North Pocono headed to Catasauqua Middle School for Saturday afternoon’s Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association quarterfinal looking to follow up Tuesday’s success by putting the school’s first two state boys soccer playoff victories back-to-back.
The Trojans gave themselves a shot by scoring two straight goals to begin the game, but they could not hold down Archbishop Wood and eventually fell, 4-3, in the Class 3A game.
Jonah Yurkanin scored unassisted 15:48 into the game and Cayden Lougee headed in a rebound of a Corbin Lankford shot 6:44 later to give the Lackawanna League Division 1 and District 2 Class 3A champions a 2-0 lead.
The Trojans made the most of their offensive chances on a cold, rainy, windy afternoon, but Archbishop Wood took control of the action, generated more scoring opportunities and was nearly as efficient in converting.
Archbishop Wood, which also reached the state semifinals in 2017, 2018 and 2019, recovered to tie the game just before halftime.
Jackson Kiss scored first then C.J. Clyde assisted Logan Savage for the tying goal 38 seconds before halftime.
Clyde then scored twice in the first 8:36 of the second half for a 4-2 lead.
North Pocono attempted its own comeback.
Will Pickarski scored off an Alex Pagotto assist with 1:43 left, giving the Trojans three goals on just seven shots, but they were unable to produce the equalizer.
Archbishop Wood finished with a 13-7 lead in shots and a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Jordan Carr had eight saves for North Pocono and Julian Naumenko had four for Archbishop Wood.
