Fox Chapel makes early goals stand up in PIAA boys soccer 1st-round victory

By: Jerin Steele
Tuesday, November 5, 2024 | 8:02 PM

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With near record temperatures for early November on Tuesday, the Fox Chapel boys soccer team decided to add its own heat to the equation.

The Foxes put Mechanicsburg under pressure from the opening kickoff, forced a bevy of turnovers and feasted off them.

Sean Regan and Rocco Poli scored within a minute of each other 10 minutes into the match, and the Foxes cruised from there to a 3-0 win in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs.

“That’s how we usually play,” Fox Chapel coach Erik Ingram said. “We did a good job of that for the first 20 minutes, and then I thought we let them back into the game a bit. But overall our defense was great tonight, and our attack and midfield created chance after chance, so we did more than enough to get the win.”

Fox Chapel (14-4-2) advanced to play District 3 runner-up Warwick in Saturday’s quarterfinals at a site and time to be announced. Mechanicsburg, the fourth-place team in District 3, finished 10-9-3.

The Foxes, fresh off winning their first WPIAL championship since 1995, were dominant early.

They generated pressure by causing turnovers and quickly cashed in twice in the 10th minute.

The first goal came off a corner kick by Nick Squeglia to the back post. Milo Chiu headed the ball to Regan, who tapped it in on the goal line.

It was the first goal of the season for Regan, a center back.

“It felt really great, because we’ve been struggling to score out of the gates,” Regan said. “Lately we haven’t been able to score until the second half, so to start off with two goals in the first 10 minutes was great.”

After play restarted, Fox Chapel’s Paul Fitzsimmons created a turnover and moved the ball quickly to Aidan Stein, who made a strong run down the left side. He sent a low cross to Poli, who put it in to make it 2-0.

Fox Chapel continued to control possession the rest of the half and got a third goal in the final minute of the first half on a penalty by Stein.

Stein was fouled in the box by Mechanicsburg’s Nathan Babyak.

Babyak was issued a yellow card for the foul. After the penalty was converted, the Mechanicsburg bench was shown a red card, and one of the coaches subsequently was ejected.

“I know their coaches weren’t happy with the call, but they had been physically bullying us around because they were bigger,” Ingram said. “Aidan went to finish a shot and the kid just swept him and he never got to shoot. The PK was legit, and he finished it.”

Mechancisburg was able to keep possession for longer stretches in the second half but wasn’t able to do much with it.

The Foxes earned their third consecutive shutout in the postseason. They have yielded only one goal in four postseason matches.

“I thought our defense did a great job of limiting their opportunities, and the opportunities they did get off, our goalkeeper (Brady Matthews) took care of,” Ingram said.

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Fox Chapel