Oct 25, 2018 3 min read

IMPERIAL – Waynesburg and Deer Lakes boys’ soccer squads had their respective seasons end in the Class AA quarterfinals the last two seasons.

So in their quarterfinal match at Joe P. DeMichela Stadium on the campus of West Allegheny High School, only one team would advance to the semifinals.

The No. 2-seeded Lancers played better to start the match and avoided any chance of an upset by the No. 7-seed Waynesburg with a 4-0 triumph Thursday.

“Deer Lakes is a tough draw for anybody,” Waynesburg coach Matt Blair said. “They are a well-coached team and they really don’t have a lot of weaknesses. We just had a hard time of settling the ball down.”

Deer Lakes will play No. 11-seed Shady Side Academy, a 1-0 winner over Keystone Oaks, in the semifinals on Monday at a site and time to be determined.

The Raiders (13-6) got the first scoring chance in the game, but Jack Church’s header just missed the net.

Five minutes later, the Lancers (17-0-1) grabbed a 1-0 lead after an unassisted goal by Ryan Rodgers at the 33:40 mark of the first half.

Waynesburg’s Gavin Benson, Jared Hogue and Church tried to get the equalizer for the Raiders, but the Lancers’ defense used its speed and size to end any scoring threat.

Coming into the contest, Deer Lakes has been extremely stingy on defense this season, allowing just 13 goals.

Chase Henkins was busy in net for the Raiders in the first half, as he made seven of his 12 saves in the opening 40 minutes.

“Chase was fantastic in net,” Blair said. “It could have easily been 4-0 or 5-0 at halftime. In the middle of the season, we moved Scott Benco to the field. Scotty was our keeper the last two years and unselfishly came out of goal. Chase is only a freshman and every practice he got better. He listens and is very prepared for us in net.”

Deer Lakes broke through with a goal in the final minutes of the first half when Roman Renter took a pass from Michael Sullivan and buried the ball in the back of the net.

The Lancers led 2-0 at halftime and outshot Waynesburg by a 12-3 margin.

After an evenly played second half, Deer Lakes added some late insurance goals by AJ Dorman (8:54) and Rodgers (0:42).

Waynesburg will graduate five seniors and had another stellar season that ended in the quarterfinals. The last two seasons, the Raiders lost to Shady Side Academy in the round of eight.

“It’s kind of an end of an era,” Blair said. “That senior class is almost irreplaceable. Made it to the playoffs three times, plus two section titles. They are a group that is going to be hard to replace not only from a skill point of view, but also from a leadership standpoint.”