Deer Lakes boys come up big, get past West Mifflin in Class 3A quarterfinals

By: Jerin Steele
Thursday, October 27, 2022 | 9:29 PM

At one point in his career, Nate Litrun wasn’t interested in scoring goals.

He wanted to focus more on his center back position, but he stands 6-foot-5, so Deer Lakes coach Aaron Smith wanted to use his size in the box on corner kicks.

It took some convincing, but eventually Litrun gave it a try, and he has blossomed into quite the weapon for the Lancers.

For the second consecutive game, Litrun cashed in on a header off a corner kick and the fourth-seeded Lancers went on to win 1-0 over No. 12 West Mifflin in the Class 3A boys soccer quarterfinals Thursday night.

“Last year he wanted to stay back (on corners), but I told him that he has a huge advantage over anybody out there with his size if we can get him comfortable seeing the ball,” Smith said. “I think he has six or seven goals this year on headers. We have other guys stepping up, too, to get him the ball. It’s nice having that advantage on corners.”

The Lancers (18-2) advanced to the semifinals, where they will face top-seeded South Park (18-0) on Monday at a site and time to be announced. West Mifflin finished 12-7-1.

Litrun’s goal came in the 20th minute. Zane Spence sent a high-arching corner kick into the box, and Litrun smashed the ball into the net. The goal was similar to the one he scored in Deer Lakes’ 1-0 win over Hopewell in the first round.

“It felt great,” Litrun said of his goal. “I couldn’t do it without my teammates. We’re moving onto the semis, which is pretty crazy. We have plays designed for corners that we work on in practice. It was just a great cross.”

Deer Lakes dominated possession in the first half and had nine corner kicks to none for West Mifflin. Titans keeper Flynn McCracken made several saves to keep the game close.

West Mifflin was coming off what was believed to be the first WPIAL playoff victory in program history, a 1-0 upset of No. 5 Belle Vernon.

The Titans had flurries of possession in the second half, but their best chance to score came with nine minutes remaining. The Titans generated consecutive corners, but each one was successfully defended. Litrun headed the first one over the back line, and Michael Butler headed the second attempt out of the 18-yard box and away from danger.

West Mifflin also had a free kick from 40 yards with 29 seconds remaining, but the attempt was cleared on the first touch by Litrun all the way past midfield.

“Our guys were relaxed tonight,” Smith said. “In the first game against Hopewell, we didn’t possess very well because we were nervous, to be honest, but tonight in the locker room before the game I could tell there was a more relaxed atmosphere. I told them West Mifflin would be a tough, blue-collar team, so we had to move the ball around fast and try to avoid getting into tackles.”

The Lancers, who won the WPIAL 2A title in 2020, are one win away from advancing to the final for the third time in four years.

“We got ousted in the first round last year in my first year coaching them, but if you look at our lineup this year, we’re a lot bigger and we have some freshmen that have come in to supplement it,” Smith said. “You look around the field, and there aren’t many holes there. We’ll have a big test coming up, but we’re looking forward to it.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Deer Lakes, West Mifflin