Zac Slevin's golden goal sends Cumberland Valley boys soccer to program's first state final
HARRISBURG – Cumberland Valley's last two boys soccer seasons ended with playoff losses decided by penalty kicks. It might have crossed the minds of the Eagles in the midst of their PIAA Class 4A semifinal slugfest with Warwick Tuesday night at a cold and wind-swept Landis Field. It might not have while the tension and tenacity dragged both teams into the 110th minute without a winner.
Either way, with time winding down in double overtime, Cumberland Valley's Jayden Handy made a move in the box, shifted around a Warwick defender and laced a pass to Zac Slevin, who punched in the game-winning goal with 20 seconds remaining. It was the Eagles' antidote to their recent history, and it also made program history, sending Cumberland Valley to its first-ever state final. "That was the probably the most meaningful goal I've ever scored," Slevin said. "Scoring that and sending us to our first state final was just incredible."
The Eagles (21-1-1), who were 0-3 in PIAA semifinals before Tuesday, have the chance to clinch their first state championship in their program's 51-year history in a Class 4A final scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m. on their home turf at Eagle View Stadium against District 11 champion Parkland, a 2-0 winner over Oley Valley in the other semifinal.
"Once we knew we were holding [the state finals] at home, it's all we could put our thoughts on," Slevin said. "That we made it there, and did it for the first time ever, I'm just unbelievably excited for it."
Slevin helped open the scoring in the game's fourth minute, sending a through ball that sprung Nico Paz in for a shot that beat Warwick goalkeeper Isaac Yerger (seven saves).
"We flat-out got the start we wanted," said Cumberland Valley head coach Matt Billman. "We had talked really heavily about what we're doing in the first five minutes."
Cumberland Valley had pulled away from the Warriors (19-4) for a 4-1 win when the teams met in a Sept. 14 regular-season match in Lititz. They held off Warwick 2-0 for the District 3 title Nov. 2 at Landis Field.
They knew neither victory mattered in the heat of Tuesday's tussle on a cold November night.
Warwick had turned an overtime loss to Hempfield in the Lancaster-Lebanon League final into a run to the district championship game. After settling for silver in districts, the Warriors knocked off perennial power Conestoga in the first round of the state tournament and rallied for a win against WPIAL champion Fox Chapel in the quarterfinals.
"They weren't fazed at all," Warwick head coach said of his players' response after falling behind Tuesday. "We've been down before, so that was nothing. ... It's nothing new to us, so they just kept grinding."
The grind led to an equalizer from Ben Carlson in the 12th minute. The sophomore corralled an initial shot blocked by a wall of Cumberland Valley defenders and slipped the second chance through the line, and past goalkeeper Michael Hoy (five saves) from 25 yards out.
From there, it turned into a 98-minute stalemate orchestrated by the defenses and underlined by key saves from both goalkeepers. At one end, the Warriors kept the pressure up with confidence in their back line anchored by center back Ben Knouse.
"Hats off to them," Billman said. "They really played us well. I thought they did a good job of handling stuff. They had a really good year for sure."
At the other end, Cumberland Valley's defense, which hadn't allowed more than one goal in a game in the team's previous 20 contests, made sure the streak of stinginess continued. Ben Metz, Sascha Sanders, Lex Radosavljevic and Ben Waclawski fought off the Warwick attack.
"Lex and Sascha played last year," Billman said, "We morphed our backs a little bit, and I'm over-the-top happy with just the maturity of the two Bens, how they've just bought in. ... They've done a really good job. Sometimes, they make mistakes, but there's another guy there to clean it up."
They made nary a mistake under pressure in the first overtime period when Warwick generated chances off a half-dozen throw-ins inside the 20-yard line.
"It felt like forever," Radosavljevic said. "It was non-stop, but I knew we had it at the end. I knew it was coming."
With 20 seconds remaining in the second overtime, that moment finally did.
"I'm so glad Handy took the risk and beat the guy one-v-one. I'm so glad Handy trusted his teammates and put the ball in the middle, and I'm so glad the guys responded and were in the right spot. Zac Slevin, that was our biggest goal of the season."
Tim Gross is the sports editor at The Sentinel and cumberlink.com . Love
