Four SOL teams advanced to the quarterfinals of the District One AAA Tournament on Saturday.
By Jarrad Saffren
Ten Suburban One League teams made it to the round of 16 in the District One Class AAA boys soccer tournament. But only seven could advance to the quarterfinals, as three games featured two SOL clubs. So I can guarantee one thing: Three SOL teams reached the quarterfinals. Another one did too. The results and recaps are below.
#1 Central Bucks East 4, #16 Plymouth Whitemarsh 0
Central Bucks East coach Mike Gorni said the final score is misleading.
“It wasn’t as easy as that,” the veteran coach said.
It wasn’t easy at all for the Patriots in the first half. Plymouth Whitemarsh kept the score tied at zero until the first minute of the second half. Evan Vare assisted on a head ball to Alex Parasky to put the Patriots on the board. Seven-and-a-half minutes later, Parasky kicked the ball back to Vare on the left side. Vare blasted it past the keeper to put East up 2-0.
Then Parasky struck again.
“Midway through the second half Alex Parasky had the goal of his career maybe,” Gorni said. “He dribbled down the right side and came in from the edge, and he just blasted a ball that had all sorts of movement on it and beat the keeper from about 16 yards out on the flank.”
With seven minutes left, Vare netted his second goal, giving Vare and Parasky two goals each.
Coming into the game, Gorni was concerned about his opponent and the amount of time the Patriots had between games.
“We were a little bit concerned because you want the bye, but there’s a tricky part to it,” he said. “You have a longer distance between games than you do the entire season. We’re playing two, three, four games a week and all of a sudden we haven’t played since we played Souderton (on Oct. 21), so there was a big gap.”
“I think that played a little bit of a part in it, and PW played the other part,” said Gorni. “PW is a good team.”
Gorni was happy with his whole team, especially his defenders.
“It was a team effort, which it has to be in the playoffs,” he said. “PW is dangerous going forward, and Andrew Zach, Ian Lutz, Will Eisold and Stephen Sheehan all played really well. Our midfield obviously played well again. Playoffs take all of your bodies. You’re not going to win playoffs with one or two guys playing well. You’re just not.”
The Patriots improved to 19-0-0 and will play North Penn in the quarterfinals, the third meeting between the rivals this season. CB East won the first two by one goal.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s the computer system or the other system, the facts are still the facts,” Gorni said. “Five Suburban One Continental teams were playing today, and the sad thing is we were knocking each other off. What can you do?”
The Patriots-Knights showdown is on Saturday.
Central Bucks East 0-4 4
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0-0 0
#8 North Penn 2, #24 Pennridge 1
North Penn is the eighth seed, Pennridge the 24th. But this matchup was a lot more even than the seeds indicated.
The Knights and Rams split their meetings in the regular season, and Pennridge came in as the hottest team in the area. The Rams won seven games in a row just to make districts and then upset ninth-seeded Boyertown in the first round.
So, as expected, this round of 16 showdown was as close as the final score.
North Penn broke the ice eight minutes into the first half. Nate Baxter fed Scott Kohler, who whistled the ball into the net.
Pennridge answered in the 16th minute when Brian Zuluaga banged the ball in after a scrum in front of the net. The score stayed tied for the rest of the first and for 20 minutes of the second.
In the 60th minute, Eric Rosenblatt assisted on a goal by Noah Kwortnik that turned out to be the game winner.
“Brody couldn’t quite get a hand on it,” said Pennridge coach Pete Valimont.
Pennridge pushed for the last 20 minutes but North Penn “played boom ball the rest of the way,” said Valimont.
“We couldn’t get much on them,” he continued. “The field was terrible. I guess that’s your home field advantage. The turf was concrete.
“The wind didn’t help either. But that is not an excuse. They had to play on the same field with the same wind.”
North Penn coach Paul Duddy was pleased with the play of his defenders.
“Kyle Shue, Matt Richardson, Nick DiCerbo, and Noah Kwortnick did a great job against a very good Pennridge attack,” the Knights’ coach said.
North Penn improved to 14-4-2 and plays archrival CB East in the quarterfinals Saturday. The winner clinches a spot in the state tournament.
Pennridge was disappointed with the result but happy with its season.
“This team was 2-9-7 a year ago,” said Valimont. “We won 12 games this year and made the second round of the playoffs. That is an amazing turnaround.”
Valimont brought the Rams’ junior varsity team to both playoff games.
“They got to witness what this was like,” the Rams’ coach said. “Tuesday night was an experience they’ll never forget. Now it’s on them next year to come up and keep things going.”
North Penn 1-1 2
Pennridge 1-0 1
#6 Pennsbury 3, #11 Lower Merion 0
It was a complete performance from a complete team.
The Falcons barraged Lower Merion with shots and clogged the middle of their defensive zone.
In the third minute, Pennsbury floated a corner kick into the box. A Falcon redirected the ball and Willem McCullough blasted it past the keeper.
Pennsbury coach Tom Stoddart said the early goal sparked his team for the rest of the half.
“We dominated play after that,” the Falcons’ coach said.
Pennsbury did not score again until the second half. In the 53rd minute, Colin Marks lined up for a corner kick. He lifted the ball into the box to the lanky Zach LoBasso, who headed the ball into the net. Fourteen minutes later, LoBasso was pulled down in the box. Marks rocketed the penalty kick past the keeper to make it 3-0.
Goalkeeper Anthony Rosso made four saves for the Falcons. Stoddart credited his defenders for keeping the ball away from Rosso.
“Our two center backs, Tyler Williams and Justin Chatuis, were real solid,” he said. “Matt Lynch had a nice game in the defensive center midfield role as well.”
Stoddart and the Falcons advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2012, when they reached the semifinals and made states.
“You play, you train, and do all that stuff in the offseason. You do it all to win this week and play well this week,” Stoddart said.
Sixth-seeded Pennsbury improved to 14-4-2 and plays third-seeded Springfield-Delco Saturday. Springfield beat Central Bucks West in overtime Thursday.
Pennsbury 1-2 3
Lower Merion 0-0 0
#7 Abington 1, #10 Upper Dublin 0
Two District One Class AAA playoff games, two 1-0 wins for the seventh-seeded Ghosts.
This time, however, Abington didn’t wait until overtime to net the game winner. Jacob Katro scored on a penalty kick at 25:10 of the second half.
Upper Dublin pressed up but could not kick one by Abington keeper Sam Wells. The loss ends a seven-game winning streak for the 10th-seeded Cardinals.
This game was a battle between SOL champions, the Ghosts in the National and the Cardinals in the American. Upper Dublin is the first of the three SOL champions, including Continental champion and top-seed CB East, to get eliminated.
Upper Dublin finishes 13-5-1. Abington is now 16-4 and takes on second-seed Conestoga in the quarterfinals Saturday.
Abington 1-0
Upper Dublin 0-0
#3 Springfield-Delco 2, #19 Central Bucks West 1
Central Bucks West coach Stefan Szygiel said it before the game.
“We are going to need Dylan to play great today,” said Szygiel. “We can’t contain that kid (Springfield leading scorer Nick Jannelli) the whole game. He’ll get his chances.”
Jannelli scored 20 goals in the regular season and 24 last season. But West contained him for most of Thursday’s game. Jannelli had one great chance, and Smith stoned him.
In a 1-1 game late in the second half, the senior settled the ball behind the Bucks’ defense and raced toward the goal. Smith charged Jannelli and stopped the ball with his chest.
Smith stood on his head in the second half, making two other diving saves and six overall. It was enough to get the game to overtime. Unfortunately for West, Springfield won the game with 7:24 left in the extra session. The play that led to the winning goal was controversial.
West defender Sam Winderman went down with an injury and the officials stopped play. Szygiel said soccer etiquette dictates that the team with the injured player should get possession off the restart. But, after Winderman got up and stayed in the game, Springfield midfielder Ryan Straube lofted the ball into the box. It deflected off Jannelli’s head and rolled to the left side of the net, where Andrew Astrino rolled the ball under Smith’s hand.
“It’s a coach’s decision,” Szygiel said. “With a great game like this with so many scoring chances between two good teams, to have it won like that, I think it’s disappointing.”
The game was scoreless at halftime before Maxx Drumm broke the ice for Springfield in the 46th minute. Four minutes later, Joey Recupero tied the score for West.
Smith made 10 saves for the Bucks.
Springfield-Delco 0-1-1 2
Central Bucks West 0-1-0 1
#2 Conestoga 2, #15 Council Rock North 1
CR North’s turnaround season ended against second-seed Conestoga.
The Indians went 1-15 in 2012, the season before coach Joe Stackhouse took over. They won five games in 2013, seven in 2014, and 12 this season, the first winning campaign of Stackhouse’s tenure.
“We’ve come a long way from the time when I took over,” said Stackhouse.
CR North even led the rugged SOL National Conference for a few weeks before falling out of first after injury-plagued losses. North finished third in the SOL National, earned the 15th-seed, and advanced to the second round of the district playoffs.
Stackhouse said his plan is working.
“We have a development plan in place, doing what we do with the freshman kids,” Stackhouse said. “We make kids play on the freshman team. We are developing soccer players. It must work because every year we’ve increased the number of wins and now we’ve had a run a couple of games into districts.”
“That team (Conestoga) was 16-0-1 and had four goals scored on them. If they had to play our league they wouldn’t do as good. In that Central League they only play each other once, not home and home,” said Stackhouse. “They are a good club not a great club. I wouldn’t be surprised if Abington beats them on Saturday.”
Grant Bonas scored the goal for CR North.
#4 West Chester Henderson 3, #20 Central Bucks South 2
The Titans also executed a turnaround in 2015. CB South finished 7-9-2 last season and missed the playoffs. This season it went 11-6-1 in the regular season and 12-7-1 overall, highlighted by a 4-0 upset win over 13th-seeded Harriton in round one of the district playoffs.
“We were right on as far as where we are in our development as a team,” said CB South coach Don Brady.
The Titans trailed 2-0 at halftime and 3-1 late in the second half. An Ian Betts goal made it 3-2 with 13 minutes left. CB South had chances to tie the game late.
“We could have had a couple of equalizers but they could have put the game away as well,” Brady said. “We never quit. There was never any quit.”
Giani Goss netted the first goal for the Titans.
West Chester Henderson 2-1 3
Central Bucks South 0-2 2
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