Fonagy’s 3 goals do the trick for Canon-McMillan
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Canon-McMillan’s Kyle Katreeb, left, battles for possession with Peters Township’s Tyler Antosh during Thursday night’s match.
Peters Township's Matthew Daube attempts to slow down Canon-McMillan's Jeffrey Harbaugh Thursday night.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Peters Township goalkeeper Basar Jackson makes a save Thursday night in front of Canon-McMillan’s Alex Hilpert and Indians defenders Tyson Antosh (21) and James Argent (26).
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Canon-McMillan’s Tommy Samosky heads the ball away from Peters Township’s Anthony Kita.
Canon-McMillan boys soccer coach Larry Fingers and the Big Macs are trying to get over the WPIAL semifinal hurdle this season.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Anthony Kita heads the ball away from Canon-McMillan defenders Jonathan Sewell (3) and Tommy Samosky (15) Thursday night.
McMURRAY – What makes a rivalry?
It’s a good question, but tough to answer sometimes.
Is it the hatred or the competitiveness or the proximity of the schools?
Whatever your answer is … Canon-McMillan and Peters Township boys soccer is a rivalry, and a heated one.
Canon-McMillan erased a two-goal deficit in the early stages of the second half and ended a four-match losing streak to their rival with a 4-3 win on the road Thursday night.
“This is obviously a big win for us,” Canon-Mac coach Larry Fingers said. “Peters always has a good program and we knew it was going to be a stiff challenge. The kids never backed down and we told them to continue the attack. We kept our emotions in check and just played.”
Joseph Fonagy tallied the hat trick in the win and gave the visitors a 4-3 lead with a goal off a header in the box with 13:03 left in the second half. The marker was his team-leading 14th of the season.
“I found some space in the box and I was just at the right place for the header,” Fonagy said. “I knew Johnny (Sowell) was going to win his battle and I was just ready for his pass. It was a crazy sequence and it was a really good set piece off of a corner.”
The Big Macs (5-1, 8-1) are in sole possession of second place in Section 2-AAAA behind Upper St. Clair.
“We kept our play going in the second half and just clicked as a team,” Fonagy said. “We were definitely more aggressive in the second half than the first half. We just got it in our heads that we were going to come back and win. We wanted to win this so badly.”
The action was extremely frantic in the early minutes of the contest, and the Big Macs took a 1-0 lead after Fonagy was able to smack the ball in after receiving a beautiful 35-yard throw-in from Thomas Samosky.
The Indians (4-2, 5-3) quickly countered when Anthony Kita broke loose on the left side and buried a shot to tie it at 1-1 at the 34:44 mark.
Kita was at it again eight minutes later. The junior forward took a pass from Tyson Antosh and collected his second goal of the night.
The visitors had plenty of quality chances in the remainder of the first half, but the Indians’ defense and Jackson Basar was up to the task of preserving the one-goal lead.
Basar had seven of his 10 saves in the opening 40 minutes.
“We knew this was going to be a physical battle,” Peters Township coach Bob Dyer said. “They are a very good team and they took advantage of some things in the second half. Their top scorer got a hat trick and we just couldn’t stop him.”
The Indians extended their lead to 3-1 only six minutes into the second half when Anthony Massucci converted a pass from Brian Bruzdewicz for a goal.
Seven minutes later, the Big Macs cut the deficit to 3-2 when Samosky was able to unleash a stellar header off a free kick from 40 yards.
The Big Macs scored the tying goal, by Fonagy, at the 24:31 mark after he was able to slide between two Peters Township defenders and blast in a shot from 10 yards.
“Joey is an unbelievable athlete,” Fingers said. “But I was really proud of our defense in the second half. We tinkered with some things on the defensive end and we had to slow them down in the midfield. This group is battle-tested and this is a big win for us.”
C-M’s Alex Hibert registered four stops in goal.
There was a total of six yellow cards issued. C-M outshot Peters 15-12.
“We just got to get healthy,” Dyer said. “We have seven starters out due to injury, but we can’t use that as an excuse. We have to get some guys back in our lineup. There’s plenty of season left, but we have to get healthy and get a consistent lineup.”