PIAA semifinalist Deer Lakes boys soccer making most of opportunity

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, November 11, 2018 | 10:12 PM

Deer Lakes saw its PIAA soccer quarterfinal game against Quaker Valley as an opportunity, and the Lancers didn’t waste their shot.

Matched up against arguably the most successful boys soccer program in WPIAL history, an up-and-coming Deer Lakes team didn’t flinch. The Lancers scored early and again late to pull off a 2-1 victory and reach the PIAA Class AA semifinals, continuing the deepest postseason run in school history.

“Honestly, QV is like a dynasty,” Deer Lakes coach Jordan Wiegand said. “They’re the ones in AA that have been running it for years. A lot of teams idolize them. They want to be (that). We’d obviously like to be that. What team wouldn’t? But I think this is truly the first step at getting to that level where we need to be.”

As recently as 2015, Deer Lakes missed the postseason entirely, finishing with a 6-9-2 overall record. The team responded with a pair of WPIAL quarterfinal appearances, falling a goal short of the semifinals on both occasions.

This fall, Deer Lakes (20-1-1) achieved a number of milestones: the Section 2-AA championship, the Lancers’ first title in 15 years; the first WPIAL semifinal appearance in school history; and the first PIAA tournament appearance and first two state playoff wins in school history.

Every win the Lancers get from here sets a new benchmark.

“We’ve been wanting to play Quaker (since) the beginning of the season,” said junior A.J. Dorman, who scored the winning goal against Quaker Valley with 3 minutes, 4 seconds remaining in regulation after netting the double-overtime winner against District 10 champion Fairview in the PIAA first round. “We knew we were going to see them eventually. And although it wasn’t the WPIAL championship, we did get to see them here, which we’re very fortunate to have.”

“It’s huge for us to be able to play such a team in such an atmosphere for such large stakes.”

Sophomore Michael Sullivan’s goal in the fifth minute of the game erased any nerves Deer Lakes might have felt against Quaker Valley, the defending PIAA champion in Class AA. But a 30-minute delay midway through the first half after QV forward Weston Grant suffered a significant leg injury and ended up being taken off in an ambulance sapped both teams of their momentum.

The players put jackets on to fight the sub-freezing wind chills during the delay, but Wiegand said the game more resembled kickball when it resumed.

“It was tough to see, and you never want to see another player get an injury like that,” Sullivan said. “That 30-minute break, it was tough to get back going again because it felt like an extra-long halftime. We didn’t come out the fastest, but after the first few minutes, we got back and it was good.”

Quaker Valley tied the game in the 14th minute of the second half before Dorman’s late winner.

“They were really pressing us, really figuring out their runs moving forward that maybe weren’t as creative the first half,” Wiegand said. “QV was figuring it out and clicking. We were just able to weather the storm, and we did get unlucky a few times as well — a few bobbles early on that we could have picked up and put in the back of their net, and it just didn’t happen. And then we’ve always got to credit (goalkeeper Jesse Greyshock) for making some great saves.”

So far during the state playoffs, Deer Lakes weathered the wind in Erie against Fairview and weathered the cold and a dynastic Quaker Valley in the quarterfinals. But Tuesday’s semifinal game against Shady Side Academy, with an 8 p.m. kickoff at Mars, represents another chance for the Lancers to make more history and avenge their only loss of the season, which happened in the WPIAL semifinals.

“It feels great to come out and show we’re not the underdogs anymore, and we’re a force to be reckoned with,” Sullivan said. “I’m looking forward to the next two years in the future, too. I’d like to see where we can keep going.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Deer Lakes