BY SHANE HENNIGAN
Times-Shamrock Writer

Playing with a one-goal lead late in the first half, Wyoming Seminary was still looking for a momentum shifter.

The Blue Knights got what they were looking for and used it to carry them to a district championship.

Geronimo Maspero scored with 10 seconds left in the first half and the Blue Knights’ suffocating defense allowed just one shot, as second-seeded Wyoming Seminary captured the District 2 Class A boys soccer championship with a 4-0 victory over No. 1 Montrose at Scranton Memorial Stadium.

It’s the first district title for Wyoming Seminary (18-2) since 2002. The Blue Knights also advance to the PIAA tournament, which begins Tuesday, and will face District 4 runner-up Bloomsburg, which lost to East Juniata, 1-0, in Thursday’s district final.

For the first 30 minutes, Wyoming Seminary controlled the ball but had nothing to show for it. Then, in the 32nd minute, the Blue Knights took advantage of a Montrose miscue when the Meteors were whistled for a handball inside the 18-yard penalty box, setting up a penalty kick from 12 yards away.

Dominik Bohl converted, blasting a shot into the left side of the net to give the Blue Knights a 1-0 lead.
The Blue Knights nearly had two more goals in the 38th and 39th minutes but couldn’t convert. But with the clock winding down in the final seconds of the half, Wyoming Seminary struck again.

After getting behind the defense, Andriy Molchanov gave a touch pass to Maspero, who fired a shot in the box from point-blank range into the net to put the Blue Knights up, 2-0.

“That was tough just because a 1-0 game is completely different than a 2-0 game,” Montrose coach Dan Cherney said. “It was a tough break.”

Wyoming Seminary kept attacking offensively and putting the pressure on defensively in the second half, not allowing the Meteors to generate much of an offense.

In the 56th minute, the Blue Knights lined up for a direct kick from 27 yards out. Bohl fired the shot and was denied by goalkeeper Brendan Buck, who dove to his right to make the save.

But the ball deflected out to the front of the wide open net and Alexandre D’Astous was there to finish it and, essentially, put the game out of reach.

“I told them the team that we came a long way and that we’ve taken a huge step in the development of a program,” Cherney said. “We don’t want this to be a one-year thing. We want this to be something consistent.”