Quakertown edged Springfield in boys’ soccer action, and the PW girls squad earned a win in SOL soccer action Wednesday.
Boys
QUAKERTOWN 1, SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 0
Midway through the second half of Wednesday’s American Conference game against the visiting Spartans, sophomore Evan Kemp came off the bench to give a teammate a breather. Five minutes later, he turned a pass from Matt Munsell into a goal that turned out to be the game winner.
Not a bad varsity debut.
“It was exciting for him,” coach Kevin Woulfe said. “It was one of those deals – I’ve had some swing players on my bench. We saw the flow of the game, and we were getting a lot of attack – we had about 18 shots on goal, and we needed to rest one of our starting strikers a little bit.
“Evan’s been playing well for our jayvee team. I called him aside and said, ‘I’m going to give you about six minutes to rest the starter. Go out there and do the best you can.’ In about five minutes, he scored a goal, and he played the rest of the game. There was no way I was pulling him out after he scored a goal for us.
“It was exciting for him. It’s been big. The players on the bench know their roles and they know when they step in it may only be for a couple of minutes and they have to execute when they’re out there and they’ll earn more time. Obviously, Evan proved that tonight. I’m sure we’ll see more of him in varsity games going forward.”
Woulfe acknowledge the strong play of his defense in a win that saw the Panthers hold a 19-8 advantage in shots.
“Ryan Leatherman, our center back, has played varsity since he was a freshman, and Jake Graham is our other center back – they’ve been doing a great job,” the Panthers’ coach said. “Our center midfielders – Jake Rudloff and Noah Thompson – have been outstanding.”
The win was the second in seven days for the Panthers, who are enjoying life in the American Conference.
“These guys deserve to have some success, not only just the wins but just to have those competitive games,” Woulfe said. “It was a phenomenal game tonight. It was back and forth.
“We definitely outshot them and controlled a good portion of the game, but just to have these games that have back and forth and you’re not playing in your own half and you’re not getting beat up – I just feel so good for the players.”
After Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to Upper Moreland, Woulfe decided to shake things up a bit.
“I did play another sophomore – Brendan Kishbaugh – and got him more minutes, and Evan Kemp came in to try and create a spark,” the Panthers’ coach said. “We’re very senior heavy this year, but with our travel games, we’ve had motivational issues. We had a pregame talk today, and we told them we were looking for energy for all 80 minutes and they really did step up.
“The players that came off the bench came in and contributed instantly and created another spark for the team. I think it adds another dimension for us. We have a heavy away schedule next week. We have three games all away, and getting a win today and then being able to get some training sessions in the rest of this week and early next week is going to be huge getting us ready for those games.”
Quakertown (3-4, 2-4 SOL) will be on the road at Plymouth Whitemarsh on Thursday, and Springfield (2-5, 2-3) will host Wissahickon on Tuesday.
Springfield 0-0 0
Quakertown 0-1 1
Girls
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 3, CHELTENHAM 2
The Colonials showed a flare for the dramatic when Alyse Caffrey scored the game winner in the 80th minutes.
Early on, Ragan Ebersole spotted the host Colonials a 1-0 lead with a goal in the fourth minute, but the Lady Panthers responded with goals in the seventh and 10th minutes by Ruby Tomasic and Corinne Packel. They took that 2-1 lead into halftime.
The Colonials knotted the score in the 50th minute when Ali Diamond connected, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (5-3, 4-2 SOL) will travel to Mount St. Joseph Academy for a non-league game on Saturday, and Cheltenham (0-6, 0-5) will host Hatboro-Horsham on Tuesday.
Cheltenham 1-2 3
Cheltenham 2-0 2
About the Author
