Abington saw its successful season end in Saturday’s District 1 4A quarterfinals.
#7-1 SENECA VALLEY 1, #1-2 ABINGTON 0
Wherever Sean Touey went on Chambersburg's field Saturday, a swarm of white jerseys followed him.
Seneca Valley did its homework and the Raiders came up with a pretty good defensive plan to slow down Touey and the rest of his Abington teammates. If a defense limits the number of chances the opposing attack gets, it's a good path to a win and that's just what the Raiders got.
“There’s not much you say that will help them right now, they’re very disappointed but for a lot of them, there’s bigger and better things down the road – many of them are going on to play college soccer,” Abington coach Randy Garber said.
The WPIAL champion Raiders got the only goal they would need on a quality finish by Jackson Wotus with 28 minutes left in the game.
A free kick led to two chances for Seneca Valley, the second a blocked shot that found its way out to Wotus, who ripped the effort right back in to the far-side netting.
“I don’t know if (keeper) Alex (Haycock) even saw it coming, just a very good finish by them,” Garber said. “Defensively, we have to clear the ball there. But it’s not like we didn’t play a good game.”
With defenders playing on and off Touey, it made things tough for Abignton to either hit the forward right on, or use his drop-offs and touches to create. Without the senior being able to hold the ball, the spaces in Abington's midfield became areas where Seneca Valley could regain possession.
"The bottom line is I don’t think we created enough chances for ourselves,” Garber said. “Seneca Valley is big, strong and aggressive and won a lot of balls. The officials obviously let us play, not too many fouls called.”
Abington had a couple good looks. A corner kick found Liam Campbell at the far post but he couldn't get a shot on frame, Nevin Baer hit a late shot right to the keeper and Touey hit the crossbar on a header attempt late in the game.
The Ghosts finish the season 21-3 with an SOL American title, a District I title game appearance and a state elite eight appearance to go with it.
“This was a magical group, a real, real special group. I told the parents’ association at a meeting in the very beginning this would be a fun group and a group that goes far," Garber said. "That was pretty much right on because they work hard and like being around each other.”
SENECA VALLEY 0 1 – 1
ABINGTON 0 0 – 0
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