Gateway boys soccer makes 5th straight trip to playoffs, falls to Canon-McMillan

By: Michael Love
Sunday, October 27, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Purchase Photo Options

It wasn’t the way the Gateway boys soccer team wanted its WPIAL Class 4A first-round playoff game to play out.

Homestanding Canon-McMillan, the eighth seed, scored quickly, developed a multi-goal advantage in the first half, and finished off a surprising 6-0 victory over the No. 9 Gators on Oct. 22.

“We started off the game fairly flat,” Gateway coach Mike Rugh said.

“Canon-McMillan scored in the first 20 seconds, and it was 3-0 in the first five to 10 minutes. You are not going to win a lot of soccer games when you start out down three goals. It’s just not going to work out. But my hat’s off to Canon-Mac. They played very well. They were strong, they were big, and they were fast. We just didn’t keep up. We weren’t ready for it.”

The Big Macs led 4-0 at the half.

“We had a talk at halftime and came out in the first 10 to 15 minutes of the second half and probably should’ve scored two or three goals. We had some momentum come back to our side. We were playing a lot better. We were in the game and were engaged. We just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.”

Canon-McMillan scored again with 15 minutes left and closed the scoring with a penalty kick.

“I was disappointed for the guys, especially the seniors,” Rugh said.

“Guys like Nick and James LoCoco have given so much to the program over the past four years. I just wish we could’ve pulled out a little bit better result.”

Gateway finished tied with Central Catholic for second in Section 1 at 5-5 behind undefeated Plum (10-0). The teams split their season series, with the Gators winning 4-3 in overtime at Central Catholic before the Vikings returned the favor 4-2 at Antimarino Stadium late in the regular season.

Gateway bounced back from that loss with a 4-0 victory over Hempfield on Oct. 10 behind two goals from sophomore forward Cam Simon, and single scores from James LoCoco and freshman Ryan Helman.

LoCoco added two assists, and sophomore Max Fry and freshman Seungkyu Park provided helpers on the other two goals.

Freshman Maximo Estremera recorded his second shutout of his debut varsity season.

James LoCoco finished the season with a team-best 20 goals.

It was the Gators’ fifth consecutive trip to the WPIAL playoffs. Rugh said his message after the playoff game was positive and reflected on all the good things from the season.

“At the end of the day, it was a successful season,” Rugh said.

“As a program, we’ve come a long way. It’s my seventh year with the program, and in my first two years, we won four games one year and then five games. Now, we’ve been to the playoffs five straight years. The program is headed in the right direction. We always tell the older guys to leave it better than you found it. They are certainly doing that.

“One of our goals at the start of the season was to win a playoff game, and we fell a little short of that. But we will be back next year.”

Suiting up for the final time in the playoff game were James and Nick LoCoco, as well as Sean Higson, Cam Pawlowski, Aiden Hagerty, Owen Echegaray, Peter Reynolds, Brett Rossi, Moataz Khazaal, Vincent Vagni and Koren Davis.

Rugh said he is excited for next season and the core coming back led by Simon, Fry and fellow sophomore Amar Murrell-Merriweather along with Estremera, Park and Helman.

Nick and James LoCoco were honored for their play this year with selection to the Section 1 all-star team. Simon received honorable mention laurels.

“Cam grew up last year, and he really learned a lot more this season,” Rugh said. “Next year, he’s just going to be better.”

Rugh said that group of younger players grew up and matured a great deal this season and will form a strong core coming back the next couple of years.

“What is important, and you see it in other teams we play, too, is a lot of these guys are playing year-round and getting the touches,” Rugh said.

“We do start early in the summer and get at it. There is that lull, and hopefully a lot of our guys are going to be involved in their cup teams. Hopefully, when they get those touches and get that game experience, it should flow into the high school season.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Gateway