Peters Township boys soccer team wins in 2OT — again

By: Andrew John
Wednesday, November 4, 2020 | 10:52 PM

Andrew Massucci might have a little magic in his shoe as for the second game in a row he scored the winning goal in the final seconds of the second overtime, this time to propel Peters Township to the WPIAL Class 4A championship.

Massucci scored twice to lift No. 1 Peters Township (13-1-1) to a 2-1 win over No. 4 Fox Chapel (11-4) in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals at Peters Township on Wednesday night.

With 49 seconds remaining, Dominic Sambuco lobed a kick downfield to find Massucci between two Fox Chapel defenders, and Massucci deposited the winning shot to the bottom right for the score.

“It was a great play by my teammates. They got me the ball, and I was able to put it away. It was a great team win as we battled through adversity,” Massucci said.

Massucci scored the winning goal in the second overtime in the Indians’ 2-1 victory over No. 9 Baldwin in the WPIAL quarterfinals last Saturday.

Peters Township will take on No. 2 Seneca Valley (13-1-1) in the championship at 3 p.m. Saturday at North Allegheny. Seneca Valley advanced to the championship after defeating No. 3 Norwin, 5-1.

Massucci sent the game into overtime when he ripped one to the bottom left from 18 yards in the 76th minute.

“I think that battle between two teams is as physical of a high school soccer game that I’ve seen in a long time. I think we continued to work more and more throughout the game,” Peters Township coach Bob Dyer said.

Fox Chapel’s Nate Lazzara opened the scoring when he found the top right of the net on a free kick in the 14th minute to give the Foxes an early 1-0 lead.

Throughout the game, the Foxes had a couple of opportunities to find the back of the net but weren’t able to get the insurance goal before Massucci tied the score late.

“I think it shows the fight and heart in Peters. They went after it and never quit. I thought my guys were great tonight. It was a battle. It could’ve gone either way. We made a few mistakes at the end, and they capitalized,” Fox Chapel coach Erik Ingram said.

Derek Liguori made six saves in the win for the Indians.

Peters Township will make its first appearance in the WPIAL championship since 2017 when it lost to North Allegheny, 2-1.

The Indians hope for a different result when they go against Seneca Valley.

“The good news is Seneca can’t take any of those goals into the game so it will start off 0-0,” Dyer said. “We will show up and see what happens. 5-1 is an impressive win, but I know Fox Chapel had a 6-0 win over Upper St. Clair. We have 48 hours to get ourselves better.”

Tags: Fox Chapel, Peters Township