La Salle College High School 2024 PCL Champions
Photo by Donna Eckert for PSD
By John Knebels
PHILADELPHIA – Perspective sometimes changes after having had some time to reflect. Sometimes, it doesn’t.
After La Salle High School completed one of the most dominant Philadelphia Catholic League soccer championships in PCL history, a 5-0 victory over Archbishop Ryan October 27 at Northeast High School, various Explorers couldn’t help but focus on having executed a nearly perfect game plan against the only league team that defeated them during the regular season.
Two weeks later, and after one more look at the tapes, that assessment could arguably be amended slightly; perhaps “nearly perfect” doesn’t need the adverb “nearly.” If La Salle’s championship performance – their second straight, sixth in the last eight seasons, and 13th in school history against only four final defeats – can’t be deemed as perfect, nothing can.
“Before the season started, a lot of speculation went around saying how we weren’t going to win it back-to-back, and that we weren’t the favorites,” said senior Christian Backich. “As a team, we kept this hunger of being an underdog all season.”
The dominant win against a very strong four-seed Archbishop Ryan – ignited by three first-half goals – imitated two other historic teams for the largest margin of victory in a PCL final, tying the Archbishop Ryan juggernauts from 1985 and 1983 that defeated St. Joseph’s Prep and Monsignor Bonner, respectively, by identical scores. The most lopsided result occurred in 1977, when since-closed North Catholic overwhelmed St. Joseph’s Prep, 10-2.
Any semblance of drama effectively ended at intermission, after goals by seniors Mark Mazzoni, Sam Zieger, and Colin Norton had given the Explorers a stunning 3-0 lead. Refusing to let up, and obviously motivated by the 1-0 loss to Ryan back on October 8, the Explorers added tallies by senior Thomas Regan and junior Shea Crawford while surrendering few scoring chances.
“I felt that we finished the PCL off how we wanted to play all year,” said senior Liam Pottichen. “We came out hot, and that’s why it was so dominant. Everyone in the system was where they should be, and that’s what made it so good and hard to stop.”
Despite their enormous talent, Backich and Pottichen – two of La Salle’s 12 seniors – remained in the background of league recognition. When the All-Catholic team was announced, neither received enough votes to qualify.
When part of a team as good as La Salle, though, that’s par for the course. With 11 other schools to consider, one team is only allowed so much individual adulation. La Salle ended up receiving a league-high eight nominations – four on the first team, two on the second, and two more on the third.
PCL Soccer Championship Highlights by John Knebels for PSD
La Salle senior All-Catholics (L-R) Tom Regan, Sam Zieger, Kaden Bono, Finn Murray and Mark Mazzoni reflect on PCL title.
“When you have a senior class that has tremendous quality, it takes some guys being role players to truly be successful,” said La Salle coach Tom McCaffery.
“Liam and Christian didn't get the recognition as some of their teammates, but their contributions made the 2024 La Salle soccer team as good as it was.
“Being able to rely on ‘Potts’ at left back every day for the last two years has been a blessing for me as a coach, and it has been an important part of our defensive success. He gives us solid tackling defensively in one-on-one areas out wide, and he provides passing skills that allow us to keep and move the ball when we are in possession.
“Christian has proven himself as a true Swiss army knife of a player this year for us. He started games on the wing and at outside back. He subbed into matches up top and in deep center midfield. He has been a ‘Mr. Fix-It’ whenever we have needed a job done during matches. Christian scored big goals for us this year and has been unselfish with his distribution to set up his teammates. Without his high soccer IQ and ability to fill in across the pitch, we would have been in some tough spots this year. Christian is also our communicator and energy guy. He loves the communication part of the game and brought that whether he was starting or coming off the bench. His positive attitude around the team and good energy will be missed.”
Although the Explorers ended up suffering a bitter and shocking 2-1 loss to Northeast in the District 12 final four days later, thereby extinguishing realistic plans to capture a PIAA state title, that, in no way, lessened the fact that La Salle proved to be one of the best teams in PCL history.
“Losing the district game hurt a lot,” said Pottichen. “That was definitely not how I wanted to end my senior year of La Salle soccer, but that’s just the way the game works. At first it felt horrible, but a couple days later thinking back on our year was amazing. I’m extremely thankful for all the memories I’ve made over my three years on varsity.”
La Salle coach Tom McCaffery lauds his players after dominant PCL championship victory.
Backich concurred.
“Winning the PCL is an accomplishment and the team should be proud we won it,” said Backich, who assisted on Crawford’s goal. “It’s frustrating that our season ended as early as it did. It’s just the way the game goes sometimes. One game you win 5-0, the next you’re up 1-0 at halftime, but lose 2-1. It’s the nature of the game. As much as it stings, it’s the way it goes.”
(Contact John Knebels at jknebels@gmail.com or on ‘X’ @johnknebels.)
