Somerset boys roll to District 5-8 Class 2A soccer championship

DAVIDSVILLE — Mark Wassilchalk wondered how his Somerset boys’ soccer team would play on Tuesday night after having a week and a half off before the District 5 Class 2A soccer championship.Leo Hurtado eased those fears a little more than two minutes into the game, and Christopher Thompson and Gabe Gary scored two goals apiece as the Golden Eagles rolled to an 8-0 victory over Carrick at Conemaugh Township High School.“After the long layoff, we were pretty concerned about the rust,” Wassilchalk said after his team improved to 14-2-4 on the season. “There was no rust. That’s a testament to all 31 guys on this roster. I’m fortunate to have that at my disposal.”Moving on Somerset girls soccer earns District 5-8 Class 2A title berthOnes to watch Six Somerset County boys soccer teams open District 5 playoffsA surprise finalist out of District 8, Carrick ends its season with a 3-11 record. The Raiders had just three substitutes on their bench while all 31 players on Somerset’s roster got into the game.Wassilchalk said his team’s depth is what allowed them to stay in form.“We wouldn’t be at this point – particularly after not playing for a week and a half – if we didn’t have these guys in practice to be able to set up legitimate, game-like activity to keep them fresh and ready to go,” he said.Somerset dominated from the opening kick, and Hurtado gave the Golden Eagles the lead 2:14 into the game. The senior went past a defender on the right side of the box, then beat Carrick keeper Kaleb Morgan to the far post with the first shot on goal.The second goal came 14 minutes later – and just nine seconds after a restart for a Carrick injury – as Thompson beat Morgan. Thompson struck again less than two minutes later from the penalty spot, as he found the bottom right corner with 21:47 remaining in the half following a Carrick foul in the box.The Golden Eagles kept attacking the Raiders with through balls, and Gary beat Morgan to a ball and poked it into the open net for a 4-0 lead with 15:58 remaining in the half.“We’ve been focusing on moving the ball, not carrying the ball, using the space on the outsides, trying to draw some of their stronger defenders out of the middle of the field and then work the ball back in,” Wassilchalk said. “We did a really good job of keeping them spread out, finding the gaps, hitting the through balls and going forward with some pace.”Gary contributed a beautiful goal 3:30 later to punish Morgan’s aggressiveness. The keeper came out again – this time to the corner of the 18-yard box – and Gary deftly kept the ball from the keeper, turned and lofted it into the empty net.Sophomore James Walker made it 6-0 with 1:01 remaining in the half, as he put a rebound past Morgan to set the running clock in motion for the rest of the game.In the second half, Hurtado and Ruari Egal played a beautiful 2-on-1 for the seventh goal. Egal made a nice turn, then passed to Hurtado, who brought the Carrick defense with him to the right side of the goal. He cut it back to a wide-open Egal, who put it past Morgan.Somerset keepers Deegan Pile and Hudson Clarke, who played the final 20 minutes, didn’t face a shot and shared the shutout.Hoyt Emert had a goal and an assist for Somerset, which got two assists from Evan Walter. Gabe McKenzie also had an assist for the Golden Eagles, who repeated as district champions.“It speaks not just to the work done this year but last year, the year before, the youth program, the junior high program,” Wassilchalk said of Somerset’s back-to-back titles. “It’s not just a team. We focus on this being a program from top to bottom. We don’t use the rebuilding phrase.”Somerset advances to the PIAA playoffs and will face the District 7 champion on Wednesday, Nov. 11.“We’ll have a tough task ahead of us, facing a WPIAL champion,” Wassilchalk said. “We’ll see how that works out. I have no idea. We’ll figure that out here in the coming days.” Follow Daily American Sports on Facebook and @dailyamericanmedia on Instagram.This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Somerset boys roll to District 5-8 Class 2A soccer championship