PVAC tourney in full swing

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005

The Potomac Valley Athletic Conference tournament is down to its final four, and will crown a champion this weekend.

Jewish Day (8-3 PVAC), the tournament’s fourth seed, reached the semifinals Monday with a 3-1 win over No. 5 Covenant Life. The Cougars opened the scoring in the first half, but Ari Cobrunn equalized within a minute. Junior Harris Neuberg put the Lions in front midway through the second half, and Aaron Brooks sealed it with a penalty kick late in the game.

Jewish Day will face the winner of Tuesday’s game between top-seeded Sandy Spring Friends and No. 8 Edmund Burke, which finished too late to be included in this edition. The Lions are fully expecting undefeated regular-season champion Sandy Spring.

‘‘We’d be big underdogs, and we’re looking forward to being like Buster Douglas,” Jewish Day coach Rob Bokman said.

The Wildebeest nailed down an unbeaten conference season in disappointing fashion, with a forfeit win over Barrie. They took out their frustration at not winning outright last Wednesday against non-league Heights. Sandy Spring scored three times in the first half and went on to win, 3-1.

‘‘It was a very empty feeling for the boys, because nobody wants to win any soccer game on forfeit,” Wildebeest coach Eduardo Polon said. ‘‘The opportunity to celebrate the banner wasn’t provided until a really exciting game against The Heights. It really was an amazing battle of titans — at least, independent-school titans.”

Times and locations for the PVAC semifinals are still being hammered out, but the championship game will take place Saturday at 12 p.m. at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds.