Deer Lakes settles down after a “nervous” first half to shut out Hopewell in the boys soccer playoffs

From:

Ted Sarneso

Monday, October 21, 2024 | 9:33 p.m

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For three consecutive years, Deer Lakes and Hopewell faced off in the first round of the WPIAL boys soccer playoffs, with each team earning a win.

In Monday night’s third game at Lancer Stadium in West Deer, the No. 3 Lancers (16-2-1) defeated No. 14 Hopewell (9-8) 4-0 in the opening round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs.

Deer Lakes got two goals from junior Peyton Kushon and a goal each from junior Collin Rodger and sophomore Artemey Parshyn to win 4-0. Junior Welsey Boyle kept a clean sheet for the Lancers.

“Hopewell came here last year and beat us by the same score,” Deer Lakes coach Aaron Smith said. “They were bigger and more physical, and we knew we had better bring it with us coming in. I was worried because I know what they can bring, but we were successful.”

Vikings coach Nathan Richter said: “We knew they had a lot of good players. We tried to get our style of play going, but kudos to Deer Lakes. They did everything right and made it difficult for us to play.”

Deer Lakes came out and scored an early goal two and a half minutes into the game when Colton Bish passed to Kushon in the middle. Kushon made a move around his defender, which stopped goalkeeper Tallon Coleman, who thought his defender was clearing the ball.

Kushon then made a move past Coleman and laid a soft grounder toward the yawning cage to give the Lancers a 1-0 lead.

That was the only offense either team would see for the rest of the first half.

The Lancers did a good job defensively, knocking the ball away from Hopewell players and even taking it away with ease while the Vikings dribbled the ball.

Deer Lakes had the most chances with nine in the first half, but was unable to capitalize on them. The Lancers’ passes weren’t as crisp as they would have liked, which resulted in them missing those chances and failing to create further chances.

The only spectacular chance for the Vikings came when Bryce Ray received a through ball and had a clear path to the Lancer net. He got within five yards of the penalty area and shot the ball past goalkeeper Wesley Boyle to the left, sailing wide.

Finally, with just one second left in the first half, Parshyn managed to take a clean shot from a scrum and roll the ball just past Coleman to give the Lancers a 2-0 lead.

“We were talking on the sideline with three minutes left and I said we need one more here,” Smith said. “We work hard and apply pressure. If we score another goal before half-time, we can relax a bit.”

The Lancers came out more relaxed with a lead in the second half. They continued to put pressure on Hopewell’s defense with more scoring opportunities and were eventually able to score a third goal 23 minutes into the second period.

Parshyn sent a corner kick into the middle of the box and Collin Rodgers was able to rise and extend the Lancer lead with a header.

Just a few minutes later, Kushon, who had spent the entire second half trying to prevent another goal, finally got his chance.

He was right in front of the net when a shot from Rodgers came to him from the right side of the box, and he fired it just past Coleman to give the Lancers a 4-0 lead.

“We played a little more composed in the second half and were able to move the ball back and forth on them,” Smith said. “But with the teams we face later in the playoffs, we have to find a way to settle down earlier and play a full 80 minutes.”

The Lancers will need to shake off their nerves as quickly as possible when they face No. 6 seed North Catholic at home in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.

It will be the third time this season that the teams have played each other, with Deer Lakes winning both times, 1-0 and 2-0.

Tags: Deer Lakes, Hopewell