"In these games, you have to go through the ball. You have to be forceful," said Gibney, whose team moves on the play the winner of No. 3 Toms River East vs. No. 14 Triton.
"That's just the way it is at the end of the year. But you do need to have a little bit of beauty to go with the beast. And, thankfully, we were able to show that beauty a little bit on our first goal."
Shawnee controlled the ball for most of regulation, nearly converting on three quality chances before senior Ryan Schroy netted a goal with 25 minutes, 8 seconds left in the game.
The goal, as Gibney pointed out, was a touch of beauty in a game that was mostly beast.
With one man between them, Donny DiVirgilio slid a perfectly timed pass to Schroy, who was streaking toward the net.
With the goalkeeper charging him, Schroy showed great touch as he poked the ball into the far end of the goal.
"It felt great to score that goal," Schroy said. "I was asking Donny for the ball, and he knew exactly where to put it.
"It's just a fantastic feeling to win this game. We really played as a team - and a lot better than we've been playing recently."
Eleven minutes after that goal, senior Tyler Arsenault essentially iced the game when he converted a cross from Sean Welch, putting Shawnee ahead by 2-0.
"We definitely felt pressure coming into this game," Arsenault said. "Especially for the seniors. We know that, if we lose, it's the last game of our career."
The Renegades controlled play and cruised to victory after Arsenault's goal.
"We're definitely feeling as strong right now as we have all season," Schroy said. "We just need to keep building on this, and good things will hopefully happen."
The Vikings (9-7-3), who returned just two starters this season, were coming off a solid regular season but weren't hanging their heads despite losing to a lower seed.
"It was a good season, even though I think our play was up and down for a lot of the season," Eastern coach Steve Kosyla said. "But Shawnee is a good team; they're one of the top teams in South Jersey. And we were competitive with them, but once they scored that first goal, it was tough to come back."
Shawnee 0 2 – 2
Eastern 0 0 – 0
Goals: S-Ryan Schroy, Tyler Arsenault.
Saves: S- Mike Hartmann 2; E-Cory Brodkin 4, Anthony Cavallo 3.
Contact Chris Melchiorre at rallysports@phillynews.com.
