Hometown Boys Soccer Recap – Upper St. Clair Panthers – 10/11/2015

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, October 11, 2015 | 12:17 PM

On a crisp clear fall afternoon two long time rivals got together in a Hometown soccer game at Upper Saint Clair high school. The home standing Panthers came away with an impressive 7-0 victory over the Blue Devils.

Rivals in every sport and neighboring communities everyone was looking forward to this clash, but the Panthers on senior day had an easy time handling their neighbor. USC opened the scoring on a goal from Steffano Paolino at 11:07 of the first half. The Panthers tic tac toed passes around from right to left and he was wide open in front to tap it in for a 1-0 lead.

They would score again at 15:12 as Senior Danny Quiroga scored a fantastic goal. He found himself open on the left side of the goal and received a pass from Paolino but it was a bit too far in front of him. Quiroga slid feet first and tapped a shot into the corner of the net to make it 2-0. They made it 3-0 at 37:17 as Sophomore Jack Gordley sent a chip shot over the Lebo keeper to make it 3-0.

The second half saw the Blue Devils put on an offensive charge as they dominated play in the USC zone for the first 10 minutes but could not score. USC would respond by scoring four times in 11:31 to put the game away. At 9:36 Eric Lehman scored on a cross by Mark Vlah to put USC up 4-0.Four minutes later at 13:00 Senior Adam Heil scored on a 5 on 2 break and tapped  in an easy goal to go up 5-0. Nearly five minutes later at 17:59 Ethan March was wide open in the front of the Lebo goal and found a loose ball to make it 6-0. The scoring burst would end when at 20:57 Victor Dubbs put in a pretty header on a corner kick and it was 7-0. A game that was competitive became an easy win for the Panthers.

Mount Lebanon falls to 2-11 on the year, and has their backs against the wall in an attempt to make the WPIAL playoffs. Upper Saint Clair improves to 9-5-1 and  remains in third place in their section. They outshot their rival 15-3 in the game, and had 7 corner kicks to none. The Panthers were solid in every facet of the game as they are staunch defensively, great in the net, impressive on the push to offense, and are one of the best passing teams you will see. They are led by long time coach Ewe Schneider who did not coach last year after an accident. Catch all of the Panthers playoff action this year on the MSA Sports Network.

Tags: Upper St. Clair