North Catholic boys edge Westmont Hilltop in PIAA Class 2A soccer contest
· Yahoo Sports
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Westmont Hilltop boys soccer team’s defense stood out and Hilltoppers junior goalkeeper Luke Wesner was nearly perfect while facing a barrage of North Catholic shots Wednesday night at Price Field.
The lone blemish, a goal by Trojans junior forward Jake Olkowski 7 minutes, 18 seconds into the second half, was decisive.
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District 7 third-place North Catholic edged District 6 champion Westmont Hilltop 1-0 in the first round of the PIAA Class 2A tournament.
“My assistant coach asked me if I think they’re a state-caliber championship team,” veteran Hilltoppers coach Ed Corona said of North Catholic.
“I said, ‘No question.’ They’re first-class. They possessed probably 75 to 80% of the game. I don’t know if we had a legitimate shot on goal.”
The Hilltoppers (19-2-3) had one corner kick and no shots on goal.
North Catholic (19-2-2) produced 13 shots and had 11 corner kicks while controlling the tempo throughout the contest.
“Our defense did a really good job of not letting them get any momentum when they wanted to counter,” North Catholic coach Scott Schlegel said. “Late in the game, they started throwing numbers forward. They can clearly score some goals, and I was worried in the last 10 minutes, but that’s why you love soccer.”
The Trojans will advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals against District 7 champion Belle Vernon (19-1-2), a 3-0 winner over District 5-8 champion Somerset (14-3-4).
Belle Vernon edged North Catholic 2-0 in the District 7 semifinals. The Trojans rebounded with a 2-1 overtime victory against Ambridge in the District 7 third-place game.
Westmont Hilltop defeated Central Cambria 1-1 (4-2 penalty kicks) in the District 6-2A title game to earn a spot in the state playoffs.
“Our kids played hard, which is all you could ask,” Corona said. “Our keeper (Wesner) played great.
“Regardless of this game, phenomenal season. To win the Laurel Highlands (Athletic) Conference, to win District 6, to even get here to a state round and to hold a potential championship team to 1-0, I couldn’t be prouder.”
Olkowski’s goal resulted from the Trojans pressuring the Hilltoppers in the box, creating a scoring opportunity from close range.
“We have all of this beautiful play in the middle of the field (without scoring a goal), and then you get in the box and sometimes it’s just chaos,” Schlegel said.
“You just create some chaos. He ends up finding the ball and poking it into the back of the net.”
Westmont Hilltop’s roster included seven seniors, whom Corona credited with taking a significant step during the offseason.
“When these kids were freshmen, you could tell that there was an attitude to work,” Corona said. “As soon as last season was over, we went straight to indoor (season) at Windber. We went straight to the spring season, PennWest, traveling all over the place. They’ve worked really hard and the record reflects that.”
The Hilltoppers coach noted that the banners hanging in the Westmont Hilltop gymnasium will be updated.
“All told, a fabulous season,” Corona said. “Put two more years on the Westmont banners, one for District 6 and one for Laurel Highlands. Look at the number of years on those banners, and soccer has a whole bunch of them.”