EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONFERENCE SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIPS
BOYS FINAL
No. 2 Freedom (15-1-4, 12-1-3) vs. No. 4 Pleasant Valley (15-3-1, 12-3-1)
When: 1:30 p.m., Saturday
Where: Andrew S. Leh Stadium, Nazareth.
Coaches: Freedom, Matthew Reightler (second season, 28-9-4). Pleasant Valley, Alex Wunder (first season, 15-3-1).
Top scorers: Freedom, Sr. F Bradley Turocy (29 goals, 8 assists); Sr. M Jared Whitehorn (10, 10); Fr. M Sebastian Garces (5, 11). Pleasant Valley, Sr. F Zion Moore (18, 13); Sr. M Mirza Sabovic (14, 13); So. F Matt Erhardt (10, 4).
The skinny: Freedom shut out Pleasant Valley 3-0 in EPC regular season matchup with Turocy, Daniel Ramirez and Peter McGibbon scoring goals. Derek Bast recorded shutout with 10 saves. … Patriots rolled into conference championship with wins over Pocono Mountain East (4-0) and Parkland (1-0) in quarterfinals and semifinals. Turocy has scored all five playoff goals. … Bears survived Northampton in PKs (1-0) and took out top-seeded Liberty (1-0) to reach final. EPC MVP Moore tallied winning goal vs. Liberty. … Freedom won last conference title (EPC) in 1992, according to Reightler’s research. … Pleasant Valley won last conference championship (MVC) in 2006.
Prediction: Neither of usual suspects – Emmaus or Parkland – advanced to conference final, so it’s battle of fresh faces. Patriots dominated EPC matchup but this win almost certainly wouldn’t come as easy. Clash of star forwards Turocy vs. Moore should be fun to watch. Upset city? Pleasant Valley 1-0.
GIRLS FINAL
No. 1 Parkland (18-2, 14-2) vs. No. 6 Nazareth (13-6-1, 10-5-1)
When: 1:30 p.m., Saturday.
Where: J. Birney Crum Stadium, Allentown.
Coaches: Parkland, Al Haddad (13th season, 237-52-15). Nazareth, Copeland “Ziggy” Lewis (sixth season, 69-39-13).
Top scorers: Parkland, Jr. F Ava Schaller (15 goals, 4 assists); So. F Zoe Schutter (13, 6); Sr. F Ava Hanna (7, 4). Nazareth, So. F Hayden Berner (14, 3); So. M Alexis Doherty (8, 6); So. M Abby James (4, 7).
The skinny: Parkland defeated Nazareth twice during EPC’s regular-season, prevailing 3-0 on Sept. 11 and 3-1 on Oct. 9. Six different players accounted for those six goals. … Trojans eased into finals with quarterfinal win over Pocono Mountain East (4-0) and semifinal victory over Stroudsburg (3-0). Schaller, Schutter and Hanna all tallied goals vs. Stroudsburg. … Blue Eagles bested No. 3 seed Easton (2-1 OT) and No. 2 Whitehall (2-1 PKs) to advance to championship. Goalie Caitlyn Lazzarini clinched win over Whitehall with score in PKs. … Parkland is aiming for fifth consecutive EPC title. … Nazareth has never won a conference championship. Blue Eagles last won District 11 title in 2010.Prediction: Intruging matchup. Trojans, of course, have been here and done that, as four-time defending conference champs. They have an experience edge. Blue Eagles are confident squad after upsets of Easton and Whitehall. They must stay close and perhaps ‘finesse’ the title in final moments. Nazareth 2-1.
Michael Blouse is a freelance writer.
