Moon shuts out TJ in first round

By ASHLEY CHASE

MVI Sports

Moon’s smothering defense kept Thomas Jefferson at bay as the Jaguars saw their season end Saturday with a 3-0 loss in the opening round of the WPIAL 3A playoffs.

TJ averaged four goals a game throughout the regular season, but its offense could never find shots let alone a rhythm, and was shut out for just the third time this year.

Jaguars junior goalkeeper Alexander Day faced shots early and often, including a diving save in the seventh minute to keep Moon off the scoreboard. A few Moon shots sailed a bit high and Day had the aid of defender Andrew Getsy to block out the goal in the 13th minute.

The Tigers took the lead moments later on a rangy cross by Reilly Nickles from out near the sideline to the right of the cage making, it 1-0 with 25:46 to play in the first half.

The Tigers brought the heat as Day made four saves in the final eight minutes of the opening period. Two of those stops came at point blank range as Moon senior John Lenosky struck a tough pair of blows that Day kept out of the twine with a two-handed stuff.

Thomas Jefferson trailed 1-0 at half, but Moon continued to wear the Jaguars down. Another pair of stuffs by Day and a nice defensive play by Billy Marshall prevented a Tigers score, but the momentum continued to build in Moon’s favor as a blast by Nickles rang off the crossbar.

After a failed corner kick attempt, Moon recovered the ball and Chris Brancato buried a feed from Bryan Fuentes in the 51st minute to give the Tigers a 2-0 advantage.

Moon extended its lead with 13 minutes to play as Ryan Kopay took a feed from Severin Dengel and punched it into the net.

“They’re a quality team, I’ll give them that. It’s hard to play catch-up against a good team,” said head coach Mike Kulish. 

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