ALLENTOWN – Zion Moore has come up big for Pleasant Valley before.

The senior delivered for the Bears once again on Thursday.

Moore fashioned one of his biggest finishes of the season to propel Pleasant Valley past top-seed Liberty 1-0 and into the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference boys soccer championship game.

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The Bears will face No. 2 seed Freedom, which dispatched Parkland 1-0, on Saturday in the final.

With time winding down, Moore, who was recently named the EPC’s MVP, scored what proved to be the game-winner on an assist from Mirza Sabovic with 9:27 remaining in the second half.

“It’s almost like you drown everything out for like half a second,” Moore said afterward. “It’s like everything’s moving in slow motion. So when you connect with it, you snap back into reality when you score. It’s the best feeling in the world.”

Pleasant Valley head coach Alex Wunder had seen Moore’s magic before.

“It was fantastic,” said Wunder. “Him laying it across … and he’s going against the No. 1 keeper (First Team EPC All-Star Blake Koski) in the conference. He was voted the No. 1 keeper, and he is a fantastic keeper. So for us to get a goal like that against him in regulation is phenomenal.

“And Zion, we’re talking about the all-state player. He came up big when we needed it. We put a lot on him as our point man, and I do expect him to come through when we need it. Is it going to happen every single game? No. But we have a lot of other role players there that, if he doesn’t show up, somebody else is gonna show up.”

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Moore’s tally was pivotal for the fourth-seeded Bears to move on, but Wunder felt it was their game to win even before the decisive score.

“The guys just worked so hard, they really did,” added Wunder. “They worked hard throughout the entire game. We had a ton of opportunities. I honestly think we controlled the game pretty well, and I think it was our game to win, to be honest. I really think we were the better team in this.”

Pleasant Valley also got another stellar performance in goal from Chris Price, who made a critical save on a shot from Christopher Schray with 28:00 remaining in the second half.

“Talking to him yesterday, and even on the bus, and before this game, I said to him, ‘In a game like this, I need you to make one big save. One big one, and that will keep us in the game,’” said Wunder. “And he did what he needed to do. He made that big save, and that was huge.

“People don’t realize it – I counted them today – he has 12 shutouts on the year. They kind of downplay him as a keeper and everything, but he’s got 12 shutouts on the year. We’re not all about getting shutouts; it’s all about the win. But at the end of the day, he’s a hell of a keeper.”

Price wasn’t tested often, but he was lights out when he needed to be.

“It’s all a team effort,” Price said of the performance. “The defense helped me do it. I had maybe two shots I had to stop the whole night. But these shutouts mean a lot. They speak volumes about the whole team.”

SOMETHING SPECIAL … Wunder, leading the Bears after the passing of longtime mentor Chris Pachuta in August, was also named the EPC’s Coach of the Year. The opportunity to guide the team to the doorstep of a league title is one he won’t soon forget. “I’m just so happy for these guys. I just can’t believe it. With the season, and everything they went through, this is it. This is what they wanted; we wanted that next level, and we talked about it all year long. We got there, and I think we’re going to keep going further, I honestly do. I believe we will,” he said.

RECORDS ... Pleasant Valley improves to 15-3-1. Liberty falls to 15-3-2.