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Eagles, Stags Back in Title Game

Cliché it may be, but the truth is that often times, slow and steady really do win the race. The adage was on display Friday afternoon in the WCAC semifinal matchup between three seed Gonzaga College High School and seven seed Paul VI Catholic High School. In a rematch of the 2008 penultimate contest, Gonzaga (14-7-4) advanced to their tenth straight championship game, defeating the PVI Panthers (10-12-2) by a final score of 2-0.

Now winners of six in a row, and ten of their last 12, Gonzaga, who had beaten as well as tied PVI in league play this season, applied a steady attack over nearly all 80 minutes that eventually broke through the tough skin of the Panther protection. With the exception of last 15 minutes of the first half, which were offensively dominated by PVI, there was no question that Gonzaga controlled the flow of the match from the very beginning.

Despite several shots on goal, the nets stood empty at RFK Auxiliary Field until the 22nd minute of play when Gonzaga senior forward Earl Hamilton pocketed a goal from just outside the right corner of the box, giving the Eagles a 1-0 advantage. While they took that lead into halftime, it was not for lack of effort by PVI freshman Kennedy O’Shea, whose five shots in the waning minutes of the first half marked the Panther’s only true, albeit fruitless, offensive surge. Along with senior goalkeeper Chris Rubel, the Eagle defense was bolstered by his classmate, defender Will Ryan, who was far and away the most active player on the field the entire game.

While the second half held a mostly monotonous tone, that of the Gonzaga offense with nearly constant possession, it was not until the 75th minute when the Eagles sealed the contest on a spectacular pseudo-bicycle goal by junior Josh Godec off of a corner kick rebound. With the following five minutes scoreless, the final whistle was blown on the PVI season, sending Gonzaga to yet another championship game.

“What happened was we capitalized on a great goal from Earl in the first half and Josh Godec had a great hustle goal in the second half,” said Gonzaga coach Scott Waller following the win. “We came out and played with a lot of heart and luckily none of O’Shea’s shots went in. He could have had three or four goals.”

As far as the next game is concerned, with the prospect of winning a fourth straight conference championship, Waller is trying to approach it as if Gonzaga’s recent history is not as storied as the record books show.

“It’s the same as going for one. It doesn’t matter that it could be our fourth in a row. It’s a totally different team. No one on our team has been here for all four. However, we are proud that this will be our 10th straight championship game we’re competing in. We know that our last game of the season is going to be the championship. That is the expectation going in to every season.”

While Waller attempts to publicly downplay Gonzaga’s new-millennium legacy, PVI was under no illusions as to the ability of their semifinal opponent. “Playing a team that has been here ten straight years, you have to have something special to beat them,” said Panthers’ coach Matt Leiva. “We weren’t lucky enough to do that today, but what are you going to do? I’ve got a team with an average age of about 14.5 or 15. Getting here was a huge accomplishment for us.”

Gonzaga will face top-seeded DeMatha for the WCAC championship. DeMatha, who outlasted McNamara in a 2-1 victory Friday, suffered just one league loss this season. Fittingly, it came at the hands of Gonzaga just three weeks ago.

“It’s nice to have beaten them this year,” Waller said. “It will give our guys some confidence but I can’t let it be too much because they are a very talented team from top to bottom. They’re one of the best teams in the nation. They had a tough loss to us and a tough lost out west. They’ve been spectacular. We just need to play with heart and have fun. We’ve got to try to have fun.”