High School

Thriller at Highmark: Deer Lakes outlast Beaver, 3-2, to win 3rd WPIAL boys soccer title this decade

by
Pittsburgh Soccer Now
October 29, 2025

Photo courtesy Ed Thompson

WPIAL Boys Class 2A Final

FINAL: Deer Lakes 3, Beaver Area 2

PSN Coverage Team — Matt Popchock, Reporting — Ed Thompson, Photography

WPIAL Championship History (Class 2A)

Match Summary

Deer Lakes boys’ soccer program put a pretty impressive exclamation point in its recent run of success by capturing its third WPIAL Boys Class 2A title in the past five years by outlasting a valiant challenge from Beaver Area, 3-2, at a rainy Highmark Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Deer Lakes’ goals came from Peyton Kushon, Maddox Metzler and the game-winner from Zane Spence. Beaver fought back to level the match twice, with goals from Caleb Kullen and Anthony Furda.

Look for more detailed recap and reaction to follow on this thread late Wednesday and early Thursday.

Match Updates

80′: FULL TIME AT HIGHMARK. Deer Lakes 3-2 Beaver. THE LANCERS ARE BACK ON TOP OF 2A!

Deer Lakes (18-3-1) survives a chaotic Beaver corner taken to Boyle’s right, and their midfield runs out the remaining clock. It’s the Lancers’ third WPIAL championship in five years!

The Bobcats, who battled beautifully, will follow the Lancers into the state playoffs as the No. 2 seed from District 7.

78′: Lancers fans can exhale…for the moment. Furda takes a direct free kick from the edge of the arc, but his strike is right at Boyle, who hangs onto the wet ball. (DL 3-2 BA)

69′: GOAL TO THE LANCERS! A nice ball into the middle of the 18 for Spence, courtesy of Metzler, who nods it into the right side of Perez’s nylon. (DL 3-2 BA)

67′: The Lancers are looking for another go-ahead goal off a set piece. Parshyn’s corner kick to the left of Sean Perez finds an airborne Metzler inside the 6-yard box, but he redirects it out of play. (DL 2-2 BA)

64′: GOAL TO THE BOBCATS! The underdogs still have some bite, as a leaping Boyle yields a rebound to Caleb Kullen, who smashes it in easily. (DL 2-2 BA)

61′: The rain is coming down as we pass the hour mark at Highmark. Rodgers fakes out Ebbitt at the left corner of the box, but his shot misses to the left, like Furda’s not long ago. (DL 2-1 BA)

58′: The Bobcats earn a free kick right above the arc, but Furda’s cheeky line drive misses wide to the left post. (DL 2-1 BA)

53′: Suddenly the Lancers are going for the jugular. A suicide ball comes into the box for Orseno, who, luckily for the Bobcats, puts it right into the body of an oncoming Sean Perez. (DL 2-1 BA)

51′: GOAL TO THE LANCERS! And just like that, an indirect free kick from Parshyn finds the dome of Maddox Metzler, who goes upstairs for the header amidst the sea of bodies. (DL 2-1 BA)

49′: GOAL TO THE BOBCATS! Beaver are level after a wide-open Furda takes a long ball in stride from Woodske, right down the middle and pings it in off the inside left post. (DL 1-1 BA)

41′: Second half underway! Lancers trying to hang on for a third title in five years. Bobcats trying to rally and avenge their extra-time heartbreaker in 2022 and get that elusive first-ever championship. (DL 1-0 BA)

40′: Halftime at Highmark. Deer Lakes 1-0 up on Beaver in this Boys 2A Final. The Bobcats had bags of possession time in the attacking third, but the Lancers defended very well in the run of play, and Kushon’s quick strike off the restart has them 40 minutes from their third WPIAL championship of the decade.

37′: Caleb Kullen leads one up the right side for Furda, who outraces three defenders and forces a save by Boyle at the near post. But the Lancers, again, have the resulting corner kick from the flag to Boyle’s left well-covered. (DL 1-0 BA)

34′: GOAL TO THE LANCERS! Beacom with a perfect diagonal delivery, off a throw-in at the near touchline, to an unmarked Kushon at the left side of the box, and the blasts it into the far corner, past Sean Perez. (DL 1-0 BA)

22′: Wow…the ball comes to a wide-open Beacom at the right edge of the Bobcats’ box…and he barely puts it over the bar, and over Perez’s outstretched glove. (DL 0-0 BA)

20′: Halfway home, Bish has room to maneuver right into the middle of the attacking third, but his 25-yarder is settled down easily by Sean Perez. Perez’s counterpart, Boyle, handles another at-’em ball, with decidedly less pace, at the other end. (DL 0-0 BA)

14′: Furda, deep on the right flank, drives a ball right at a kneeling Boyle, the Lancers keeper. He secures it with Ebbitt hovering above, seeking the loose change. (DL 0-0 BA)

9′: Parshyn’s corner to the left of goalkeeper Sean Perez comes to Metzler at the left post, but he nods it just wide. (DL 0-0 BA)

6′: After an unsuccessful corner of their own, Kushon, under pressure deep on the right wing, sets up Crim from 20 yards out, but he airmails the shot. Goal kick to the Bobcats. (DL 0-0 BA)

2′: Seth Kullen earns a corner kick as Metzler is just able to tackle him cleanly atop the box. The follow-up attempt by Peluso is cleared by the Lancers. (DL 0-0 BA)

1′: The Bobcats get the first touch and attack from right to left. The Boys 2A Final is underway! (DL 0-0 BA)

BEAVER XI: Cosky, Furda, R. Perez, C. Kullen, S. Kullen, Andrew, Conner, Peluso, S. Perez (GK), Ebbitt, Woodske.

DEER LAKES XI: Boyle (GK), Rodgers, Kushon, Landsberg, Parshyn, Spence, Metzler, Bish, Orseno, Crim, Beacom.

5:25 p.m. — Matt Popchock here on a drizzly Wednesday at Highmark Stadium, where the Lancers and Bobcats have flown under the radar all the way to the South Shore to meet in the WPIAL Boys 2A Final for the second time in four years. Warm-ups are underway, and the first touch is in just over half an hour. Watch this space for updates!

Match Preview

Class 2A Boys Bracket | Rosters: Beaver | Deer Lakes

It would be a tough task to find another pair of teams in all of WPIAL soccer tournaments played out during the past few weeks who deserved a higher seeding than Beaver Area and Deer Lakes.

Ultimately, where these two teams were seeded, didn’t matter, as they let their attacking prowess do the work in getting them to the Championship game on Wednesday night.

Both teams will have just one day of rest between the semifinal and Championship matches with the schedule shift due to Riverhounds playoff match on Saturday night, shifted things to include two Wednesday night matches.

The result that turned a lot of heads in this bracket saw an opportunistic and talented No. 8 Beaver side led by Anthony Furda at the top of the attack and midfielder Caleb Kullen in the midfield, knocked off top-seeded and defending two-time champs, South Park by a 2-1 scoreline in the Quarterfinal Round.

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 made it to the tournament’s Final Four.

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.

And, ironically, the last time neither South Park or Quaker Valley made it to the Boys 2A title match — was in 2022 when the same two schools met at Highmark Stadium, with Deer Lakes shutting down Beaver and winning in extra time (see Matt Popchock’s match report from that game here).

Against an explosive Avonworth side in the Semifinal Round on Monday night, Beaver raced out to an early lead and delivered another stunning result.

By this point, it wasn’t a surprise they won, but how they did it as the goals kept coming in what turned into an 8-2 rout.

Furda scored just a minute into the match, stunning the ‘Lopes, who never recovered.

The Lancers, with 12 seniors who were baby-faced freshman, some who were still relegated to JV but some who contributed significantly to the 2022 title run (four freshman started on that team), have come full circle. This time around, Deer Lakes comes into this tournament as a hardened and battle-tested group with a chip on its shoulders. 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 with some championship pedigree.

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 PSN 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 proved 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.

Again, on Monday, the Lancers showed its resilience, taking down No. 2 Quaker Valley.

Even after giving up an early goal, Deer Lakes took command of the match but didn’t seize the lead until the second half.

Throughout the match, Deer Lakes put pressure on the Quaker Valley back line and QV’s senior goalkeeper Xander Vescio. As the match progressed, continued pressure and chances from the Deer Lakes midfielders and forwards paid off, with senior midfielder Collin Rodgers converting and giving the Lancers a two-goal swing in a blink of an eye within a one-minute span.