South Fayette wins 2 WPIAL titles in 1 day
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
South Fayette hoists the WPIAL trophy after beating Moon, 1-0, in double overtime Saturday at Highmark Stadium to win the WPIAL Class 3A girls soccer championship.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
South Fayette’s Luke Gillen (8) fends off Hampton’s Hayden List (24) and Hudson Struble (8) as they battle for possession during the WPIAL Class 3A championship match Saturday at Highmark Stadium. Gillen scored a hat trick as the Lions won the 19th WPIAL title in program history.
South Fayette boys soccer has seen its fair share of action in the WPIAL soccer championship finale, as the program won its 19th title Saturday at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh, but the girls team earned its first district gold in a double-overtime victory for two championships in one day for the Lions.
South Fayette girls’ squad had already won a match by penalty kicks when it defeated top-seeded Mars in the Class 3A semifinals, so the Lions probably weren’t fazed as the clock in double overtime read no score with two minutes remaining and penalty kicks appeared to be on the docket against section-foe Moon (15-2-2).
South Fayette sophomore Mia Deramo ended the discussion if the Lions would win another match by penalty kicks in scoring an unassisted tally 1 hour and 48 minutes of play after the first touch was made to start the game.
Teammate Quinn Miller’s shot was blocked before Deramo notched the game winner that was taken near the top left of the box.
Lions keeper Catilyn Thompson made five saves for the clean sheet.
Moon keeper Serayah Leech stopped five shots.
South Fayette (15-4-2) won all four matches in the WPIAL tournament by shutout.
The Lions open play in the PIAA tournament on Tuesday against another familiar section opponent in Montour (14-3-1). The two split the season series this year. Kickoff will be after the boys play at a scheduled time of 8 p.m. at South Fayette High School.
South Fayette boys had a much easier time in earning the title in a 4-2 victory over Hampton.
The more impressive feat for the Lions (13-4-3) came throughout the tournament as they knocked off the No. 1, 2 and 5 seeds along the way to the championship.
James Casillo opened the scoring for the Lions 5:56 into the match after receiving a feed from Adam Thompson.
Luke Gillen scored the first of three at 8:31 of the first half before adding his second of the first 40 minutes at 22:08. Nate Belcufine assisted on the Gillen’s first goal, and the second was unassisted.
Gillen’s second tally turned out to be the game winner, as South Fayette had a 3-0 halftime lead, but the Talbots (17-3-1) battled back with two goals in the second half.
Thompson set up Gillen for the natural hat trick at 61:17 in the second half for a 4-nil advantage before Hampton’s Dom Jordan and Luke Fiscus scored to cut the deficit in half. Coleman Docherty and Conner Killmeyer assisted on the goals.
Dylan Janoski stopped six shots on target to earn the win in goal.
South Fayette hosts the third-place finisher from District 3, Kennard-Dale (16-2-1).