PKs are OK for Norwin boys soccer team as it marches on in PIAA tournament

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Sunday, November 12, 2023 | 4:07 PM

Purchase Photo Options

CHAMBERSBURG — These days, when regulation ends and two overtimes conclude with no result, the Norwin boys soccer team doesn’t clock out and go home.

No, when it is time for penalty kicks, Norwin calls in the Knight Shift.

The team’s penalty-shooting unit is 3-0 this postseason and has the Knights (17-5-1) a win away from a trip to Mechanicsburg for the PIAA Class 4A championship.

“It’s like, we just did this, and here we are again,” senior goalkeeper Anthony Scalise said Saturday night after Norwin squeezed past District 1 runner-up Abington with a 4-3 shootout after the teams could not settle a 1-1 tie. “We’re getting used to (penalty kicks).”

Now, Norwin will play in the PIAA semifinals for the first time in school history when it faces Central Bucks South (18-5-2), another Philadelphia-area team from District 1, at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Chambersburg, the same site as the quarterfinal.

The winner advances to the championship 7 p.m. Friday at Eagle View Middle School in Mechanicsburg.

If it takes PKs to get the job done again, so be it, say the nerve-inducing Knights, who have taken on a “Cardiac Kids” role with its fanbase.

It isn’t over until the fat lady — err, George Bunovich — sings.

A junior defender, Bunovich suggested the fivesome be called the “Avengers.” Whatever they are called, they are superheroes when the ball gets set on the penalty spot, the often black-colored dot located 12 yards from the goal line.

“I know our guys are going to step up because they are confident,” said Scalise, who has been sensational in net during this historic postseason run. He has made PK saves in each playoff win that went beyond overtime.

He was active again Saturday with 10 stops.

“We dominated the play, but we couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net,” Abington coach Randy Garber said. “Their goalkeeper was very active, very good. He kept them in the game. Their team never gave up. They just worked hard and just frustrated us.”

Norwin respected Abington’s side.

“Credit to (Abington),” Norwin coach Scott Schuchert said. “They went for it in OT and almost got it. They were a class team, the coach all the way down.

“We had to overcome some late sieges. It was a great team win for us. Everybody knew their role and we won a lot of 1-v-1 battles. That was the biggest team we’ve played all year. Our skill won us that game.”

Junior forward Daniel Maddock said the Knights know they can lean on Scalise to make at least one stop in the five-round shootouts.

The dependency is mutual, like this newfound clutch gene.

During Saturday’s win, Norwin senior defender Rick Zappone helped Scalise when the goalie’s shoe came untied. The five shooters have taken care of ties in the postseason.

When Norwin defeated Seneca Valley, 3-2 (4-2 PKs), in the WPIAL quarterfinals, freshman Chase Molinaro scored the winner.

In wins over North Allegheny (2-1, 5-3 PKs) and Abington, Bunovich has sealed the deal.

“My uncle Ron (Schuchert), who coached the (Norwin) girls to (a PIAA title in 1996) told me, as much as you want to get up big, prepare yourself for a close matchup (in the state playoffs),” Norwin coach Scott Schuchert said. “I thought to myself, ‘Oh, man. What if we got to (PKs) again?’

“When it comes down to play late in the game, and we have guys like Owen (Christopher) and Anthony — they’re an inseparable pair — it’s a 10 out of 10.”

While PK shootouts seem simple compared to the complexity and strategy of regulation and overtime — a guessing game, left or right? with the goalkeeper — there is strategy to it. Norwin spends extra time in practice on extra time.

Schuchert said a lot of thought — and, at times, feel — goes into selecting the order for the shootout.

On Saturday, senior Owen Christopher led off, followed by senior Alex Brown, Maddock, Molinaro, and Bunovich.

While the middle of the order changed slightly, Christopher and Bunovich were the bookends, just like in the WPIAL final.

Only Brown had his shot stopped in the quarterfinal, Norwin’s first game in that round since 1989.

He was confident his teammates would pick up the slack.

“When we go to (PKs), we feel like the other team is not as confident as us,” Brown said. “We’ve only missed three out of 15 PKs.

“We feel like this is one of the best teams we have had here and we want to keep winning.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Norwin