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Upper St. Clair wants one more soccer win, one more PIAA title
Friday, November 19, 2004

One more win -- that's all it will take.

With a victory tomorrow, the Upper St. Clair boys' soccer team will secure a second consecutive PIAA title, an undefeated season and a legitimate claim that they are the best team in the country.

Upper St. Clair (25-0) plays West Chester Henderson (20-3-1) in the PIAA Class AAA boys' soccer championship at 8 p.m. tomorrow at Hersheypark Stadium. The matchup is the last of five championship games at the venue.

Upper St. Clair -- ranked No. 1 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/adidas poll -- has won 29 consecutive games and yielded just nine goals all season, never giving up more than one in a game.

"I think you can say that since we are the defending champions, we're the team to beat," Panthers coach Uwe Schneider said. "Last year it was a little different, but this time it seems like everyone is looking at us as the team to beat."

And the team to beat has a sizeable arsenal of veteran fire power. Senior Andy Machi leads the Panthers with 22 goals, senior Brett Fackenthal has 20 and senior Scott Dillie 16.

The Panthers are trying to do something not many WPIAL teams have done -- enjoy the ride home from the PIAA soccer championship. Since 1973, WPIAL teams are 4-11-2 in Class AAAA championship games.

"I guess it does become an East-West thing in the final," Schneider said. "I always thought that there are some very good coaches in the WPIAL and a lot of competitive teams that can win the [PIAA] championship a lot of years. I'm just hoping we can this year."

Class AA boys
Radnor (14-8-3) enters the PIAA championship with the most losses of any of the 10 teams vying for titles, but ...

"I've seen their schedule and it's tough," South Park senior forward Adam Obranovich said. "I've talked to some people and they all said that you can forget about their record because they've played some of the best competition. I mean, they beat [defending PIAA champion] Elco."

Obranovich had carried the Eagles throughout the regular season, scoring 29 goals, but didn't score in the first six playoff games. He broke out of his slump with two goals and two assists in Tuesday's semifinal win against Fleetwood.

Junior midfielder T.J. O'Brien has picked up the slack for Obranovich, scoring 10 goals in seven playoff games since Oct. 25.

South Park (21-5-1), making its first PIAA final appearance, has yielded just three goals in its past eight games and has cruised through the PIAA bracket with shutout wins against Clearfield, Harbor Creek and Fleetwood.

"This year, we've played well as a team and forgot about individual records," Obranovich said. "You know, that carries you a lot farther than when people are worried about how many goals they're going to score. We've had teams like that in the past, and this is much better."

Class A boys
Trinity Christian (23-3) advanced to the PIAA championship for the second season in a row. The Falcons are hoping to have better luck this time against Antietam (25-2) than they did last year in a 5-0 loss to Christopher Dock.

"Having been there once, it takes that awe factor away," Falcons coach Dave Schenk said. "We know we have our work cut out for us, but we're not going there for second place."

Trinity Christian, led by seniors Luke Zappa (40 goals), Ben Sera (25 goals) and defensive stalwart Justin Grubisha, has outscored its past 13 opponents, 52-14.

Class AAA girls
WPIAL teams have lost the past seven PIAA championship games, scoring just one goal in that stretch.

Moon (22-1-2), playing in its first PIAA final, is hoping to buck the trend.

The focus for Downingtown West (20-6-1) should be on the Moon trio of Megan Mischler (34 goals), Katie Michalski (22 goals) and Liz Martin (15 goals).

First published on November 19, 2004 at 12:00 am