Oct 23, 2012 3 min read

CLAYSVILLE – With three wins this season over Class AA section champions, South Fayette boys soccer coach Rob Eldridge believed his team was one of the top eight in the classification and deserved a home playoff game.The Lions were seeded ninth and forced to hit the road, but Monday’s 3-0 win at No. 8 McGuffey in the first round of the postseason should do plenty to back Eldridge’s assertion.”In our minds, we expected to come in here and win this game,” Eldridge said. “No disrespect to McGuffey, we certainly didn’t take them lightly, but we knew if we played our best game that we should come out with a win.”Brian Coyne had two goals and Jake Thomas added one for South Fayette (13-4-1), which blew open a scoreless game with three second-half scores.Overall, the Lions held a 12-1 edge in shots and a 9-2 advantage in corner kicks.”They came out in the second half and took it to us physically,” said McGuffey coach Jim Kita, whose team won the first section title in program history this season. “I think that’s the difference in the game. They were much more physical than us.”South Fayette advanced to the WPIAL Class AA quarterfinals and will play top-seeded South Park (18-0) Thursday – site and time to be determined.Monday’s win was the Lions’ second over McGuffey (13-4-1) this season, after the Lions knocked off the Section 6-AA champions, 1-0, Sept. 8. South Fayette also beat the co-champions of its own section, Quaker Valley and West Allegheny. Both were top five seeds in the playoff draw.”The games that we won earlier in the season, I think they’ll have a little bit more meaning Thursday,” Eldridge said. “We’ve played with West Allegheny, Quaker Valley and a very good Montour team. We know that South Park is going to give us all that we can handle, but we’re certainly ready for the task.”South Fayette neutralized McGuffey’s scoring duo of Tyler and Aaron Harris, who combined for 45 goals this season, often rotating several defenders at the Harris brothers and controlling the ball for extended periods of time in the offensive zone.Coyne scored his first goal off a corner kick in the 57th minute, screening a McGuffey defender then using his left foot to beat goalkeeper Taylor Pasquariello.”Kind of just took our hearts, that first goal,” Kita said.Thomas headed home a ball after a Pasquariello challenge in the 61st minute before Coyne notched his 11th goal of the season in the 71st.”After last year, we obviously didn’t have the season we wanted to,” said Coyne, whose team was 3-12-1 a season ago. “This year, we were hungry. Everyone was underestimating us, so we came and showed them who’s boss.”