Quaker Valley boys shut out Charleroi in WPIAL semifinals

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, October 30, 2018 | 12:03 AM

The first goal swung the pendulum one way, and it never swung back.

Charleroi’s hopes for a WPIAL Class 2A boys soccer championship were cut short Monday night when Quaker Valley dealt the Cougars their first loss of the season, 5-0.

“That first goal, that’s the most important in these playoff games,” Charleroi coach Jon Ducoli said. “It put us on our heels a little bit, and we started playing a little differently than we had been playing.”

In the early going, Cullin Woytovich wasted little time creating offensive opportunity for the Cougars. Less than six minutes in, Woytovich fed the ball to Nick Laskey, but Quaker Valley’s goalkeeper Dom Lagnese made the save.

After defensive footwork by Charleroi’s Phil Banks kept Quaker Valley’s Dom Reiter at bay, Joe Caruso headed out a Quakers shot and held the home team off the board.

Though the back and forth play was 50-50 in the first half, the Quakers cashed in on more of their offensive opportunities.

The game’s first goal came moments later when Franky Fernandez was awarded a penalty kick after getting tangled up with one of the Cougars. Fernandez drilled the shot low and to the right, out of the reach of outstretched Charleroi goalkeeper Nick Goodwin.

The semifinalists traded advances for the remainder of a physical first half. Woytovich was flanked by a pair of Quakers defenders thoughout, bodied to the ground on several occasions.

With 2:07 to play in the first half, the Quakers doubled their advantage. Toma David put the them up 2-0 with a shot past Goodwin, and the score held to close the first half.

Offensive chances for Charleroi in the second half were few and far between. Quaker Valley’s double-team on Woytovich made it nearly impossible to generate any scoring.

The Quakers widened their lead, racing up the field with just over 25 minutes to play, and a shot by Pierce Diggins made it a 3-0 game.

Quaker Valley’s Fritz Reiter connected with Fernandez on a slick pass, and he cashed in for his second goal of the game with 19:10 to play.

Less than two minutes later, it seemed Charleroi might crack the goose egg on the scoreboard. Laskey eyed up Woytovich dead center on the cage, but the ball sailed high over the goal.

That’s the kind of frustrating night it was for the Cougars.

“Whenever you take Cullen out of the game, it’s tough, but we have such a vast bunch of strikers on our squad,” Ducoli said. “They did a good job of closing down the lanes on us really quickly.”

Quaker Valley capped off its night with a Dom Reiter goal to seal the 5-0 win and punch the Quakers’ ticket to the WPIAL championship game at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh.

All is not lost for Charleroi, which has the chance to reach the state tournament with a win in Thursday’s consolation game against Deer Lakes.

There were tear-strewn faces on the sideline behind the Charleroi bench, but Ducoli reminding his players they’re very much alive in their quest for a state title.

“You just pick your head up,” he said. “We have another game to play Thursday. You keep this one in the back of your head, but you don’t make it a total focus.”

Ashley Chase is a freelance writer for the Mon Valley Independent.

Tags: Charleroi, Quaker Valley