Previewing Pennsylvania’s Friday High School State Finals

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Four state champions will be crowned in high school soccer in Pennsylvania at Eagle View Middle School in Mechanicsburg beginning at 10 a.m. on Friday. All but one of the four games will feature a team that won a title in 2021 and three of the games will feature a team from the east of the state versus a team from the west. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>From a national perspective the biggest final of the day will be the 3A girls final at 4 p.m. which will feature Moon Area, the No. 2 ranked team in the latest United Soccer Coaches rankings, against Upper Perkiomen, a newcomer to the final game of the high school season. The East vs West matchup will be a first state final for an Upper Perkiomen team that is fresh off the program's first District 1 title. Moon Area is looking to become back-to-back champions and to pick up the school's sixth title. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Their 2-0 win over 2021 3A girls champions in Wednesday's semifinal was a highly touted battle between two teams with only one loss between them all season. A win against Upper Perkiomen would put an exclamation point on a perfect season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Southern Columbia is looking for a three-peat in the first final of the day at 10 a.m. against Freedom Area. It's a rematch of the 2018 final Southern Columbia won in overtime. A title would Southern Columbia's fourth while Freedom area is playing for a championship for just the second time. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Winchester Thurston is also looking to repeat as state champions in another East-West matchup in the Boys 1A final against Moravian Academy. The final is a rematch of the 2019 final Moravian Academy won. Moravian needed overtime to beat last year's runner up Faith Christian and is after the program's third title. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The lone relatively local matchup of the day (the school's are 90 miles apart) will be the final game of the day featuring Springfield Township vs Hershey. The irony for Hershey is that they have to travel for the program's first state final appearance after the 23-year streak of finals at Hersheypark Stadium was broken with the move to Mechanicsburg. Neither team has been at this stage before so either way there will be at least one new champion crowned on Friday. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Players to Watch</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kayla Leseck, Senior, Midfielder, Moon Area</strong><br>Leseck played a big role in Moon's state final win last year over Conestoga, helping to create the first goal when her free kick hit off the crossbar and tacking on the insurance goal. Her experience playing on the big stage will be key for Moon's chances at repeating, which they have to be feeling pretty confidence about after taking out Mars. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='42066' first='Loren' last='Gehret'], Senior, Forward, Southern Columbia</strong><br>Gehret will want nothing less than to end her successful high school career with a third state title. She will be a handful for Freedom Area to mark; her movement off the ball and ability to create chances for herself make her a problem they will need to solve. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Stefan Verbeek, Junior, Midfielder, Hershey</strong><br>Verbeek doesn't real need time, space or a good angle to beat you. The junior is one of the stars of this Hershey team looking to bring home a title. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Julian Casabon-Aznar, Senior, Goalkeeper, Springfield Township</strong><br>Goalkeepers are always important but going into unchartered territory for a program like Springfield having a reliable one like Casabon-Aznar could be the difference between a win or loss on Friday. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Saleem Diakite, Sophomore, Forward, Moravian Academy</strong><br>Diakite scored the golden goal in the semifinal to knock off Faith Christian and has to be feeling mighty confident going into Friday's final. His ability to take defenders on and score big goals could be the difference Friday. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Erin Edwards and Sara Edwards, Seniors, Upper Perkiomen</strong><br>Upper Perkiomen has talent all over the pitch and players who have stepped up when called upon in a dream season thus far for the program but twin sisters Erin and Sara deserve a mention for how important they have been as seniors in helping the team achieve their goals. It won't be easy against Moon so the team will need to stick together and fight for each other to have a chance. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Shaye Bailey, Junior, Forward, Freedom Area</strong><br>Bailey had a hat trick in a 3-0 semifinal win, showing yet again her ability to put the ball in the back of the net (she set a school record earlier this year with seven goals in a game!). Her pace will be a lot to handle for the Southern Columbia defense along with her combination play with senior captain Julia Mohrbacher. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='15274' first='Oliver' last='Daboo'], Senior, Defender/Midfielder, Winchester Thurston</strong><br>Daboo can score from distance and he has a knack for scoring game-winners. After scoring the winner in last year's state final and playing the hero in the semi to get his team back he's poised for some more heroics on Friday. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->