The Lower Merion High School boys and girls soccer teams, both seeded in the top eight spots in their respective PIAA District 1 4A tournaments, earned first-round shutout victories Tuesday.
The LM girls, seeded sixth, defeated No. 27 seed Quakertown, 4-0, while the Lower Merion boys, seeded eighth, defeated No. 25 seed Cheltenham, 3-0.
With the girls contest barely eight minutes old, LM senior Kylie Gust ran under a long pass from fellow senior Alex Dore and beat the Quakertown keeper with a shot to the far side to give Lower Merion a 1-0 lead.
“We (Kylie and I) play club soccer together so when I see her up ahead I try and play the long ball to her because I know she can run under it and make the most of the possession,” said Dore.
With 10 minutes left in the first half, the Aces’ Jordan Levinson placed a perfect corner kick into the box, where Casey Forman came charging in and connected on a header into the back of the net.
“We like to get in on the goal line on set pieces,” said Forman. “We work on that in practice and Jordan had a perfect corner that I was able to convert.”
In the second half, Eloise Gerson and Dylan Steinberg scored.
On Thursday (Oct. 26), the LM girls will host No. 11 seed West Chester Rustin for the second round.
The Lower Merion boys took a 1-0 lead in their first-round contest when freshman Ben Bradway converted on a rebound with 25:20 left in the first half.
The Aces kept Cheltenham off the scoreboard, thanks to a solid back line led by Jude Vaughn and keeper Crosby Johnson.
“Our back line was solid today,” said LM senior Ben Cromer. “With Jude in the middle he made some big plays.”
The Aces doubled their lead with 25 minutes remaining in the second half when Gideon Wolf converted a header from Ben Cromer with a header of his own.
Cromer scored the game’s final goal, going one-on-one with the Cheltenham goalie.
“I saw the keeper make his move and I took a touch and slid the ball left,” said Cromer.
With the win, the Lower Merion boys host ninth seed Upper Dublin in the second round Thursday.
In other local PIAA District 1 4A first round soccer tournament action Tuesday:
Harriton (boys), seeded 11th, defeated No. 22 William Tennent, 4-1, Tuesday, and will play No. 6 seed Abington Thursday.
The Harriton girls team, seeded 19th, knocked off No. 14 seed Owen J. Roberts, 2-1, Tuesday and will face No. 3 seed Downingtown East Thursday.
Conestoga, the top seed in both the District 1 4A boys and girls tournaments, had a first round bye Tuesday. The Conestoga boys will host No. 16 Upper Merion Thursday, while the Pioneer girls will face No. 16 seed Plymouth Whitemarsh.
In PIAA District 1 3A first round soccer tournament action:
Radnor (boys), the No. 1 seed, defeated eighth seed West Chester East, 5-0, Wednesday and will face No. 4 seed Lower Moreland Oct. 31.
Villa Maria Academy, the No. 7 seed in the girls’ 3A bracket, defeated 10th seed Springfield Township, 2-1, in a play-in game Tuesday and will face No. 2 seed Upper Perkiomen Thursday.
Radnor, the No. 3 seed in the girls’ 3A bracket, will face sixth seed Bishop Shanahan Thursday.
