Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action Wednesday. CR North/William Tennent photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos.
American Conference
Upper Moreland 1, Hatboro-Horsham 0
What's that line about better being lucky than good?
Well, Upper Moreland's 1-0 win over rival Hatboro-Horsham wasn't luck, but a little bit of good fortune doesn't hurt either.
"This was a nice, solid win for us," Upper Moreland head coach Matt Duffey said. "Hatboro-Horsham beat us twice last year (5-0 and 6-0), and to say they just beat us would be an understatement.
"So it was really nice to see the team win this one. I would definitely say that Hatboro-Horsham had the lion's share of possession and chances in the first half, and they were really coming at us. Our goalie, Greg Wiley made some strong saves to keep us in it."
Things evened out in the second half and tilted in the Golden Bears' favor when striker Chris O'Donnell scored on a quick counter off a feed from Samuel Brown-Nieto to give Upper Moreland the lead for good in the 66th minute.
"Samuel got the ball probably 35 yards out from the Hatboro-Horsham goal, took on some defenders, and was able to toe poke it over the last defender," Duffey said. "O'Donnell ran onto it, and was just able to toe poke it over their goal, and it barely got in, but we'll take it."
The Hatters came hard at the Golden Bears after falling behind but could not get the equalizer.
"After we scored, they really started pushing and we went almost completely into a defensive mode," Duffey said. "We were just kind of fending them off the rest of the game. Tyler Holman at center back and Travis Slear at stopper really did a good job for us."
Upper Moreland (2-1-1, 1-1-1 SOL American) plays at Upper Dublin on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Upper Moreland 0-1 – 1
Hatboro-Horsham 0-0 – 0
Springfield 2, Wissahickon 2 (2 OT)
Jack Meder scored on a penalty kick in 78th minute to lift Springfield to a 2-2 tie with Wissahickon in a game that seesawed back and forth with the sides exchanging goals.
The Trojans struck first as Eddie Fortescue made it 1-0 game midway through the first half (at the 22nd minute mark) only to see the Spartans' Sam Steele knot things up six minutes later off an assist from Troy Rumer.
Things stayed that way until midway through the second half (65th minute) when Fortescue connected for his second goal of the game with the assist going to Christian Vorchheimer (also his second assist of the day).
Thirteen minutes later, Meder connected to forge the tie.
Julian Brown had five saves for the Spartans while Jun Yuh turned away two shots in goal for the Trojans.
Springfield Township (1-1-2, 0-1-2 SOL) will travel to Hatboro-Horsham on Friday, and Wisshaickon (1-0-2) will be on the road at Cheltenham Friday.
Wissahickon 1-1 – 2
Springfield 1-1 – 2
Abington 7, Upper Dublin 0
Surging Abington used a five-goal first-half outburst on the way to a 7-0 win over Upper Dublin, keeping the Ghosts undefeated on the young season at 5-0 and 3-0 in the SOL American – the first year Abington is competing in the SOL American.
Sean Touey paced the attack for the Ghosts by netting a hat trick while teammate Liam Friel notched a pair of tallies. Thomas Santangelo and Jaeden Joyce each contributed a goal in the win that saw the Ghosts race to a 5-0 halftime lead and never look back.
Abington will travel to Plymouth Whitemarsh on Friday, and Upper Dublin (1-3-1, 0-2-1) will host Upper Moreland on Friday.
Abington 5-2 – 7
Upper Dublin 0-0 0
Plymouth Whitemarsh 3, Cheltenham 2
Richard Veon scored a pair of goals – both on penalty kicks, and Kevin Shi added a single goal, leading the Colonials to the tightly-contested win over the Panthers.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (1-1-2, 1-0-2 SOL) will host Abington on Friday, and Cheltenham (2-1-1, 1-1-1) will host Wissahickon on Friday.
National Conference
Pennsbury 4, Bensalem 1
Weird weather, solid win for Pennsbury.
"It was just a strange weather day," Pennsbury coach Tom Stoddart said. "The game was called because of lightning with about 19 minutes left. As long as you get the first half in, the game will count. If it's a tie when the bad weather hits the coaches decide what they want to do. We were ahead at the time, so it counts as a win for us."
Javier Sosa scored the first goal for the Falcons, unassisted, just four minutes into the opening half.
Things remained that way until Zach Summer netted a pair of goals after halftime to give the visiting Falcons an insurmountable 3-0 lead. Aden Radovich contributed an assist.
"A little bit later one of their players ripped a shot and one of my guys redirected into our net,” Stoddart said. “That made it 3-1, and then it really started raining hard."
Shortly after the rain stopped, and before the lightning struck, Sosa converted a penalty kick to end the scoring.
"We got the PK right after the storm ended," Stoddard said. "We were going to try and wait it (the lightning) out, but the field was just about unplayable. We played the game on their JV pitch because the varsity field wasn't good."
Pennsbury (2-2, 1-1 SOL National) hosts William Tennent on Friday at 3:30 p.m. Bensalem (2-3, 1-2) will be on the road at Council Rock South Friday.
Pennsbury 1-3 – 4
Bensalem 0-1 – 1
Neshaminy 5, Harry S. Truman 0
Neshaminy used a strong team effort to blank Harry S. Truman and remain undefeated at 3-0.
"It was a good team win in which everyone got in the game and played well," Neshaminy coach Tom Foley said. "Truman did us a favor because we were supposed to host the game, but we wound up playing at Truman (on the turf). We started early (2:30 p.m.) and were able to beat the storm."
Neshaminy led 2-0 at halftime on goals from Christian Rodgers and Gavin Rowan with Ramir Cofield getting the assist on the goal by Rodgers, which came off a corner kick.
Rodgers scored again to make it 3-0 (Rowan with the assist) after intermission before Mike Albarran pushed the advantage to four nil by converting a penalty kick. Neshaminy finished off the scoring as Rowan, from Connor Steele, netted his second tally of the day.
"We got three goals pretty quickly in the second half," Foley said. "Truman packed it in and that gave us some time. We should have been up big at halftime, but their goalie made some nice saves."
Nick Walker and Trevor Rush shared time in goal for Neshaminy.
"Neshaminy played very well," Truman coach Matt Terry said. "They were disciplined, and their ball movement was excellent. I was really happy with the way backup keeper Edwin Rivera, Ayoub Fask, Mert Yildirim and Zack Hopely played for us."
The Tigers (0-2) will travel to Bishop McDevitt for a non-league game Thursday, and Neshaminy (3-0 SOL) will be on the road at Council Rock South on Friday.
Neshaminy 2-3 – 5
Harry S. Truman 0-0 0
Council Rock North 2, William Tennent 0
Council Rock North and William Tennent battled through a scoreless first half before the Indians netted a pair of goals after intermission to secure the victory.
Zain Saidi made it 1-0 Indians at the 50-minute mark (on a feed from T.J. Grube) and Ed Long, also from Grube, concluded the scoring a few minutes later to account for the final margin, pushing CR North to 2-0 in the SOL National. The Panthers dipped to 0-2 in the SOL National.
Zach Saifer and Jeremy Smithline, according to Rock North coach Joe Stackhouse, anchored a very stingy defense.
Jake Zlotshower picked up the shutout in goal for the Indians.
Council Rock North (2-2 overall) will host Neshaminy on Friday in a battle of the conference’s unbeaten squads. William Tennent will travel to Pennsbury Friday.
William Tennent 0-0 – 0
Council Rock North 0-2 – 2
SOL Continental
Central Bucks West 1, Pennridge 0
Bailey Moyer had the lone goal and Dylan Smith excelled in goal to help give Central Bucks West a 1-0 win over Pennridge, pushing the Bucks to 3-0 in the SOL Continental.
"It was a good win for us," CB West coach Stefan Szygiel said. "Our back line really held strong against a very good team in Pennridge. Late in the game we were able to keep them from scoring on some good chances.
"The game could have gone either way, but we were able to get the win."
Moyer, a junior captain, connected after Nick Centenera played the ball in to him and he was able to finish to account for the game's only scoring.
"Things were tight the whole way," Szygiel said. "We scored with about five or six minutes to go. It was a second-ball opportunity and Bailey put it in for us."
The shutout was the fourth of the season for Smith.
"James Lutz, Luke Ferman, and Michael Redfield were all strong on the back line," Szygiel said.
The Bucks (4-1, 3-0 SOL) host Downingtown West on Saturday at 2 p.m. Pennridge (4-1, 1-1) will host Central Bucks South on Friday.
Central Bucks West 0-1 – 1
Pennridge 0-0 – 0
North Penn 2, Central Bucks East 1 (2 OT)
Luke McMahon notched his second goal of the game in the second overtime to power North Penn past Central Bucks East in a classic Continental Conference battle. The game was the first in conference play for the Knights.
The Patriots held a 1-0 lead at halftime before McMahon netted an unassisted tally to tie things up after intermission, and, eventually, forcing the overtime.
Aidan Jerome had the assist on McMahon's game-winner in OT.
North Penn (3-0, 1-0 SOL) will host Quakertown on Friday, and Central Bucks East (0-3-1, 0-3) will travel to Souderton Friday.
Central Bucks East 1-0-0-0 – 1
North Penn 0-1-0-1 – 2
Central Bucks South 3, Souderton 2
Senior Kyle Bethel's goal with 10 minutes remaining in regulation proved to be the difference in the win for the Titans, who pushed their SOL Continental mark to 3-0.
"It was a ball driven into the box that created some chaos around the top of Souderton's six," CB South coach Jarrett Cutsler said. "And Kyle was able to tuck it into the back of the net in the middle of it all."
Souderton's Tyler Bovell (off a feed from T.J. Hibsman) and Central Bucks South's Shane Landue exchanged goals in the first half to put things at 1-1 at intermission.
Sage Scarlett, from Reece DiRenzi, had the Indians' goal in the second half while junior Jake Heilig delivered a goal for the Titans before Bethel capped things with his game-winner.
Mitchell Race turned aside 12 shots in goal for Souderton.
Central Bucks South (3-0 SOL) will be on the road at Pennridge on Friday, and Souderton (0-3,0-2) will host Central Bucks East on Friday.
Souderton 1-1 – 2
Central Bucks South 1-2 – 3
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