Quaker Valley wins thriller on penalty kicks
HERSHEY, Pa. — Nick Allan was completely composed when he stepped up to the ball for his penalty kick against Lewisburg goalkeeper Burns.
It wasn’t like the Quaker Valley sophomore defender had a state championship on hisright foot or anything.
“I had confidence in myself,” Allan said. “I just knew tohit my spot.”
Hedid just that.
Allan drilled his kick dead center of the net as Burns anticipated the shot going to his right. When the ball hit the twine Quaker Valley (23-2-0) had won the shootout, 5-4, along with a 1-0 victory against the defending PIAA
Class 2A boys
Class 2A champion Green Dragons at Hersheypark Stadium to win the school’s seventh state title.
Lewisburg(21-2-1) had won state championships in all four of its previous appearances.The Green Dragons defeated WPIAL teams all four times, including Quaker Valley in 2016.
Quaker Valley, meanwhile, won the state championshipin 2019 but had to miss the WPIAL and PIAA playoffs in 2020 because of COVID-19.
“We knew that we couldn’t participate last year and we’ve been prepping for right now,” Quaker Valley coach J.J. Veshio said. “We’ve been preppingfor this moment.”
This is the first time the PIAA has used penalty kicks to award a state soccer title. If amatch went through regulation and the two overtime periods tied prior to 2011 when the state instituted the procedure, the PIAA listed both teamsas co-champions.
The last time co-champions were awarded was in 2009 when Father Judge and Central Dauphin played to a scoreless tie in the Class 3A boys title match. The last time it happened involving a WPIAL team was in 2007 when the Villa Joseph Marie girls from District 1 tied SouthPark, 0-0, in Class 2A.
“Deciding a game on penalty kicks with two good teamsis difficult,” Lewisburg coach Ben Kettlewell said. “I don’t know a better way … but that’s a tough way to end it.”
Had the match gone any longer, Quaker Valley might have had to go on without senior all-state striker Rowan Kriebel. He was battling a leg injury throughout the two overtimes and had to get stretched out on the field on several occasions.
Despite that, he still made the first of the Quakers penaltykicks in the shootout.
“I could not feel a body part by the end of the second overtime,” Kriebel said. “But I knew this was my last game for Quaker Valley and I didn’t want it to end with me going down with an injury.”
Quaker Valley made all five of its penalty kick attempts and caught a break in round three when Lewisburg senior Simon Stumbris chucked his shot over the crossbar.
“In reality, the player is supposed to score, so I don’t put any pressure on myself,” Quaker Valley goalkeeper Zach Buhr said. “If I save it, great and, as you could see, sometimes even when I don’t save it, it works out.”