Tigers Best Vikings To Advance To WPIAL Quarterfinals
By: Jared Barton
For the second time in as many years, the North Allegheny boys’ soccer team has eliminated Central Catholic from the WPIAL 4A Boys’ Soccer playoff field to advance to the quarterfinals. The Tigers needed overtime, but took down the Vikings 1-0.
The match was back and forth in the first half, with aggressive play from both teams. North Allegheny had control of possession for the first portion of the half, while Central stole momentum towards the late stages of the frame.
The Tigers held most of the chances in the second half. Senior Emmett Morris accepted a lead pass into the box and angled a shot just wide right with just under 36 minutes left in regulation.
About five minutes later, junior Owen Lopresti took a shot from 35 yards out that also missed right. A Vikings yellow card in the 57th minute led to a Kevin Chen free kick that found Lopresti at the right corner of the net, but there was no clean shot.
Another Central Catholic yellow card with less than 20 minutes to go turned into a 39-yard free kick that found Chen, who angled the shot through the goal mouth from the far post.
With five minutes left in regulation, Morris connected with senior Elliot Swierczynski, but another shot just went wide.
In overtime, junior Francis Randiga found fellow junior Connor Heliger, who took a shot from 10 yards out that was saved.
Randiga would find the eventual game winner with 10:18 left on a great individual effort. The junior found a loose ball 15 yards away from the Central net. With his back to the goal, Randiga chipped the ball up and over his head, found his own pass and took a shot that was stopped, but gathered his own rebound at the near post and slipped the ball towards the opposite pipe to win the game. For his efforts, Randiga was named Wright Automotive Player of the Game.
With the win, North Allegheny advances to take on the top-seeded Peters Township Indians from McMurray in the WPIAL Quarterfinals on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the North Allegheny Sports Network.
BOYS SOCCER SUMMARY VS CENTRAL CATHOLIC , 10-21-25
| SCORE BY HALVES | 1st | 2nd | OT | FINAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Catholic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North Allegheny | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
