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Greensburg Central Catholic's defense gave Springdale little opportunity to win its first boys soccer championship in 36 years.

After both teams were scoreless for most of the first half, GCC finally scored late in the first half and held off a Springdale surge to win the WPIAL Class A title, 2-1, on Saturday at Elizabeth Forward's Warrior Stadium.

A goal by Daniel Szekely with 3:31 left in the match gave GCC a 2-0 lead and proved to be the difference. A goal by Springdale's R.J. Andrasy with 28.8 seconds left cut the deficit in half.

The Centurions (18-3-1) will face Penns Valley on Tuesday at Franklin Regional at 6 p.m.

Springdale (17-2-2) will enter the PIAA playoffs Tuesday night against District 10 champion Mercyhurst Prep (15-2-3)at a site and time to be determined.

Springdale didn't get a shot on goal until there was 23:47 left in the first half. Much of the early action took place in the Springdale defensive zone.

The play of senior goalkeeper Cody Perrett kept Springdale in the game while the Dynamos had trouble generating offense. An early shot by Tim Wood went left of the goal, and Perrett had to stop another solid shot two minutes later. An attempt by Szekely was halted when Perrett came far out of the goal mouth and leaped for the ball before Szekely could get off a shot.

"Cody kept us in the game today," Springdale coach Doug Matisz said. "I hope the team recognizes what he did do for us."

Greensburg Central finally broke through with 3:25 left in the half on a header by Bradley Appleby off a corner kick by Ryland Smith.

"I had just put Brad in, and he gets in the right spot at the right time," Greensburg Central Catholic coach Tom Kennedy said. "We practice corner kicks and set plays. I had put Ryland in there and I pulled Dominic Pimpinella, who usually takes our corner kicks. I thought I had made a mistake."

"Something was strange. We just came out flat here today," Matisz said. "It just wasn't a good day for us. They started slow, but we played a little better in the second half."

A free kick by Springdale's Mike Funyak went over the goal. In another sequence, Ryan Francis retrieved his missed shot and raced to the corner to set up a quick corner kick, but Greensburg Central quickly cleared the area before Springdale could set up a play.

Time was stopped when two Dynamos starters — Andrasy and Brandon Pastierik — were injured in collisions with 4:06 left.

Following Szekaly's goal, Springdale drove quickly and Andrasy scored off a superb pass from Francis.

After the re-start, Springdale tried to kick the ball deep into Centurions territory, but midfielder Greg Kemerer returned the kick deep into the Springdale end to ice the victory.

Springdale's most recent previous appearance in the WPIAL finals came in 1979, when the Dynamos lost to Shaler.

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