By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
WESTTOWN – After trying, and failing, to go toe-to-toe with West Chester Henderson in two earlier meetings, Great Valley head coach Dave Moffett had a more defensive-minded template in mind to beat the Ches-Mont and District 1 champs in the PIAA Boys’ Soccer Quarterfinals.
Even though few thought it was going to work, his Patriots believed in the plan and then went out and executed it to near perfection, stunning the previous unbeaten Warriors 1-0 Saturday to advance to the state semifinals. It’s the first time this Great Valley program has made this deep of a postseason run in a decade.
“One of our mantras is to believe in yourself, your teammates and your training. And here we are,” Moffett said.
“We switched up the formation,” added senior forward Jack Weikert. “We normally run three players in the back, but today we added two more, and had a diamond midfield. Henderson loves to go long, so we thought that the two extra guys in the back could stop them from going long.
“That’s the reason we won this game. Everyone stuck to the plan.”
Henderson (23-1 overall) managed to out-shoot the Pats 11-2, but one of the two went in off the foot of Weikert midway through the second half.
“We knew we were going to face some pressure and we know where (Henderson) is dangerous,” Moffett said. “We tried to eliminate that danger. Josh Jarden and Will Kristoff are such incredible attackers, we had to do everything possible to get extra help on them because they torched us the two times we played them before.
“We’ve scored 66 goals this season, so we are an attack-minded team. We tried to play (Henderson) that way two times and it did not work. We had to make adjustments, and the guys bought into the idea that we are going to defend first and counter. And they played it to perfection.”
Now 17-6-2, Great Valley will have to knock off another district champion – either Northeast or Parkland – in the semis at a time and location to be determined Tuesday, in order to reach the state title match. The Patriots went to back-to-back state semifinals in 2013 and 2014, but did not win a state tournament game until this fall.
“This team is special,” Moffett said. “We’ve known that for a couple years and they are finally putting it all together. They support, care and work for each other and that’s what’s made them successful.”
It was a bitter end to a remarkable campaign for Henderson, who wound up surrendering just six goals in 24 outings, and two of the team’s 18 shutouts came against Great Valley (3-0 in the regular season and 4-0 in the district semis).
“Soccer is weird,” said Warriors’ head coach Chaz Wilson. “It doesn’t always matter who is more talented or more deserving. At the end of the day, when you step between the lines, every game is a unique thing.”
Weikert registered the game winner with 24:28 on the clock when he got an angle on a defender and then beat Henderson keeper Dylan Arrison to the ball and slipped it inside the far post.
“We knew it was going to be a struggle to get any by (Arrison), but we also know he is aggressive,” Weikert pointed out. “So I figured if I shot it early maybe he’d make a mistake and that’s what happened.
“Today was the first goal we’ve had against Henderson in my four years at Great Valley.”
Great Valley’s Jack Weikert slips a shot in between West Chester Henderson defender Jack Overton (10) and goaltender Dylan Arrison on Saturday. Photo by Tom Silknitter.
It also put an end to 215-plus minutes without scoring against Henderson this season. And it was the first time all season that the Warriors faced a deficit.
“(Weikert) is a great athlete, and whenever somebody like that is running at you, you tend to be cautious. We kept dropping off and giving him space, and credit to him,” Wilson said.
“Jack is a machine,” Moffett added.
“We were able to get him in on a counter. He’s scored a ton of goals this season, and that’s what he does best. We asked him to get his one chance and make it count, and he did that.”
Henderson picked up the pressure in the offensive zone the rest of the way, and came close to tying the score on a Kristoff header with 20:55 on the clock, and another by Jarden with 3:22 to go, but Patriots’ senior goaltender Tyler Holmes was there for the saves. The Warriors also earned two corner kicks in the final six minutes, but were unable to capitalize.
“We just didn’t get the ball in the most dangerous spots enough,” Wilson said. “When you play a team that is that defensive, you have to bombard them, and we weren’t aggressive until it was too late.
“We started putting more pressure on Great Valley after the score, I just wish we had played with that much urgency before.”
In a scoreless first half with few scoring chances, each side threatened once. With 13:02 on the clock, Pat Sinnott’s direct kick from about 30 yards out was directed away on a diving save by Holmes. And in the final 78 seconds, Great Valley nearly notched the game’s first goal but defender Jake Brogan made the save.
“If we had scored early, it may have gone the other way,” Wilson said. “But a wounded animal is the most dangerous animal. (Great Valley) had nothing to lose and that’s why I knew this game was a very dangerous game.
“I told the boys that 10 years from now, when we look back on this season, we will remember it didn’t end how we wanted, but we also went undefeated in the regular season for the first time in program history and set all kinds of defensive records. The journey is what is memorable, not just the final result.”
If the Pats get Parkland – the District 12 champs — on Tuesday, they will have a chance to knock off yet another unbeaten opponent.
“(Henderson) had conceded five goals all season and shut us out twice already. So to get a 1-0 win, there is no better feeling,” Weikert said.
“This has been a great run. We beat Parkland 1-0 in a scrimmage, so I feel confident going in.”
Moffett added: “There is no doubt that these guys are on a high and they now know that anything is possible.”
Great Valley 1, West Chester Henderson 0
Great Valley 0 1 — 1
W.C. Henderson 0 0 — 0
Great Valley goal: Weikert.
Goalie saves: Holmes (GV) 11; Arrison (H) 1.