Upper St. Clair bests Plum boys soccer in overtime

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, October 21, 2017 | 7:36 PM

Four times in the regular season the Plum boys soccer team scored a goal in the final 10 minutes of regulation to tie or take a lead.

So coach Anthony Russo was relieved but not surprised when Jordan Floyd's booming 35-foot shot with 3:14 left in the second half of Saturday's WPIAL Class AAAA first-round game against Upper St. Clair found the back of the net.

The score tied the game, and the Mustangs and Panthers headed into overtime.

Plum was 4-0 in overtime games in the regular season, so Russo was confident his team could score the winner.

Unfortunately for the No. 7-seeded Mustangs, the Panthers had other ideas.

Senior Christopher Lloyd tallied the winning score off an assist from junior Ben Burlovic with 3:27 left in the first overtime to lift No. 10 Upper St. Clair to a 2-1 victory.

“I am at a loss for words right now,” Russo said. “Soccer can be a cruel sport. The guys are pretty emotional. The better team doesn't always win.”

On the winning goal, Mustangs coaches and several players felt one or more Upper St. Clair players were offsides.

No call was made, and the goal stood.

“There were a lot of people screaming it was offsides,” Russo said. “We have video, so we'll see.”

Upper St. Clair, the second-place team from Section 2, came into the game with an uncharacteristic 6-9-1 record and had lost five of its past six games.

The Panthers also lost senior defender Sean Korpics, a Duquesne commit, to knee and ankle injuries in the regular-season finale at Fox Chapel.

But veteran coach Uwe Schneider said Upper St. Clair's first goal, at 16:40 of the first half, gave his players a boost and settled them down. Senior John Gordley's long shot was saved by Plum keeper Gavin Ekiert, but sophomore Aidan Gordley cleaned up the rebound.

“We were expecting a tight game coming in,” Schneider said. “Then Plum scored a really nice goal there with three left. It just comes down to trying to rally your team and trying to make something happen. I am really (happy for) Chris Lloyd. He's been struggling scoring all year long.”

The teams met for the first time since the first round of the WPIAL playoffs in 2012, a 4-0 Panthers' victory.

Upper St. Clair will face No. 2 North Allegheny, a winner over Connellsville in the first round Saturday. That quarterfinal contest will be Wednesday at a site and time to be determined.

Plum (11-6-1), the runner-up to Pittsburgh Central Catholic in Section 3, is 0-6 in WPIAL first-round games since 2006.

“The outcome wasn't from a lack of effort,” Russo said. “The guys gave it everything they had. The ball bounces a certain way sometimes.”

Each team had eight shots on goal in regulation. Ekiert and USC senior Johnny Capetta each made seven saves. The-winning goal was the only shot on goal in the extra session.

Perhaps Plum's greatest scoring opportunity of the first half, and the game, came about seven minutes after USC took the lead.

Mustangs senior Kole Lisovich let loose on a direct kick just outside the box with 9:10 until halftime. The ball appeared destined for the back of the Panthers' net, but Capetta made a fully extended diving stop with both hands, pushing the ball out of play.

Plum was unable to capitalize on its resulting corner kick. The Mustangs had seven corners to one for USC.

In addition to the eight shots, Plum had several other scoring chances that either went wide or sailed high.

Mustangs senior Callan Scharba, the team's leading scorer with nine goals in the regular season, lifted a ball from 25 yards that sailed only a couple of feet over the cross bar with 11:30 left in regulation.

Freshman Darius Flowers did the same about a minute later, and sophomore Lucas Gildea pushed a ball just left of the USC goal at the five-minute mark.

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Mlove_Trib.

Tags: Plum, Upper St. Clair