Lack of offense ends PT’s season in quarterfinals
CORAOPOLIS – It was the worst possible way to start a match.
Just 30 seconds in, James Nolan fired in a shot off a throw-in to give North Allegheny a lead and send Peters Township into a state of shock.
The Indians battled hard and had opportunities but the Tigers made the goal stand, and added another in the second half, to come away with a 2-0 victory in the WPIAL Class 4-A soccer quarterfinals at Moon High School Wednesday night.
The win moves North Allegheny to 13-2-5 and sends the Tigers to the semifinals Saturday against Penn Trafford. Peters Township, the No. 3 seed, ended the season with a 13-2-3 record.
Nolan is a senior forward and scored his fifth goal before most people at Moon knew what happened.
“The goal was not an indicator of the entire match,” said PT head coach Bobby Dyer. “We were chasing a goal after that. For the first 36 seconds, we lost our focus. We made two mental errors and they scored. It forced us to open ourselves up to score a goal.”
Dyer prefers to have opposing defenses backing up, chasing down long outlet passes. The early goal didn’t change the strategy but it changed the process.
“We prefer to push the pace,” said Dyer.
North Allegheny got its second goal at 16:30 when Nick Williams sent one in in front of the net following a scrum.
“We’ll take any goal we can get,” said NA head coach Bob Vosmaer. “After we scored, that meant the other team had to come after you. But you still have to play your game.”
Peters Township battled to the end but North Allegheny choked off any real scoring chances for the win.
“I think this was only the third time we trailed,” said Dyer. “We’re not used to that.”