Oct 22, 2018 4 min read

CANONSBURG – Canon-McMillan and Fox Chapel are two of the most successful boys’ soccer programs in the WPIAL.

Even though it was a No. 3 seed in Canon-Mac and No. 14 seed in Fox Chapel, the match was by no means a lopsided, first-round contest.

In the regular season, Austin McColpin had five goals.

But the versatile, senior midfielder found his scoring touch at the right moment with a hat trick for the Big Macs in a 4-1 triumph over the Foxes in the opening round of the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs at Canon-McMillan Stadium.

“We were so ready for this game and I think we all wanted this win so badly,” McColpin said. “We knew what we have to do and we just played with a very calm demeanor. As my coach always tell us, we just had to chop that tree away and be patient on offense.”

Since 2009, Canon-Mac is 3-1 against Fox Chapel in the playoffs. The last time these two squads met in the postseason was in the Class 3A championship game in 2015, a 2-1 overtime win for the Big Macs.

“Fox Chapel is a really good team and I knew that this one was going to be a fight,” Canon-Mac head coach Larry Fingers said. “After they tied it up 1-1, I loved the way we bounced back. Our kids are very resilient. Fox Chapel did a lot of counter-attacks and we were able to contend their speed up front.”

With the win, the Big Macs (15-2) improved to 8-2 in the first round since 2009.

Canon-Mac will play No. 5 seed Pine Richland, a 5-2 winner over Plum, in the quarterfinals on Thursday with a site and time to be determined.

Just five minutes into the contest, the Big Macs registered their first shot and Joey Fonagy scored a header off a beautiful cross pass from Nino Civitate.

Both defenses led the charge the rest of the first half, as neither team could sustain possession in their own end. The Big Macs held a 7-2 advantage in shots in the opening 40 minutes and carried a 1-0 lead into intermission.

The Foxes (11-7-1) had some early chances to begin the second half, and Alex Marotte finally cashed in after fighting through some traffic in front of the Big Macs’ net and getting a goal to tie things up at 1-1 with 31:53 left in the second half.

C-M quickly responded only a minute later, as McColpin headed a shot into the back of the net after a corner kick from Luke Gladden.

McColpin gave the Big Macs some insurance with two more goals in the final 7:05. The first goal was a header off a stellar throw-in from Tommy Samosky, and the second was again a header off a corner kick from Gladden.

“We find some creases with those headers and it was a total team effort on those goals,” McColpin said. “Tommy gave me a really nice pass on the throw-in, and Luke placed those corner kicks perfectly. I just use my height, so that definitely helps. You just have to have that mindset of I’m winning this ball and I’m going to fight for it in the air.”

Alex Hibert finished with two saves in net for the Big Macs, and Clayton Humbert was tagged with the loss for the Foxes with eight stops.

“Austin’s been around the program for four years and is one of our senior captains,” Fingers said. “He led by example tonight. Seniors leaders do senior leaders’ things. Were we surprised he got three goals? No. Were we expecting it tonight? No. But we will definitely take it.”