Kiski Area boys soccer looks to finish strong against section’s top teams

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, October 1, 2018 | 10:42 PM

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Kiski Area boys soccer coach Sean Arnold knew Section 1-AAA would be competitive even before his Cavaliers made their debut after dropping down from Class 4A in the offseason.

Six of their 10 section contests have been decided by one goal, and they have won their fair share to help build a third-place, 6-4 record in section play.

“The guys really embraced the section as a new start with fresh matchups,” Arnold said. “It’s brought new life and a clean slate. There’s several different styles of soccer that have really kept us on our toes and helped us improve.”

Kiski Area hopes to take that next step in a rematch at second-place Hampton on Tuesday evening.

“We’re pretty confident going into (Tuesday’s game),” senior goalkeeper Nicholas Smith said. “We played them really tough here.”

Hampton scored a 1-0 win over Kiski Area in double overtime Sept. 13, and the Talbots stand at 8-2 in section play, two games behind undefeated Mars heading into Tuesday’s action.

“We’re on a three-game winning streak so obviously, we want to keep that going,” Arnold said. “We felt we controlled the first game against Hampton. We did have our chances. We have really worked on our finishing, so when we get our chances, they go in. It should be an even match, and we’re riding high on confidence.”

The Cavaliers were on the outside looking in at the WPIAL playoffs last season. The Cavaliers hadn’t been in that position for nine seasons.

Kiski Area will clinch that return to the playoffs if it is able to defeat Hampton and Highlands loses its game Tuesday against Indiana. That would put the Cavaliers ahead of the Golden Rams by nine points with three games left.

Kiski Area also owns the tiebreaker based on a 2-1 victory over Highlands on Sept. 18.

“The clinch hasn’t been in the back of our mind too much,” Smith said. “We have been taking it one game at a time, and if we are able to wrap up a playoff spot at any point, that’s great. We’re hoping to control what we can control and not get too worried about anything else.”

The three-game winning streak Arnold spoke of featured a total of 12 goals in victories over Armstrong, North Hills and Burrell, so the mission of finishing has been on display as of late.

Freshman Campbell Curry and senior Ronnie Coleman each had goals in a 2-1 section win over North Hills. Curry added a hat trick in a 6-2 victory over Armstrong and has five goals on the season.

Freshman midfielder Owen Zimmerman has a team-best six goals. He had both tallies in the Highlands triumph.

Junior defender Greg Paes has a team-leading eight assists.

The 3-0 stretch followed back-to-back losses to Indiana and Mars. The setback to the Indians, a 1-0 result, came with a goal in the 78 ^th minute.

“That was really heartbreaking,” junior defender Ross Ziemianski said. “We went in with a lot of confidence. It stunk because we didn’t have our main center back and our other center mid, which was a bummer. But we’re hoping for good things next Thursday (Oct. 11), senior night at home (against Indiana), and the fans are going to be here. It should be a good game.”

Kiski’s 5-0 loss to Mars in the season opener was used as a measuring stick, Arnold said, for where the team was to kick off the campaign and for what it needed to work on.

The 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Planets when the teams met again Sept. 22 also was a measuring stick, Arnold added, to show how much the team has improved. Mars has only given up four goals in 12 games, and the goal the Cavaliers scored was the first the Planets surrendered in eight section matchups.

“That game was a real big boost for us,” Arnold said. “That’s the third-place team in all of triple-A. We played well against them. We scored first and had them on their heels a little bit. That proved even more that we can play with these good, top-tier teams. We just have to stick to the game plan and play a full 80-minute game.”

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at 412-388-5825, mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MLove_Trib.

Tags: Kiski School