WEST CHESTER – With the outcome of the match, and a berth into the District 1 4A Championship Game on the line, Haverford head soccer coach Mike Klemens went to senior defender Cruz Corialos. And it was no coincidence that the Central League Player of the Year was his fifth and final player to take such an important penalty kick.
Corialos stepped up and beat West Chester Henderson goalkeeper Dylan Arrison in the tense one-on-one battle from 12 yards out to give fourth-seeded Fords a 3-2 triumph in PKs on Tuesday evening and propel the squad to the final on Saturday at 3 p.m.
The opponent will be determined in the other semifinal on Wednesday between No. 6 Springfield (Montco) and No. 7 Abington. And in a stroke of luck, the title contest will take place on Haverford’s home field.
“I’ve been waiting for my athletic director to tell me that the PIAA is changing the site,” Klemens joked. “But no, it’s going to be great.”
The Fords (17-2-2 overall) and the top-seeded Warriors (17-3-1) battled to a 0-0 draw through 80 minutes of regulation and 30 more in two overtime sessions. Henderson captains Jake Brogan and Jack Overton scored on two of its first three PKs to take a commanding 2-0 lead, but Haverford never blinked. Especially senior goaltender Sean Grein.
“We are confident in our goalie. He saved a PK for us to win at Radnor, and that solidified our first round bye in districts,” Klemens said.
“The misses are always hard to watch, but I was confident,” Corialos added. “Our goalie, that’s what he does – he saves PKs. We knew if we missed one, he’d make the save, and that’s exactly what he did.”
Grein turned aside the next two Warriors – Arrison and Caden Quinn – with acrobatic saves, and after Haverford’s Cy Stahl and Pat Flynn got consecutive PKs past Arrison, it was tied 2-2 with Corialos stepping up. A save would send the penalty shootout into sudden death. A conversion meant a win.
“I knew if I missed, we would keep going, so that took a little bit of the pressure off me,” Corialos said. “But I’ve never missed a penalty kick in competition, so when I stepped up I was confident that I could send (the keeper) the wrong way.”
Klemens added: “I heard Cruz say that during practice, so it gave me added confidence to put him in there. It was a no-brainer.”
According to Corialos, he studied Arrison’s positioning in the goal and tried to look the other way with a clear plan in mind.
“In the run up I saw (Arrison) flinch left so I put it in the right corner,” he said. “After it went in, I knew exactly where I wanted to go to celebrate, so I ran right over to the fans and my teammates.”
The loss halted a streak of 14 matches without a loss for Henderson, who will play the Springfield-Abington loser in the playback round on Friday to determine the third place finisher from the district for the upcoming PIAA Playoffs. The Warriors – who won the district crown in 2024 – qualified for states with a win in the quarterfinals last weekend.
“After we won on Saturday, I told the boys that they’ve earned at least three more games, so let’s make the most of those three,” Henderson head coach Chaz Wilson said.
“I am really proud of my team. There were times when things weren’t going our way, and we weren’t getting the bounces. We could have packed it up but these boys have a lot of heart.”
The first half was very tightly contested. But the Fords made an adjustment and totally dominated the second half by putting six shots on goal, adding four corner kicks, and limiting Henderson to zero and zero.
“We had a game plan heading in, and we played a bit different than we normally play,” Klemens pointed out. “As the game went on, it wasn’t really working so we switched it up and went back to how we normally play, which is front-foot focused, possession-oriented.”
The Warriors, however, had two of their best chances in each of the overtimes. The first was a header by freshman Andrew Soler that sailed just over the crossbar at the 9:02 mark of OT No. 1. The second was with 13:36 on the clock in double overtime when a loose ball in the goal mouth was headed in but booted away at the last moment by a defender.
“I thought we played well in the first half. And then in the second, (Haverford) was stringing together passes and you start to chase,” Wilson said. “It can snowball on you, and it did.
“We were able to regroup after the second half. I told the boys that this is about attitude. If you go in with the right attitude, it will come around.”
The final numbers were close in corners (9-7 in favor of the Fords), but the shots on goal were lopsided. Arrison turned aside 20 shots, while Grein faced just seven.
“Credit to the Henderson goalie – he is fantastic. Probably one of the best goalies we’ve seen all season,” Klemens said.
“Our defense is our calling card,” Wilson added. “I don’t know how dangerous those 20 shots were. Dylan did a great job, but I can only think of one or two that really had my heart racing. I thought we did a great job limiting (Haverford) because they are a very talented offensive team.”
Haverford 0, West Chester Henderson 0 (Haverford wins 3-2 on PKs)
Haverford 0 0 0 0 – 0
W.C. Henderson 0 0 0 0 – 0
Goalie saves: Grein (H) 7; Arrison (WCH) 20.
Source: Berkshire mont
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