CB East defeated defending district champion Great Valley 1-0 on Saturday to capture the program’s first title since 1991. To view photos of the game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Dan Beck
Brian Gilligan still remembers his freshman year.
It was then that his CB East squad made the District 1 AAA finals only to lose 3-1 to Abington at Souderton Area High School
“Ever since my freshman year when we were here in the finals, I’ve always wanted to win it ourselves,” the junior midfielder said.
Back at Souderton, the same field as two years ago, Gilligan got his wish as the Patriots squeaked out a 1-0 victory over Great Valley to claim the District 1 AAA title.
In the 34th minute, East was awarded a free kick outside the 18. Junior Evan Vare connected with Gilligan for the game’s only goal.
“It was a beautiful service from Evan [Vare], who’s been scoring our goals,” East coach Mike Gorni said. “Brian [Gilligan] took off and made a good run and finished the ball off the back bar. It’s an unbelievably tough ball to hit in. It was hit so firmly and Brian’s timing was perfect.”
It was the play of goalie Austin Prime, though, that kept East in the game at all. In the first half, Great Valley had the advantage of a strong wind on a cold and rainy day. Great Valley put constant pressure off corners on Prime, who rose to the occasion.
“Austin [Prime] had to make two critical saves and he also had to keep us calm,” Gorni said. “He took a lot of the east-west service out of the game. They put a lot of balls in from the flanks and he just made them look routine.”
After the game, Gorni presented his players with their district champion medals. When he put the medal over Prime’s head, he had some words for his junior keeper: “You were the difference today, son.”
“Hearing that means everything, especially coming from Coach Gorni,” Prime said. “It’s the greatest feeling in the world knowing you can impact the game like that.”
Prime made seven saves on the day to help solidify the win for the Patriots. East’s defense made a few crucial stops in the first half to clear the ball away from danger.
“Credit to our defense. We always got back on defense and got it out of there. They put a ton of pressure on us,” Prime said.
The second half was a different story, as the Great Valley Patriots failed to put the same pressure on East as they did in the first half. Without the advantage of the wind, they were unable to muster any dangerous shots on goal. East controlled the tempo and put them away.
“We couldn’t end districts better, obviously,” Vare said. “We have the momentum going into states. We can’t get too high on ourselves. Everyone in states can beat anyone else, but we just have to play our game. We’re capable of going real far in the tournament.”
The junior standout has had a hand in all eight of East’s goals during its district playoff run, scoring seven and assisting on the eighth.
“It’s been a good season for me, but it wouldn’t happen without my teammates,” Vare said.
Great Valley came into the District One tournament as a 15 seed and enjoyed a nice run, upsetting second seeded Neshaminy and third seeded Wissahickon along the way.
“Great Valley is a great team. They’ve worked really hard since they were only the 15 seed and congrats to them,” Gilligan said.
East knew coming into the 2014 campaign that they were a young squad, but they have made the most of it. It was a nice surprise for the team, but one it will certainly accept.
“It’s very unexpected,” Gorni said. “We’ve been talking about how young we are all year. I think we deserved to be here, but with a team starting two seniors and the rest underclassmen, it was something we had to work for.”
It’s a quick turnaround for East, who must gear up for the first round of the PIAA state playoffs.
“We can relish this for the moment, but we’ve got a state playoff game somewhere Tuesday night.” Gorni said.
For the seniors, Saturday’s win was especially sweet.
“Ever since freshman year, I was like ‘I want to be on the team,’” senior co-captain Booker Farrior said. “It feels great senior year to be district champs.”
Although East has advanced to the final four of districts in seven of the last eight years, this is the successful soccer program’s first district title since 1991.
“We have just gotten better in the playoffs,” Gorni said. “I’m not sure exactly why. I can’t put my finger on it, but we learned an awful lot during the year. We seemed to get a lot of good fortune or blessings in the early part (of the season), and then we really just got strong.
“I think the nicest thing I can say about this team is we can win 1-0, we can win 2-1, we can win 4-1. Somehow within each individual game – whatever we’ve had to do to score and win we’ve done. The same was true tonight.”
East will face Central York, the fourth place team from District 3, in an opening round PIAA Class AAA state game on Tuesday.
Extra shots: J.R. Eisold (ankle injury) did not play in Thursday’s semifinal match but returned to action Saturday night. “We couldn’t have him cover as much territory in the second half, so we moved Booker (Farrior) from his left defensive position into the middle in front of J.R. and just made some switches,” Gorni said. “In the second half, the game was much more even. They had some pressure – they had three shots, but none were really dangerous in the second half. We had some opportunities ourselves. We’re just glad they didn’t score.”
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