academy, 3-2

 

WPIAL Boys Class 2A First Round Scoreboard

WPIAL Boys Class 2A Quarterfinal Round Scoreboard

 

Final

TBA (at Highmark Stadium)

 

PIAA Play-In Match (Wednesday, October 29)

Semifinal losers (Site, Time TBA)

 

PSN’s Class 2A Tournament Outlook

South Park came in once again as the much-deserved favorites as they were not only the defending two-time Class 2A WPIAL champs but completed yet another impressive regular season campaign.

However, the Eagles were upset in the quarterfinal round by an opportunistic and talented No. 8 Beaver side by a 2-1 scoreline. Beaver proved that they were properly battle-tested, coming out of a very tough section this season, having faced the Quaker Valley, Avonworth and Central Valley gauntlet.    Well, guess what, three of those teams remain in this tournament.

The Beaver upset of South Park proved that there’s no shortage of talented teams lurking take the 3A crown in this open field tournament.

The WPIAL seeding committee went with another program that has also been dominant at this level for decades — Quaker Valley — as the No. 2 seed, but particularly North Catholic, Avonworth (the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds) along with Deer Lakes (No. 6) have the talent to win a District title.

Quaker Valley — as they’ve done in recent years — got off to a bit of a slow start this season — with a 1-2 record, splitting matches in the East-West Classic against Eastern PA schools (Fleetwood and Wilson) then lost its section opener to Beaver (1-0). Since that point, they’re without a loss — as they head into the tournament with a 15-match unbeaten run (14-0-1).

Avonworth’s teams the past few years aren’t afraid to throw numbers forward into the attack, as they are more than capable of can scoring in bunches.  When this team gets on the front foot, they’re hard to slow down — with 115 goals in all competitions this season is second only to the potent group from Deer Lakes.  The ‘Lopes have numerous contributors from the WPIAL runner-up squad ready to make another run.

Speaking of the Lancers, with Avonworth finishing second to Quaker Valley and Mt. Pleasant in great form coming out as Section 4 champs, Deer Lakes dropped down to a 6-seed.

That may have felt like a slight to the classification’s highest scoring outfit who entered the tournament with a chip on its shoulders. This is a senior-heavy group, with key players who contributed to the last Deer Lakes WPIAL title team in 2022, as freshman. Deer Lakes have played well when going up in competition (beating 3A Mars 1-0, Gateway 8-2, losing 3-2 to 4A top seed Fox Chapel and North Hills in OT).

In fact, in an early season Coaches Corner, one coach commented on Deer Lakes’ scoring prowess: “The entire Deer Lakes squad looks incredible. The combination of size, speed, and skill on that team in our first match was incredible and they looked, at times, like they could score at will.”

However, less than favorable results from their second go-around vs section rivals North Catholic (2-1 loss) and Shady Side (2-2 draw) cost them Section title.  Still, they have to be considered a legit contender in this field.

Guess what?  Deer Lakes have proven why we included them as a serious contender, looking very much like a very dangerous team with explosive scoring punch in the first two rounds, including a 1-0 quarterfinal round win in rubber match with North Catholic, as Jake Orseno’s late strike was the difference.

Are there any potential sleepers lurking among Class 2A boys’ field? 

In a very tough section with Quaker Valley and Avonworth, Beaver Area were tabbed as a potential sleeper by some coaches.

However, because they play in one of the largest sections in the District (nine teams) — the majority of their competition this season has come ‘in-house’

Beaver Area didn’t just beat Charleroi last Monday — they blitzed the second-place team from Section 4, beating them going away, 6-0 — to keep the dream alive.  Then, on Thursday, they pulled off one of — if not — the biggest upsets in the WPIAL playoffs by beating South Park, 2-1.

Class 2A Boys Soccer Players to Watch

Avonworth 

Carter Berad (Senior – Defender)

Deer Lakes

Wesley Boyle (Senior – Goalkeeper)

Cuyler Crim (Senior – Goalkeeper)

Peyton Kushon (Senior –Forward)

Jacob Orseno (Senior — MF)

Collin Rodgers (Senior — Forward)

Zane Spence, Deer Lakes (Senior — Defender)

Beaver

Anthony Furda (Junior – Forward)

Caleb Kullen (Senior — MF)

Quaker Valley

Tanner Shultz (Senior — Defender)

BOYS 1A Semifinal Match Capsules and Updated Tournament Outlook

 

Semifinal Round (Monday October 27)

6 p.m.   #4 Beaver County Christian (16-2-0) vs #1 Bentworth (19-0-0) (at Quaker Valley)

How They Got Here…

• Bentworth — def #16 Brentwood, 8-0; def Eden Christian, 6-0
• Beaver County Christian — def #13 Chartiers-Houston, 5-0; def #12 Nesshanock, 3-0

8 p.m.   #3 Winchester Thurston (13-4-1) vs #2 Our Lady of Sacred Heart (17-0-0) (at Quaker Valley)

How They Got Here…

• Winchester Thurston — def Aquinas Academy, 5-0; def Serra Catholic, 8-0
• OLSH — def Greensburg Central Catholic, 14-1; def Sewickley Academy, 4-1

WPIAL Boys Class 1A First Round Scoreboard

WPIAL Boys Class 1A Quarterfinal Round Scoreboard

 

Final

TBA (at Highmark Stadium)

 

PIAA Play-In Match (Wednesday, October 29)

Semifinal losers (Site, Time TBA)

PSN’s Class 1A Tournament Outlook

Both Bentworth and OLSH have posted impressive undefeated seasons as each appear to be doing everything they can and are on a collision course to meet again in the District Final, where they played an instant classic, that had to be decided by penalty kicks.

A year ago, the Class 1A Final between the two schools turned out to be a somewhat surprising instant classic — decided by a thrilling penalty kick shootout.

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

This year, OLSH won’t be sneaking up on Bentworth or any of the teams in Class 1A this year, especially with midfielder Owen Minzer patrolling in the midfield both in extending possessions and as a creative playmaker.

Both Bentworth and OLSH played up in competition, posting impressive wins against schools from higher classifications, with OLSH posting wins vs Class 3A Trinity (2-1) and neighbors, Moon (3-0) while Bentworth went up in class to beat 3A schools including Highlands, West Mifflin and Blackhawk and 2A schools Charleroi, Elizabeth Forward and Yough.

Bentworth returns much of its core from last year’s squad, especially with the dynamite sibling connection of senior Ryan Moessner, who’s surpassed the 100-goal mark for his career and brother Adam Moessner, who’s equally dangerous anywhere near the box with the ball at his feet.  The elder Moessner was one of 13 district players to earn All-State honors last year.

Are there any potential sleepers lurking among Class 1A boys’ field? 

While Bentworth and OLSH deserve all of the accolades and to be the top two seeded teams in this classification, there’s an intriguing group of sleeper contenders who are waiting just in case one or both of the favorites to slip up.

Winchester Thurston have the pedigree as a program having won back-to-back WPIAL titles in 2021 and 2022.

Head Coach Adam Brownold continues to subject his team to play up and take on very tough non-section opponents from higher classifications. This year, WT started the season with four straight losses against District 10 Harbor Creek, North Catholic, Ambridge and Seton LaSalle.

All the early season lumps proved to — once again — have Winchester Thurston prepared to go unbeaten against the remaining schedule both in and out of section against Class 1A schools.

“Our back line John Koeppl, Elijah Bullock, Xander Kope and Benji Smuckler along with Keeper Aiden Piemme have helped our team to 10 shutouts and have only given up 3 goals in an undefeated section season,” Brownold told Pittsburgh Soccer Now.

Beaver County Christian took care of business in its section, and now through the first two rounds of the playoffs, handled a 13-and-12-seeds Chartiers-Houston then Neshannock, collectively by an 8-0 margin.  Zachary Stephens and Liam Birchler led the attack in last week’s quarterfinal win vs Neshannock.

Class A Players to Watch 

Patrick Altmar, OLSH (Senior — goalkeeper)

Liam Birchler, Beaver County Christian (midfielder)

Dillan Colbert, Bentworth (Sophomore — forward)

Benjamin Crefeld, Beaver County Christian (forward)

Ethan Guevara, Beaver County Christian (midfielder)

John Koeppl, Winchester Thurston (Senior — forward)

Michael Lanigan, Beaver County Christian (goalkeeper)

Owen Minzer, OLSH (Senior — midfielder)

Adam Moessner, Bentworth (Sophomore — forward)

Ryan Moessner, Bentworth, (Senior — midfielder)

Malik White, Winchester Thurston (Senior — midfielder)

Luke Wrabley, OLSH (Senior — midfielder)

Pete Zink, OLSH (Senior — defender)

Zachary Stephens, Beaver County Christian (midfielder/forward)