Lower Merion wins 2nd round of Districts; Harriton falls

Lower Merion – Owen Downey has scored some big goals throughout his first three years as a member of the Lower Merion boys soccer team. However none has been bigger than the one he scored on Thursday afternoon at Arnold Field when he pushed a header past the Downingtown East keeper with 1:26 remaining in the first overtime to give his team the 1-0 victory in the 2nd round of the PIAA District 1 Class AAA playoffs.

“Without a doubt this is the biggest goal I have scored,” said Downey after the contest. “It feels great to help my team advance in the district playoffs and keep the season going.”

“It’s a great feeling to advance,” said junior Will Pitonyak. “We knew if we kept our composure and played our game we would have a good chance of beating Downingtown East and advancing.”

With time running down in the first overtime period, Downey made a beautiful run down the side and Josh Axelrod fed a perfect ball that Downey chased down and with the keeper quickly approaching to try and knock the ball away, Downey played the hop and headed the ball past the keeper for the winner.

“I saw the ball coming past the second center back and I knew if it got through I was going to have the last touch,” said Downey.

Prior to Downey’s heroics both teams had their opportunity to end the contest. With 12:13 remaining the Cougars made a run towards the LM goal only to be denied by keeper Michael O’Gara.

“Michael has been huge for us since we lost our starting keeper to injury,” said Pitonyak. “He came off his line today when we needed him to and he made some great stops. He is a big factor we have gotten this far.”

Lower Merion’s next-door neighbor, Harriton, the No. 12 seed in the PIAA District 1A boys soccer tournament, lost to fifth seed Conestoga, 4-2, Thursday, ending its season.

In the Rams’ first round of Districts, Harriton defeated No. 21 seed Upper Dublin, 1-0, on a rainy Tuesday evening, led by sophomore goalie Daniel Katz, a first-team All-Central selection, and the play of senior center back Austin Selhorn, junior center back Josh Millrood, and co-captains Owen Luby, a senior left back and Sam Finkelstein, a junior right back.

“We know nights like this can be tough,” said Harriton coach Biff Sturla, referring to the first round of the playoffs along with the weather. “It’s rainy, windy and you are not going to get the right bounce or the right anything on a night like this. You just have to play hard nosed and hoped the other team makes a mistake. We took advantage of that tonight and once we scored we knew we had to defend, defend, defend. That has been a strength all year and it was again tonight.”

Leading the charge on defense is sophomore keeper Daniel Katz who sets the tone as the last line of defense.

“Daniel was huge tonight,” said senior Diego Toffani, who scored the only goal of the match. “He was first team All-Central so we know what he is capable and he showed it again this evening.”

Early in the first half it appeared as though the visiting Cardinals were poised to take an early lead but Katz made the save on a Sean Seabrook shot to keep the match scoreless. Halfway through the first half with th rain pelting down, Harriton’s Diego Toffani put a shot on net as he was falling to the ground. The shot was right on net and as the Upper Dublin keeper got his hands on the ball, the ball squirted through across the line to give the hosts a 1-0 lead with 20:33 remaining in the first half.

“I fell to the ground when I shot the ball and when I looked up I saw that the ball went in,” said Toffani after the match. “I got lucky. It was nice.”

From there, the Rams played dump and chase the remainder of the night looking for an insurance tally but at the same time playing tight defense to prevent the tying goal. With the combination of a tough defense and stellar goalie play, Harriton was able to fend off the late charge and grind out the win.

“My defense made it easy for me tonight,” said Katz. “They forced Upper Dublin to take shots from distance instead of close range. With the weather I knew I had to stay focused and not take my eye off the ball.”