Pleasant Valley edges Allen in boys soccer

Pleasant Valley’s boys soccer team avenged a regular season loss in the best way possible.

The Bears beat Allen, 2-1, on Tuesday in the first round of the District 11 Class 4A playoffs.

Pleasant Valley coach Chris Pachuta said that while the win was the most important objective, the Bears also got an added bonus..

“Not going into overtime when we play again Thursday is huge,” said Pachuta. “Whenever you can get a win in regulation time in the playoffs it’s a huge victory,”

The way the game started, it looked like overtime might be a possibility as the two teams traded possession of the ball with very few scoring opportunities.

Allen’s goalkeeper Trevor Rockwell had plenty of chances to practice his goal kicks early in the game as most of the Bears’ offensive possessions ended with the ball rolling across the end line.

The closest either team came to scoring in the early stages of the match came Rockwell attempted to clear the ball from the front of the goal and almost handed the Bears a lead. Rockwell’s kick struck one of his defensemen and deflected back towards the goal just ringing off of the post.

The Bears then began putting the heat on, getting three straight shots on goal. Pleasant Valley’s increased pressure paid off.

Jon Mickens sent in a corner kick which was touched by Ryan Keller and then deflected in by a Canary defender.

The own-goal came with 2:20 left in the half.

Following halftime, Allen’s Papa Micha fired a shot off of the top crossbar that teammate Samuel Dolobaipu headed in off the rebound to tie the score at 1-1 with 30 minutes left in the game.

Both teams had an opportunity to take the lead in the next few minutes, but were denied.

The Bears’ chance came when Zion Moore ripped a hard shot, that forced the Allen goalie to make a tremendous save.

Pleasant Valley’s eventually was able to cash in on its scoring chances when Chris D’Alesandro snuck around the goalie and took a shot that was stopped by a Canary defender. Kyle Dooner then got the rebound, took a step back with the ball, and scored a beautiful goal to the top left of the net with 25 minutes remaining.

Allen’s Dolobaipu came close to getting the equalizer on a huge a shot, but it was turned away by the Pleasant Valley defense.

It was the last serious threat by Allen as Pleasant Valley controlled possession down the stretch.

CHANGE OF PLANS ... After losing to Allen during the regular season, the Bears made some changes. “We changed formations for this one,” said Pachuta. “We tried to play less intense and more cerebral today being that they are more athletic than we are.”

NEXT ... Pleasant Valley will move onto the district quarterfinals. The No. 8 seeded Bears will travel to top-seeded Parkland on Thursday at 5 p.m.