Indians bring home first title after senior’s assist, hat trick
HERSHEY, Pa. — If there is one thing opposing teams should have figured out about West Allegheny senior forward Nathan Dragisich it’s that they shouldn’t give him opportunities to work them with set plays. And he showed Strath Haven exactly why.
Dragisich set up West Allegheny’s first goal, then scored three of his own and completed the hat trick with 12:12 remaining to clinch it as the Indians (23-2-0) won their first PIAA Class 3A boys soccer title with a 4-0 victory against District 1 champion Strath Haven (16-7-2) at Hersheypark.
“I’m so happy right now and so happy I could get this for the team, the first-ever state title for West A soccer,” Dragisich said. “I’m just so glad our team was able to fight through and get this win.”
West Allegheny had only appeared in a final one other time. The Indians lost that encounter, 1-0, in overtime to Holy Ghost Prep.
“I’m so proud of the boys,” West Allegheny coach Kevin Amos said. “They worked really hard and we had a couple setbacks in this section and had a loss to eventual champs Lower Dauphin [a year ago] so they were really hungry and really wanted it and put up great numbers.”
Strath Haven, which was shut out for the first time this season, had something of a discipline problem as they earned two yellow cards that turned into goals. The first helped set up the opening West Allegheny goal and the second, when the Panthers’ Vincent Palermo took down an Indians player in the box just 7:54 into the second half, gave Dragisich a penalty kick he converted into his second goal.
“Weak fouls in my opinion, but if you give up fouls, you give up opportunities and they capitalized,” Strath Haven coach Ryan O’Neill said. “A lot of games are decided on restarts and that was two goals.”
If Strath Haven had an advantage in the early going it was in its ability to counterattack against the aggressive West Allegheny attack. On a couple of transitional breakdowns the Panthers attacking forward lost control of the dribble and put a weak shot on the net. On the others, goalkeeper Braden Wurst was able to come up big and make the key save.
That was how it remained until Strath Haven senior Jacon Zweier was hit with a yellow card in his third of the pitch almost halfway through the first half. Given the direct free kick from the football 12, Dragisich fired a perfect pass into the crease for Antonio Fiordilino, who headed it home to give West Allegheny a 1-0 lead.
On another set play later in the half, Dragisich did it himself as he drove a 30yarder past Strath Haven keeper Noah Atasaves with 4:07 remaining in the half to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
“On the free kick, I saw the goalie arguing with the ref about something and I looked over and saw the net was open and I put it in the net,” Dragisich said. “On the penalty, I just go to the right or the left every time and … I just feel great right now.”