Chemistry, experience helping Deer Lakes boys soccer chase 1st section title since ’03

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, September 24, 2018 | 11:27 PM

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Deer Lakes gathered on the field with the second half of its Section 2-AA boys soccer game against Freeport set to begin, a two-goal deficit threatening the Lancers’ unbeaten record.

The captains delivered one message: Despite the score, Deer Lakes needed to treat the next 40 minutes as a brand-new game, a brand-new opportunity. Coach Jordan Wiegand relayed another: The Lancers could prove their championship mettle with a comeback.

They did both, rallying to tie the game with a second remaining on the clock and winning on their rival’s field in double overtime.

How large that victory ultimately will prove remains to be seen, but for Class AA No. 2 Deer Lakes (9-0-1, 6-0-1), it represented a significant mile marker on the road to a historic season.

“When you’re down 3-1 to a team like that, many teams tend to fall apart in that sense,” said junior A.J. Dorman, who scored the game-winning goal with two minutes remaining in double overtime. “You have internal struggles … that just showed the chemistry. We won the game together. We all had each other’s backs.”

It’s a chemistry built over years of playing together — Deer Lakes’ players grew up in the same youth leagues — and one that grew as a young roster propelled Deer Lakes to a second-place section finish and WPIAL quarterfinal appearance last season.

As important as chemistry is, experience can matter even more — and Deer Lakes is getting plenty of that as it pursues its first section title since 2003 and at least a WPIAL semifinal berth, which would be the program’s first.

The record might not show much adversity, but the Lancers have dealt with injuries (star keeper Jesse Greyshock is among the players who missed games, though he played against Freeport), squandered leads (Shady Side Academy rallied from a two-goal deficit to force a 2-2 draw) and staged comebacks.

“Each game that we’ve had so far has brought out the character of our team,” Wiegand said. “We’ve been down by two goals to come back for a win, we’ve been up by two goals to tie Shady Side. We’ve had a lot of different experiences throughout the time.

“It’s been up and down, but it’s been a lot of good opportunities for our team to get familiar with everything because as everyone else knows, once you get to playoffs, anything can happen.”

Deer Lakes knows full well the bizarre scenarios that can surface in the postseason: The Lancers were eliminated by Beaver in double overtime in the 2017 WPIAL quarterfinals, a game in which Wiegand was ejected late in regulation.

Getting a variety of different experiences now can only help down the road, Wiegand said. The Lancers typically go 15 or 16 players deep, but all 24 players on the roster have gotten into a game at some point.

“Even coming into this season, losing only three starters and gaining a pretty experienced team back, we knew we were going to have a very good chance to make a deep run this year,” Wiegand said. “Our leaders have stepped up, and once again we probably only have two senior starters. This team keeps getting more seasoned with experience: a lot of sophomores, juniors, freshmen, they’re gaining some valuable lessons that most players probably wouldn’t see at bigger programs until maybe their senior year.”

The experiences already are paying off in some ways: The draw against Shady Side Academy proved to Deer Lakes that two-goal deficits aren’t insurmountable, and that partially drove the Lancers in the second half against Freeport. They also overcame the adversity of a disallowed goal, Colton Spence stunned Freeport with his last-second tying goal and Dorman provided the double-OT dagger.

“It was so exciting,” Dorman said. “That was by far probably the best highlight of my soccer career, of all the years I’ve played. It was all just kind of a big blur. I just remember me kicking the ball, the ball going off the goalie’s hand and in, and me sprinting to the corner. I’ve watched the goal numerous times, and they got the whole celebration in there.”

Deer Lakes used the Shady Side Academy draw as motivation against Freeport, but now the Lancers can do the same against Shady Side itself. They visit the defending WPIAL champion Indians on Tuesday.

With the midway point of the season just past, Deer Lakes knows its job is just half-done. The bigger experiences are yet to come.

“We’ve always had very strong second halves of the year, so expectations are very high,” Wiegand said. “Also, by the same token, we’ve never started out like this. We’re still trying to figure things out, it’s not going to be a finished product until we get to the playoffs, but still, we want to see everything out. But in our section, anything can happen.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Deer Lakes