Check out the results for SOL boys/girls soccer teams in action Friday.
Girls
HARRY S TRUMAN 2, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 1
The Tigers celebrated their first win of the season on Friday, rallying from a 1-0 deficit with a pair of second half goals.
“What we’ve been doing is we’ve been playing complete games, which we haven’t been doing before,” coach Mike McHugh said. “We’ll play good in the first half, and then we’ll just fall apart.
“This was a total team victory today. The girls were very excited. I was very happy for them. You work so hard as a team, and you don’t win very often. We might not be getting the wins, but we’ve been playing well.”
Evidence of the Tigers’ improved play was their 2-0 loss to Council Rock North on Thursday. On Sept. 19, the Tigers took a 9-0 drubbing at the hands of Rock North.
“It was actually a very good game,” McHugh said of Thursday’s rematch. “We played really well – it was 1-0 at halftime, and we gave up another goal in the second half.
“Today we were looking for that kind of complete game.”
The Colonials broke a scoreless halftime tie when Morgan Jerin found the back of the net in the 52nd minute. Eight minutes later, Amanda McElhare scored the equalizer on a corner kick.
“That’s her second goal off of a corner kick, and that’s pretty impressive,” McHugh said. “She’s a very good player, and we ask her to do a lot for us. She play primarily forward last year and scored 13 goals.
“We asked her to move back this year, and we have her all over the field. She’s done a lot, she’s been very productive the last couple of weeks.”
Eight minutes later, Jillian East floated a shot over the goalie for the game winner.
“They got a goal and we didn’t panic,” McHugh said. “We were able to put two in.
“We haven’t been having complete games. We’ve given up a goal and then fallen apart. We’d give up a goal and play with our heads down, but they’re starting to believe.
“It’s a little late in the season, but I’ll take it. They’re playing well. We’re getting a lot of good play out of fullbacks who are keeping us in the game. We’re not making it easy for the other teams shooting. I’ve been preaching defense, defense, defense first. We can play with these teams if we hold them.”
McHugh credited the performance of keeper Alyssa Bosler in Friday’s win.
“She hasn’t played keeper all her life – we kind of transformed her into a keeper last year,” the Tigers’ coach said. “She’s not a true keeper, and she’s doing an admirable job.
“I said to her the other day that she probably sees more shots in a game than most keepers. She has to do a lot of that. If she can keep us in games, hopefully we’ll pitch a goal.”
Sam Ricciardi, a four-year varsity player, has been a study in courage for the Tigers.
“In May, she had ankle surgery with a rod and a pin put in her ankle,” McHugh said. “She hasn’t been able to do a lot for us. She’s been cleared to play, but it’s sore all the time. I give her a lot of credit. Today she played the whole game and even went back and played a little sweeper just to help us out.
“We’re trying to manage her, put her up top a little bit. We try and hide her so she doesn’t get hurt. She stepped up today because we really needed people to come up big. The last five or six minutes we had to hold on and play some good defense.”
Truman (1-13, 0-10 SOL) will travel to Pennsbury on Tuesday, and PW (5-5-2, 5-3-2) will be on the road at Upper Dublin.
Harry S Truman 0-2 2
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0-1 1
ABINGTON 3, UPPER DUBLIN 2
The Ghosts overcame a 2-1 halftime deficit to hand the Flying Cardinals their first loss of the season in a contest that was shortened by five minutes because of lightening.
Scoring goals for the Ghosts were Gianna Beck, Issy Mugnier and Isabelle Bautista. Julia Guarini added two assists.
In a contest that saw the wind play a major role in the play, the Ghosts – playing against the wind – got on the scoreboard five minutes into the contest when Beck found the back of the net.
"It was a real nice through ball from Julia Guarini behind the defense, and Beck came in and hit a real nice shot," coach Rick Tompkins.
The Flying Cardinals answered with goals from Alexis Schneider and Priya Kaneria to go into half on top by one. Ten minutes into the second half, Mugnier connected to knot the score, and in the 63rd minute, Bautista found the net with a goal that turned out to be the game winner.
"In the first half, we were going against the wind and spent a lot of time in our own defensive half," Tompkins said. "At halftime, we got the advantage and spent the entire second half in their half.
"They play on turf, and it's completely open. I tried to get the win advantage in the first half, but we lost the toss. I was real pleased to get the first goal. I was telling them, 'Don't put the ball in the air – it will come back in your face.' The wind was that strong."
Tompkins – who was minus three players because of injuries – went on to acknowledge the strong play of Guarini.
"She played out of her mind," the Ghosts' coach said. "She really, really had a good game, especially in the second half.
"In the first half, she played a lot of defense, she had two assists, and she was pretty close to unstoppable. They have a really good freshman (Kaneria). She gave us fits in the first half, and in the second half, and Madeline Doyle marked her, so she didn't get too much of the ball in the second half."
Abington (8-4-1, 5-4-1 SOL) will host Bensalem Tuesday, and Upper Dublin (10-1-1, 9-0-1) will host Plymouth Whitemarsh.
Abington 1-2 3
Upper Dublin 2-0 2
PENNSBURY 4, ST. HUBERT 0
The Falcons opened up a 3-0 halftime lead and never looked back. Kelly Amador (Riley Rudd assist) put her team on the scoreboard in the 18th minute, and then it was Rudd connecting for an unassisted goal in the 24th minute. Meredith Webber used a Hope Drewes assist to find the net in the 35th minute.
Drewes scored an unassisted goal in the 75th minute to close out the scoring.
Nany Santiago recorded one save in goal in the shutout win.
Pennsbury (12-1, 9-1 SOL) will host Truman on Tuesday.
Pennsbury 3-1 4
St. Hubert 0-0 0
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 2, GREAT VALLEY 0
The Lady Titans took an early 1-0 lead when Aleksa Peeve dribbled around the Great Valley defense and passed to Kelly Senour for the finish in the fifth minute of play. The second goal was set up by a through pass from Courtney Taylor to Kylie Walsh, who slotted the ball into the net, sending the Titans into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
The Titans continued to pressure offensively in the second half but twice hit the crossbar.
Backup keeper Maddie McShane recorded the shutout with five saves.
Central Bucks South (8-2-2, 6-2-2 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks East Tuesday for a key SOL contest.
Central Bucks South 2-0 2
Great Valley 0-0 0
UPPER MORELAND 0, LOWER MORELAND 0
In a battle of ‘Morelands,’ the Bears and Lions battled to a scoreless tie. The Golden Bears were coming off a hard week, dropping a pair of games to Wissahickon and Upper Dublin.
“(We) wanted today to be our turning point,” coach Lisa Benvenuto said. “The girls played strong and were able to contain the Lions’ attack.
“Our defensive line was able to pull Lower Moreland off-sides nine times throughout the game.”
UM goalie Kim Benge recorded nine saves. Playing strong for the Bears, according to Benvenuto, were Maggie Finn, Samantha Cancel and Benge.
Upper Moreland (5-6-2, 4-5-1 SOL) will host Springfield on Tuesday.
Lower Moreland 0-0 0
Upper Moreland 0-0 0
Boys
BENSALEM 2, LA SALLE 0
The Owls scored a pair of goals in the first half on their way to the non-league win.
Alfardi Ali put the Owls on the scoreboard when he found the net midway through the first half.
“The goal was off a punt from Greg Citrino, and (Alfardi) took on the defender and beat the goalkeeper too,” coach Joe Leone said.
Five minutes later, Don Niemenski scored the go-ahead goal with an assist from Ryan Molz. Neither team scored the rest of the way.
“We both had back-to-back games, and (the La Salle coach) was resting a couple of his key guys, so we pretty much dominated most of the play,” Leone said. “The first 10 minutes of each half they came out and put a lot of pressure on us.
“When they didn’t get through, they backed off after that, and we just built our momentum. Their keeper actually kept the score close. In the second half, we could have pulled away, but he kept them in there.”
Leone credited the performances of center backs Keith Molz and Caleb Appiah-Owusu and well as outside back Ronak Patel.
“He had a tremendous game,” Leone said of Patel.
Bensalem (7-4-1, 5-4-1 SOL) will host Abington on Tuesday.
Bensalem 2-0 0
La Salle 0-0 0
PENNRIDGE 1, SAUCON VALLEY 0
Matt Stevenson scored the game’s only goal, and keeper Brody Gibling recorded a shutout in goal for the Rams.
Pennridge (5-7, 3-7 SOL) will travel to Souderton on Tuesday.
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