MECHANICSBURG — Sometimes an entire game changes in the opening moments.
That happened to Moon on Friday morning in the PIAA Class 3A boys soccer championship game, as Radnor scored just 2 minutes, 2 seconds into the contest and defeated the Tigers, 1-0.
Falling behind any team that quickly is hardly ideal, but against the Raptors it was particularly troubling. Radnor, the District 1 champion, had allowed only 10 goals all season and just one in the PIAA tournament.
The deciding tally was put into the net by Kieran Haas, who guided the ball on the first of six corners by Radnor.
The Tigers (25-1) had limited opportunities after that, with three shots on goal and three corners. That effort, though, may be more impressive than what it appears to be — in the semifinals, Radnor (21-3) allowed no shots and no corners.
“They were a little more athletic than other teams, and little more unselfish with the ball, but not anything we didn’t expect,” Moon coach Tyler Blake said. “We came out a little flat in the first few minutes.”
The only shot on goal in the first half for Moon was Wyatt Johnson’s low ball that Raptor goalie J.D. Ball moved to his right to stop. But that was 28 minutes into the game as the Tigers were just beginning to find their stride.
“We weren’t able to pick it up with numbers in transition, trying to get behind them,” Blake said. “It’s just that start. I thought we’d get on track. At halftime, I thought we’d get one in the second half, but it never came.”
Though Moon did limit Radnor’s scoring chances in the second half, the Tigers still took a while after the break to generate any opportunities of their own. Their first threat around the Radnor net was with 11 minutes left in the game, when a free kick was cleared out of the box but retained nearby by Zechariah Balbach. Balbach popped a shot toward the net, but Ball caught it with two hands.
The final minutes featured two chances for Moon to force overtime. With 40 seconds left, Balbach dribbled into the box but was sandwiched by two defenders. His shot attempt hit a defender’s ankle and never reached the net. Twenty seconds later, Johnson put a shot on the center of the net, but Ball was already standing there to stop it.
“Games like this, where you’re on the brink and you think you can win stay with you for a while,” Blake said.
The Tigers had been in tight games like this for two weeks, winning each of their other three PIAA games by one goal after claiming their second WPIAL title in three years. Their only other finals appearance was in 1985, a 4-2 loss to Council Rock.
Will Guarino made four saves for Moon, three of them in the second half. His best stop was probably the one he made with 1:30 left in the first half, punching a lofting shot by Matthew Santerian above the crossbar.