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Quaker Valley soccer teams check boxes on to-do lists en route to playoffs

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Sunday, October 20, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Quaker Valley soccer has been amazing this season.

QV’s girls team wrapped up first place in Section 3-2A with a 9-1 record, outscoring the opposition by a 37-4 margin in those 10 games.

“We have a talented group, but you can’t win with talent alone,” said Rachel Loudermilk, QV’s co-head coach alongside Maggie Behan. “Chemistry and drive are huge factors in team sports. This group has all three — talent, chemistry and drive — which has led to their success.”

Behun discussed the team’s regular season goals.

“At the beginning of the season, we asked the girls to come up with team goals. Three of the four goals — go undefeated at home, win by a shutout at all home games, win the section and make the playoffs — were achieved,” she said. ”The only goal they did not meet was a shutout for every home game.

“They allowed just one goal against co-section champion Beaver in our last section game at home — which also happened to fall on our senior night where we recognized Anna Hanley and Mia Modrovich — and an additional goal in our last regular season game versus Shady Side Academy. Seven shutouts out of nine home games is pretty impressive.”

QV allowed just nine goals all season while collecting 56 overall.

Behind the talented goalkeeping of freshman Ava Hajok and junior Clara Herman, the Quakers finished with 12 shutouts in the regular season.

“The team has had a great performance in section play,” said Modrovich, a defensive player this season. “We are at the top of our section, and I think our most recent game against Beaver gave us the confidence we needed going into playoffs.

“I think we are going to be able to make a far run in playoffs. We just need to take it one game at a time and show up for each game.”

QV edged Beaver, 2-1, in a crucial section contest Oct. 9 that knocked the Bobcats from the undefeated ranks.

It was perhaps biggest win of the season for the Quakers, who moved into a tie with Beaver atop the section standings.

Midfielders Ari Bosh, a junior, and Annabel Miko, a sophomore, accounted for the QV goals. Hajok was the winning goalkeeper.

“The team has had a great performance in section play,” Modrovich said. “We are at the top of our section, and I think our most recent game against Beaver gave us the confidence we needed going into playoffs.”

Shutout No. 12 for the Quakers was attained Oct. 14 in a 4-0 section win at Avonworth. Miko registered a hat trick for the winning side and Bosh added one goal.

Miko has five hat tricks including one four-goal performance in 2024.

QV (13-2-2) ended the regular season with a 1-1 tie against Shady Side Academy (6-9-2) as Miko netted her team’s only goal in the first half.

“I am very confident in this team,” Miko said. “I know we can make it very far in the playoffs if we all work together. We have great chemistry on and off the field, which has led to our success.

“Our goal is to make it far and give our all each game.”

Miko led the squad in scoring this season with 26 goals and six assists, followed by Bosh with 14 goals and 10 assists.

Sophomore attacker June Lukasavage chipped in with five goals and two assists.

Next up for the Quakers is a WPIAL Class 2A playoff appearance.

“We couldn’t be more excited for the playoffs,” Behun said. “But the playoffs are always tough, going up against teams we have not met in competition before. And as we have experienced in previous years, the brackets sometimes work in your favor, and they sometimes don’t.”

While the QV girls established goals for the long grind of a regular season, they readjust their thinking for a game-to-game position in the playoffs.

“The team has made new goals for the playoffs, which we will leave in the locker room for now,” Loudermilk said. “As coaches, our expectation is that you work hard during the season so that come playoff time, the team is performing at its best.

“There are a lot of talented teams out there and with the playoffs, there are no do-overs. It’s win or go home, and this group is not ready to be done.”

Six QV players were named all-section this year: Modrovich, Hanley, juniors Emma Currier and Bosh, Miko and Hajok, who was credited with 11 shutouts.

QV boys finish strong

Quaker Valley’s boys soccer team ended the regular season with a 14-game unbeaten streak and first-place finish in Section 2-2A.

QV outscored its opponents 86-8 in section play and 87-14 overall.

Former QV assistant Sean Ryan is his first season as head coach.

“I’m very pleased with how the boys have performed,” Ryan said. “I have asked them to play a very specific and difficult way. We invite pressure into our defensive third and play beyond that pressure.

“At any point, we could give the ball up and give the opposition a chance. However, the boys have learned our patterns of play, adjusted to playing out of pressure in high-risk scenarios and excelled at being able to break through that pressure. Their effort and execution have been something that I admire daily.”

The Quakers (14-3-1, 14-1-1) defeated Central Valley, 4-1, on Oct. 15 to finish in a tie atop Section 2-2A with Avonworth (14-2-2, 14-1-1), which won the tiebreaker for WPIAL playoff seeding.

Andrew Vescio, a senior, and Tanner Schultz, a junior, are QV’s co-captains; they anchor the team’s defensive corps. Senior Nathan Pribik is the starting goalkeeper.

“Matt Henry, Elliot Thompson, Asher Muretish, Liam Miller, Will Meagher and Mike Semonik have all been consistent contributing factors to our defensive success,” Ryan said.

Quaker Valley’s midfield is led by senior Carter Turk, who is complemented by sophomore Charlie Pylie as well as juniors Levi Carver and Patrick Connors.

“They have done well to understand the responsibilities of the game plan,” Ryan said, “which require calm and quality in the face of tons of physicality and pressure.”

Senior Colin Benge and juniors Sutton Hoehl and Issac Williams are QV’s top front-line players while Finn Thompson, a freshman midfielder, and Corben Hopkins, a junior forward, are leading reserves.

“The biggest surprise for me was how ready our underclassmen were for the challenge this season,” Ryan said. “I’d suggest that in each and every one of our games this year, we have been the younger side.

“My surprise comes from how physically adept the boys have been. There are plenty of big, strong, athletic players we defend against, and we have held our own. I credit that to Derek Clark, as well his excellent replacement, Mia Anthon, in the athletic training department.”

Senior leadership in 2024 has been furnished by Vescio, Pribik, Turk, Benge, Henry and Elliot Thompson.

“I’m very proud of our seniors,” Ryan said. “They have a lot of desire to win, and pressure to do so as well. All six have been excellent leaders and quality performers.”

One of the season highlights was an 8-0 section victory Oct. 3 against Mohawk on the Quakers’ senior night as Benge, Hoehl, Turk, Schultz, Muretisch and freshman midfielder Rafael Rojas all scored.

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