Perkiomen Valley tops Unionville, enters uncharted waters in District 1 quarters
EAST MARLBOROUGH >> Sailing into uncharted waters, the Perkiomen Valley boys soccer team is enjoying the ride and wants to keep rowing.
The Vikings entered another unknown port of call by reaching the District 1 Class 4A quarterfinals with an impressive 2-0 road victory against Unionville on Thursday.
“It feels real nice to get our second 4A win,” said junior Max Chamorro. “It’s amazing.”
The No. 9 Vikings (16-6) advance to the quarterfinals and earn a date with top-seeded and defending state champion Conestoga on Saturday.
“This is the first time we’ve gotten this far in districts,” said coach Bob McCabe. “These boys continue to amaze me. They set their minds to something and they’re determined. I know they’re going to work and work and work.”
Perkiomen Valley got on the board nearly 20 minutes in. After a Unionville foul, Michael Weir crisply struck a free kick from about 20 yards out that goalie Garrett Pepper did well to touch onto the underside of the crossbar. The clearance came out to Chamorro, who fired it into the open net for the lead.
“I saw it off the restart,” said Chamorro. “I saw the goalie save it, the header came out and I just jumped in and shot it in.”
The Vikings nearly made it 2-0 very quickly, swarming on Unionville with two shots, including one that eluded Pepper but was cleared off the line by defender Garrett Pinkston.
PV frustrated the Indians all evening, shutting down their main offensive threats, Hunter Firment and Eric Greer.
They outshot Unionville, 8-4, in the first half, and 13-7 for the game.
The Vikings did make it 2-0 with 34:14 left. Ryan Dao finished off the play with a 15-yard shot that squeezed in off the right post.
“Max had a really good buildup with our defender and slotted the ball back to him on the corner,” said Dao. “I saw an opportunity to step up. He dropped it in, the defenders didn’t step up, and I just put it in.”
Perk Valley flipped the script from earlier this season when they lost to the Indians, 3-0.
“We played Unionville earlier this season, and lost,” said McCabe. “We felt like we knew them, but we were playing loose with nothing to lose. Just go out and have fun.”
With the two-goal lead, the Vikings went into full lock-down mode, keeping all but one player behind the ball.
While Unionville enjoyed more possession, it failed to manifest itself into quality scoring chances.
“We tried to make some adjustments in the second half, but we got outworked,” said Unionville coach Rich Garber. “They came out and won the 50-50 balls. We then were pressing, and couldn’t relax.
“We had our better looks early, but give them credit. It’s disappointing to lose at home. We’ll bounce back. We did some good things this year.”
Perkiomen Valley 2, Unionville 0
Perkiomen Valley 1 1 – 2
Unionville 0 0 – 0
Perkiomen Valley goals: Chamorro, Dao.
Goalie saves: Daubenspeck (PV) 2, Pepper (U) 5.
