Soccer: Pioneers keep rolling, advance to Regional final (Video, Photo Gallery)
Playing in one of the toughest Districts in the state must have been good preparation for the Pioneer boys’ soccer team. From the opening kick, it was clear that the Pioneers were the better team and after 90 minutes the scoreboard confirmed it as Pioneer knocked off Grosse Ile Pointe South 4-0 on Wednesday at Dearborn High School in a Regional semifinal.
Pioneer will play Salem at 6 p.m. on Saturday in a Regional final at Dearborn HS. The Rocks defeated Dearborn 3-0 in the other semifinal on Wednesday.
Pioneer seemed bigger, stronger and simply better than the Blue Devils, who were left with only a couple scoring chances the entire game. Meanwhile, Pioneer seems to be getting better each time they step on the pitch.
Pioneer had an excellent scoring chance to start the game and then another in the final seconds of the first half. In between, they scored twice to take a 2-0 lead into halftime.
The second half was more or less a foregone conclusion.
The Blue Devils were able to keep the Pioneers off the scoreboard until midway through the first half. With 20:54 to play in the first half, Aaron Hsu made several great moves on his way around, through and past GP South defenders. The talented junior then passed the ball to Austin Jacobs. The equally talented senior controlled the ball and fired a rocket that the GP South keeper had no shot at saving and the shot gave Pioneer a 1-0 lead.
The Pioneers added to their lead late in the first half. Pioneer had a long free kick from near midfield that the GP South keeper couldn’t handle. The ball ended up on the foot of Pioneer’s Jack Yerkes who buried the shot from about 15 yards out.
Pioneer almost made it 3-0 but Nano Peroff’s shot was stopped by a diving save by the GP South keeper Bennett Smihal – who played a solid game for the Blue Devils.
The Pioneers made it 3-0 in the second half. Hsu took a penalty kick that was saved but he followed it up and knocked the rebound into the net with 30:10 left in the game.
Hsu added a goal with 3:06 to play in the game to finish the scoring and finish the Blue Devils.
