Check out the recaps for SOL boys/girls soccer teams in action Wednesday.
Boys
SOL American
WISSAHICKON 5, UPPER MORELAND 1
The Trojans and Golden Bears battled to a 1-1 halftime tie, but the Trojans seized control of the game in the second half, exploding for four unanswered goals.
The Golden Bears got on the scoreboard first with a goal in the 11th minute. Trey Schwartz scored the equalizer 13 minutes later.
Schwartz’s second goal of the game – this one in the 43rd minute – broke the 1-1 halftime tie and turned out to be the game-winner. For good measure, Eddie Fortescue scored in the 61st minute, and then it was Jon Santucci finding the net in the 69th minute. Six minutes later, Wade Rosenthal closed out the scoring with a goal for the 5-1 final.
Adam Bowerman had a pair of assists for the Trojans while Fortescue and Santucci each chipped in an assist.
Wissahickon (5-1-2, 4-1-2 SOL) will host Plymouth Whitemarsh on Thursday, and Upper Moreland (3-4-3, 2-4-1) will host Cheltenham on Thursday.
Wissahickon 1-4 5
Upper Moreland 1-0 1
Girls
SOL American
SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 3, UPPER DUBLIN 1
Coach Suzette Wolf had a hard time containing her excitement after the Spartans upset of the Flying Cardinals. It was easy to understand why. The win was the first for Springfield Township over Upper Dublin in more than a decade.
“It’s too unbelievable,” the Spartans’ coach said. “I’ve been coaching here for eight years, and we’ve played Upper Dublin twice a year for those eight years.
“My seniors now – in their freshman year, we were tied and went into overtime with them, and they scored in the last 20 seconds of the second overtime. My seniors have never forgotten that, and they’ve always, always wanted to take it to Upper Dublin, and they did that today.
“My seniors muscled Upper Dublin off the ball – they’re a strong team. They’re big and strong, and they’re great players, but you could see the determination on my kids’ faces, even to the point where the other parents and coaches said, ‘Really good game, you deserved it.’ From the first five minutes of the game, I turned around to my bench and said, ‘I’ve never seen us play so well. We’re doing everything we need to do. If we don’t win this game, there isn’t anything else we can do.’ The ball bounced our way too, and that doesn’t always happen.”
Things didn’t look all that promising for the Spartans when the Flying Cardinals got on the scoreboard with an early goal less than 10 minutes into the contest.
“We were playing defensive,” Wolf said. “We were really working hard to keep possession of the ball and be the first to the ball, and off a fluke, they scored first.
“The rest of the game we defended, we won 50/50s, we played hard, we played our game. I wouldn’t say either team dominated. A lot of the game was played between the 18 and the 18 because both teams were defending.”
Upper Dublin took that 1-0 lead into halftime, and that one-goal lead stood until midway through the second half.
“We got a direct kick just outside the 18, Sarah Potocki kicked it, the goalie fumbled it, and Emily Cooney came in and hit it in,” Wolf said.
The score remained tied until – with five minutes remaining – the Spartans were awarded a corner kick. They hit pay dirt.
“We were playing a really high pressure game, and we got a corner kick,” Wolf said. “Hannah Potocki took the corner kick, and Emily Cooney headed it in.”
For good measure, the Spartans added a goal in the closing minutes.
“Everything was frantic crazy,” Wolf said. “We somehow got the ball. Riley Serroni passed it to Meghan Nelson, and she scored.
“We’ve been having a hard time finishing the ball, and today we finished against one of the best teams and scored three goals. They can do it. They played hard, and they were a unified group as they played on the field. You could see it. They pressured together, they defended together, they possessed the ball together. It was just a unified effort.”
The Spartans coach credited her goalie – Allison Briggs – for coming up big in the win.
“My goalie outdid herself today,” Wolf said. “She took control of the game. She wasn’t going to let another goal in no matter what.
“She didn’t have many spectacular saves. A lot of their shots were over, wide – not so threatening to her that she had to make a ton of saves, but she made three saves that really changed the course of the game because it gave us confidence to go on. She gave us confidence.”
Wolf also lauded the play of senior captain Sarah Potocki.
“She played sweeper and just dominated back there with the dynamic duo – Sarah Potocki and Hannah Potocki is right next two her,” the Spartans’ coach said of the siblings. “Together, you’ll have a hard time getting past that side of the field.
“Elena Hincapie played left defense. Their right forward is very strong and very, very fast, and Elena matched her one for one the entire game. She shut her down, and that was a big shutdown for us. We just did what we had to do all over the field. It’s as simple as that.
“We also played them at home on our turf field. They’ve always had the upper hand, but we have turf now at Springfield, so we were comfortable on turf, and we could actually play with them.”
Springfield Township (3-6, 2-5 SOL) will travel to Abington Thursday, and Upper Dublin (5-4, 4-3) will be on the road at Hatboro-Horsham Thursday.
Upper Dublin 1-0 1
Springfield Township 0-3 3
SOL National
NESHAMINY 1, BENSALEM 0
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