Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action Thursday.
American Conference
Abington 4, Upper Dublin 0
Abington used a balanced offense and tough defense to post a win over Upper Dublin.
The shutout was the second-straight for the Ghosts, who remained atop the conference standings with an 8-1 mark. Abington also blanked Upper Moreland 5-0 on Tuesday.
In the victory over the Cardinals, the Ghosts received first-half goals from Nevin Baer (from Liam Friel) and Sean Touey off a free kick.
They added two more after the intermission as Gavin O’Neil (from Touey) and Friel found the back of the net.
Abington (12-1) will travel to Cheltenham for a non-league game Friday. Upper Dublin (5-7-1, 3-6-1) will travel to Upper Moreland on Tuesday.
Upper Dublin 0-0 – 0
Abington 4-0 – 4
Wissahickon 3, Springfield Township 2 (2 OTs)
Springfield Township battled all the way before Trey Schwartz (Eddie Fortescue assist) was able to convert a clutch goal in the second overtime to snag the win.
“Springfield battled the whole way,” Wissahickon coach Stuart Malcolm said. “We were comfortable playing with a 2-0 lead and then we gave up a sloppy goal.
“That kind of changed the momentum and then they dropped a ball in the box and popped it in. At that point, we had to get our heads back in the right place and we were able to do that.”
The Trojans (7-2-2 in conference) held a 1-0 at halftime thanks to an own goal by the Spartans and made it 2-0 on an Adam Bowerman goal before Jack Meder (from Pierson Rubincam) and Evan Hincapie (from Max Doll) knocked home goals for Springfield Township (1-8-2 in conference).
“Springfield got a taste, put some more pressure on us, and tucked another one away,” Malcolm said.“Then, when it’s tied, the game starts over again. Thankfully, this one will go down as a ‘W’ for us and now we have to move on.”
It went down for a win thanks to a goal from Schwartz off a throw-in from Fortescue.
Senior goalie Jun Yuh earned the win for the Trojans.
“We had one guy really step up for us and that was (junior) Jack Quinn,” Malcolm said. “He was starting his first varsity game and really played well in the midfield for us.”
Wissahickon (7-3-2 overall) will host Roman Catholic on Monday in a non-league game, and Springfield Township (3-7-3) will host Hatboro-Horsham on Tuesday.
Springfield Township 0-2-0-0 – 2
Wissahickon 1-1-0-1 – 3
Cheltenham 1, Plymouth Whitemarsh 0
Cheltenham and Plymouth Whitemarsh battled all the way before the Panthers were able to walk off with the win.
“It was a well-played game on both sides,” Cheltenham coach Bill Tonkin said. “We had more of the play the first half with a lot of chances.“And in the second half Plymouth Whitemarsh gained some momentum and (goalkeeper) Justin Grady had some good saves for us to hold the lead.”
The Panthers (5-3-1 in conference) picked up the game’s lone tally when Findlay Peet’s shot from the top of the 18 hit the crossbar and was corralled by Moje Badejoko, who knocked it home midway through the first half.
“(After the goal) we were able to carry the momentum throughout the rest of the first half,” Tonkin said. “We had a few more opportunities, but we couldn’t convert and their keeper also made some good saves for them.”
Cheltenham (6-4-1 overall) will host Abington in a non-league game Friday, and Plymouth Whitemarsh (7-5-1, 5-4-1) will travel to Downingtown West for a non-league game Saturday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0-0 – 0
Cheltenham 1-0 – 1
Hatboro-Horsham 2, Upper Moreland 1
Hatboro-Horsham avenged an earlier-season loss to their archrivals.
“We sat down at the midway point and made some goals,” said H-H coach Kyle McGrath, whose team dropped a 1-0 decision to the Golden Bears in their first meeting. “We knew all the teams we still had to play were good, but if we played better than we did the first time, we’d have an opportunity to win some of these games. Today was a good test for my guys.
“We went down (1-0) very early in the second half on a penalty kick, and it would have been easy for them to kind of crumble and pack it up, but they battled back.”
Trailing 1-0, the Hatters received a pair of goals from J.D. Mallinder to collect the victory
“We got two very good goals from JD Mallinder,” McGrath said. “It’s good to see them continuing to fight and play and getting the results now.”
Mallinder scored the equalizer in the 60th minute.
“It was unassisted,” McGrath said. “The ball came off of a corner kick, they cleared it on the ground, and he had a one-time shot from about 22 yards out into the side panel.
“The second goal was the same type of play. The ball was bouncing out to him, and he did a half volley that the keeper kind of misjudged, and it was able to sneak into the goal.
“It was just a real good game for him playing in a different position than normal. He played center back for us today, and he’s typically been a center midfielder this year, but he’s pretty versatile, and I’ve used him at outside back as well in a pinch. He’s played all sorts of positions in his three years so far.”
The Hatters had to shuffle things around on defense.
“Our back four was different today because we have one guy out to injury and another player is away,” McGrath said. “So Michael Cordero stepped in. He hadn’t played much all year and did a very good job for 80 minutes. Jake Weiss, again, as an outside back was very good.
“Through the midfield Ryan McMorris and Brad Bernstein did a good job stabilizing the center of the field for us.”
Hatboro-Horsham (7-5-1, 5-4-1 SOL) will host Central Bucks West in a non-league game Monday, and Upper Moreland (4-6-3, 3-6-1) will host Upper Dublin on Tuesday.
Hatboro-Horsham 0-2 – 2
Upper Moreland 0-1 – 1
Continental Conference
North Penn 5, Central Bucks East 1
The North Penn Express continues to roll on.
The Knights’ win over Central Bucks East pushed them to 8-0 in the conference 12-0 overall and left them as the only undefeated team in the entire Suburban One League. They’re also currently third in the PIAA District One Class 4A power rankings behind only Conestoga and Harriton.
A first-half flurry of goals (the Knights have outscored their opponents by a staggering 43-6 margin) put the win against the Patriots away early.
Ryan Stewart, Jaime Stewart, Jared Huzar and Aidan Jerome connected in the first half while Luke McMahon had the lone North Penn tally after intermission.
Jaime Stewart and Jack Durkin had lone assists for the Knights while Carter Houlihan had a pair of helpers in the victory.
The Patriots received a goal from senior Logan Rott off a feed from senior J.J. Jackson.
North Penn will travel to La Salle for a non-league battle on Saturday, and Central Bucks East (1-10-1, 1-7) will host Pennsbury in a non-league game Friday.
North Penn 4-1 – 5
Central Bucks East 0-1 – 1
Souderton 1, Central Bucks South 0
The lights came on and Souderton came through.
“We feel that our boys always get up for games,” Souderton coach Matt Benner said. “But when we’re playing at home under the lights they seem to play really well. I felt that we played well against South the first time (a 3-2 loss), but didn’t get the result we were hoping for. Tonight, the boys really did a nice job.”
Sophomore T.J. Hibsman provided all of the offense the Indians would need when he took a nice feed from freshman Dillon Barbieri and headed the ball home.
“Dillon, our right back, played the ball to the back post very nice and T.J. headed it past the goalie,” Benner said. “It was a nice goal. We were a little sloppy in the first half, but we were able to clean some things up in the second half and played better.
“We’re a bit younger than most teams and in the second half of the year we’re trying to focus on how to take some of the disappointing losses we had and turn them around now and for the future.”
Goalkeeper Mitchell Race turned aside nine shots in recording the shutout.
“South is really dangerous on restarts,” Benner said. “And they have great long throws and are great on corners. They make your defenders and goalie make decisions and Mitchell had some really good reaction saves.”
Souderton (2-9-1, 2-5-1 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks East on Tuesday, and Central Bucks South (7-4, 5-4) will be on the road at Pennsbury Monday for a non-league game.
Central Bucks South 0-0 – 0
Souderton 0-1 – 1
National Conference
Council Rock North 1, William Tennent 0
The formula continues to work for Council Rock North.
Stingy-as-can-be defense and just enough offense worked again in a win over William Tennent.
“The Cardiac Kids pulled it out again,” CR North coach Joe Stackhouse said.
Indeed they did as the Indians, thanks to a goal from Xavier Guerrero (off a feed from Spencer Berman) with less than eight minutes left in regulation, remained unbeaten in the conference at 8-0-1 and solidly in first place.
“The game was pretty much an even match-up up and down the field,” Stackhouse said. “We had the better scoring opportunities, but Tennent was dangerous on set pieces.
“It was a good battle in midfield between Tennent’s Matt D’Ambra and North’s Vinny Colon.”
The shutout was the seventh straight and the sixth 1-0 win in seven games for the Indians.
Stackhouse also praised the play of Matt Cobos, Jake Block and Christian DeSimone, who all came off the bench and played valuable minutes.
Council Rock North (9-2-1, 8-0-1 SOL) will travel to Holy Ghost Prep for a non-league game on Saturday, and William Tennent (4-6, 3-5) will host Pennsbury on Tuesday.
Council Rock North 0-1 – 1
William Tennent 0-0 – 0
Pennsbury 4, Bensalem 0
Pennsbury’s offense kicked things into high gear in the second half on the way to a victory over Bensalem.
The Falcons had a 1-0 advantage at halftime thanks to a penalty-kick conversion by Nyles Caymitte before pulling away after intermission.
Cayemitte struck again, twice, in the second half to finish off his hat trick. Joe Ficarotta also found the net for the Falcons.
Pennsbury (5-5-1, 4-3-1 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks East for a non-league game on Friday, and Bensalem (4-6, 3-5) will be on the road at Neshaminy on Friday.
Bensalem 0-0 – 0
Pennsbury 1-3 – 4
Neshaminy 4, Harry S. Truman 0
Gavin Rowan and Gavin Hughes provided the offense and Vince McGlynn and Kais Jawawdeh sparked the defense in Neshaminy’s win over Harry S. Truman.
Rowan and Hughes each had a goal in the first half and did it again in the second to enable Neshaminy to pull away. Mike Thomas and Lou Salmi had the assists on the first-half tallies.
“Hughes did a really nice job on his first goal,” Neshaminy coach Tom Foley said. “He pulled a pass down from his chest, collected it and put it home.
“And our two senior captains, Vince McGlynn and Kais Jawawdeh both played really strong defensive games for us. They have both been great leaders all year.”
Mike Alberran had the assist on Rowan’s second goal while Cole Jackson had the helper when Hughes notched his second tally off a rebound.
“Our bench was a little short today,” Foley said. “We have a couple of kids out, but everyone got in the game. And the way our schedule worked out, our last six games are at home, which is nice.”
Neshaminy (6-5, 5-3 SOL) will host Bensalem on Friday, and Harry S Truman (1-10, 0-9) will host New Hope-Solebury in a non-league game Friday.
Neshaminy 2-2 – 4
Harry S. Truman 0-0 – 0
Non-league
Council Rock South 2, Quakertown 1
Council Rock South and Quakertown played a see-saw affair that saw the Golden Hawks prevail with the game-winner midway through the second half.
“It was a frantic finish,” CR South coach Alan Nicholl said. “And Quakertown worked hard to get back into the game.
“But we stayed focused and disciplined and didn’t give them many free looks at goal.”
The Golden Hawks grabbed a 1-0 first-half lead on a goal from Justin Segal off a dish from Jake Brossman.
They held that 1-0 advantage until the Panthers tied things up about 15 minutes into the second half.
However, 10 minutes later, Pat Zawodniak gave the visitors the lead for good when he scored off a feed from Oliver Buynevich.
“Quakertown tied it on a quick counterattack, but we were able to restore the lead a few minutes later,” Nicholl said. “Connor Weinberg, Justin Segal and Zach Shefsky were particularly effective in keeping a high tempo for us.”
Council Rock South (6-7, 5-3 SOL) will host Cheltenham in a non-league game Monday, and Quakertown (1-11, 0-8) will host Norristown in a non-league game.
Council Rock South 1-1 – 2
Quakertown 0-1 – 1
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