Mercyhurst Prep ends Bentworth’s reign as state champ
NEW CASTLE – Five minutes into overtime Mercyhurst Prep’s Nicolas Lopez put a free kick on goal from 25 yards that seemed innocent, but it turned out to be dangerous.
The ball kept bouncing free along the ground past everyone and found its way into the net.
And it ended Bentworth’s reign as state champions.
Lopez’s goal, his second of the match, gave District 10 champion Mercyhurst Prep a 2-1 victory over Bentworth in the PIAA Class A boys soccer quarterfinals on a rainy, cold Saturday afternoon at Neshannock’s Bob Bleggi Stadium.
“I’ll be honest, it sucks to go out on a goal like that,” Bentworth coach Nick Malarbi said. “Just with how it bounces in the way it did and the angle it came from. It was one of those ones where nobody went to go get the ball and maybe that was the tone of the game for us. Maybe we were a little lackadaisical going to the first ball.”
Mercyhurst Prep (16-5-1) advanced to play Lancaster County Christian in the state semifinals on Tuesday. Bentworth finished 20-2 and saw a streak of two consecutive appearances in a state final come to an end.
The Lakers had lost to Bentworth in the state playoffs each of the last two years, but the third time proved to be the charm.
“I’m super happy for our boys,” Lakers coach Jake Gamble said. “We knew all roads led to (Bentworth) at some point and we’re happy to be on the other end of one this year.”
Bentworth led 1-0 at halftime, but Mercyhurst Prep carried the possession in the final 20 minutes of the first half.
That continued into the second half and the Lakers found an equalizing goal in the 51st minute.
Lopez got some space on the left side, calmly took a touch to get the ball on his stronger foot and sent a shot into the left side to make it 1-1.
Bentworth didn’t get a shot in the second half until Moessner put a ball over the cross bar in the 67th minute.
“We wanted to take the first 15 to 20 minutes and settle in, because we knew it was going to be a highly emotional game,” Gamble said. “After we settled in we wanted to take our game to them and I thought we did a good job of that today.”
The Bearcats got a couple more chances late including one on a miscommunication between Lakers goalkeeper Lorenzo Baker and his defense, but couldn’t capitalize and the game went to overtime.
Moessner had a breakaway in the first minute, but his shot was stopped by Baker.
He got another opportunity in the seventh minute and he buried it.
Off a good pass into the middle of the box by Billy Moyer, Moessner took a touch before launching a shot into the net for his 64th goal of the season to make it 1-0.
Dillan Colbert had a shot on target in the 23rd minute, but it was handled by Baker.
After that chance, Mercyhurst Prep started to impose its will and got its share of chances before the halftime whistle.
Bearcats keeper Issac Vipperman was up to the task.
Mason Kaliszewski had a high-hard shot that was ticketed for the top right corner in the 27th minute, but Vipperman leaped up to grab it.
Vipperman stopped another long shot by Ricardo Gomez in the 30th minute
Off a corner three minutes later, Mercyhurst Prep threatened again, but Bentworth defenders blocked two shot attempts before clearing the ball out of danger.
The Bearcats also successfully defended a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box on the right side in the 36th minute and were able to get to the half with the lead.
“We just started hitting some wayward passes that allowed them to have a lot more possession,” Malarbi said. “It was a complete change from the Brockway game where we were able to connect passes. We said going into it that there was going to be some space for Adam to run into because of how wide their defense was. We knew we were going to have chances, but the ball didn’t bounce our way and we didn’t string passes together the way we wanted to.”
Bentworth’s senior class of Dillan Colbert, Leo Shrader, Cameron Butler, Charles Nuttall, Caden Hackinson, Noah Reynolds, Billy Moyer, Cameron Rice, Austin Hollier, Paxton Thomas, and Jaden Zheng leave with an 87-6 record with 59 shutouts, four WPIAL titles and one state title.