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Lewisburg boys soccer defeats Midd-West in shootout, advances to Class AA state final

By Evan Wheaton 5 min read

DANVILLE -- Lewisburg encountered a much different Midd-West boys soccer team Tuesday night.

It wasn't the same Mustangs squad the Green Dragons shut out, 3-0 in the District 4 Class AA final. What Lewisburg got instead was a race to the finish against a relentless, new-look Midd-West team.

"They came out with energy. They were well organized, well disciplined through the whole game," Green Dragons coach Ben Kettlewell said on the Mustangs. "They made a few adjustments that weren’t there before and definitely caused us to regroup and rethink and make some adjustments on our own."

Lewisburg regrouped after regulation. The Green Dragons also regrouped after the first overtime, and once again after the second. There was no more time for adjustments.

Midd-West and Lewisburg went down to the wire after taking a 1-1 draw into a shootout, which the Green Dragons took, 4-3 at Ironmen Stadium to advance to the PIAA Class AA state final.

With the win, Lewisburg will face District 7 champion Quaker Valley at Hersheypark Stadium on Friday at 1:30 p.m.

"Hats off to them, great team," Kettlewell said. "Probably the greatest game in District 4 history, given that it's a state semifinal against Lewisburg and Midd-West."

For senior goalkeeper Anthony Burns, the shootout was a full-circle moment. Burns obviously isn't new to the state semifinal, but he also isn't new to PKs on the big stage, either.

Burns (five saves) knows the other side of what was felt at Ironmen Stadium.

"I've never loved an ending I've hated, I don't even know what to say honestly. It doesn't even make any sense. My freshman year, we went to PKs in district semis and we lost," Burns said. "For me to play Midd-West for the last time in my career, and to win in PKs, it's ironic and I love it."

Burns added, "It's just a guessing game and unfortunately, that's just how it went. You have to give props to them, they had us in the first half. But we got our act together and we just came back and we wanted it. Unfortunately that's just how it ended."

Carter Hoover kicked the winning PK before Burns came up with his second save of the shootout. The Green Dragons had plenty of opportunities throughout both overtime periods, including a would-be game-winning goal that was called back on a blown whistle.

But Hoover, like the rest of Lewisburg, called back on all the penalty kick practice the team spends time on each day since that semifinal loss three years ago.

"It took a lot of grit and just needing to make plays where we needed to make them. We had a couple plays there in overtime that didn't go our way, maybe a PK at the box or a handball in the box. It ended up hitting the post twice. It just took a lot of grit to come up here, composure as well to take those pens and for Tony (Burns) to come up with two saves and for us to put ours away."

Hoover was credited with Lewisburg's regulation goal in the 28th minute. Upon checking back into the lineup, Hoover promptly found himself in a traffic jam at the Mustangs' net.

The senior -- who had a tap-in goal in the quarterfinal -- once again got just the right touch for an equalizer.

"I can't remember who hit the ball, it bounced up and I was just trying to get a tap on it. Luckily the Midd-West guy accidentally hit it back. I was trying to put pressure on him and do the best I could to get that bounce in and it kind of happened," Hoover said. "Fortunately for us, they ended up hitting it into their own goal. I might've gotten the credit, but it was an own-goal. We were excited there to get the momentum back on our side."

Owen Solomon put Midd-West on the board first exactly eight minutes into the game. Lewisburg wasn't rattled, however. The Green Dragons, dominant as they've been, aren't new to playing behind, having done so in the quarterfinal against Allentown Central Catholic.

"I give credit to my guys. They talk about that, and not giving up when there's long games. Getting down doesn't quite fluster us," Kettlewell said. "We just need to regroup and figure the other team out. Before we figured them out, they obviously put one in the back of the net and we needed to make our adjustments."

Sophomore netminder Cole Keister came up with eight saves for the Mustangs.

"It was a guessing game, and I thought they were going to catch on because I dove to the right every time," Burns said on the shootout. "I just stuck with it."

Lewisburg 1, Midd-West 1 (Lewisburg 4-3 shootout)

MW- Owen Solomon, 8; L- Carter Hoover, 28.

Shots: L, 11, MW, 6. Corners: L, 6, MW, 2. Saves: L, 5 (Anthony Burns); MW, 8 (Cole Keister).

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