CB East defeated West Chester Henderson 4-1 to earn a spot in Saturday’s District One AAA title game.
#1 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 4, #4 WEST CHESTER HENDERSON 1
The East boys keep cruising. Next stop: the District One AAA finals.
The Patriots shook off an early deficit to come back and rout fourth-seeded West Chester Henderson in the District One AAA semifinals, 4-1, at Council Rock North in Newtown.
Evan Vare took over the game and scored all four goals for East in the win.
The Warriors (17-4) took the advantage early on, though. Frank DeRosa found the back of the net in the 13th minute to put Henderson up, 1-0. After that, the tide changed drastically.
“They combined on a good play,” coach Mike Gorni said of the Warriors’ early goal. “We had more of the attack, they came down played a nice possession sequence in and set a nice ball with a good finish. We just continued doing what we were doing and we started to get some results.”
“I think the first 15 minutes, they were the better team,” Vare said. “We weren’t really getting much offense, but once we relaxed, we knew we were still in it.”
With that goal out of the way, Vare stepped up.
In the 25th minute, JR Eisold sent a ball into Vare from the left side, and Vare did the rest, finding the net from six yards out to knot the score at one.
Then in the 31st minute, Vare scored again, this time using an assist from Brian Gilligan. Just before the end of the first half, Vare made it 3-1 with an assist from Gilligan, completing the hat trick before Vare’s first water break.
“We started playing our game more—playing into the line getting crosses, things like that. Holes opened and I just found them,” Vare said.
With 17 minutes left, Gilligan found Vare on a perfectly placed ball that Vare headed in to add an insurance goal. That made it 4-1 and that’s all the Patriots needed.
“Evan got some good goals and people picked up some really good assists,” Gorni added.
Austin Prime made two saves in the game, including a nice stop with just over seven minutes to go. After the initial goal, the Patriots managed to contain the Henderson offensive attack, and not allow too many dangerous opportunities in the East third.
“We played really well,” Gorni said. “We went down 1-0, but it was against play.
“We didn’t have great opportunities, but we had the ball much more in our attacking third and their defensive third.
“Obviously, they’re a good team, and they combined, made a good pass and scored a nice goal, and we were down 1-0, but it was so early there was no real reason to panic, and we didn’t.
“It was one of those games where you just felt good even though we were down. Sometimes you don’t because you’re not playing well, but we were carrying the play.”
The undefeated Patriots (21-0, 14-0 SOL) move onto the District One AAA finals to play second-seeded Conestoga, which beat Springfield (Delco) 1-0 in its semifinal game.
“Everyone wants to beat us and be the one loss we’d have,” Vare said. “We just come out motivated. We know every game could be our last from here on out. We’re really coming together and playing for each other.
“Conestoga is going to give a good fight to us. If we just relax, we’re obviously going to get opportunities and if we bury them and if our defense is strong, we’ll be fine.”
“We have to take every game one at a time,” Gorni said. “We’ve been doing that and if we lose a little bit of focus, it has to be on a night where someone doesn’t make us pay for it.”
Saturday’s district title game pitting CB East and Conestoga will be played at Souderton Area High School (5 p.m.).
(4) West Chester Henderson 1-0 1
(1) Central Bucks East 3-1 4
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