Abington, Pennsbury, Pennridge, CR North & CB West were winners in Tuesday’s opening round of the District One 4A Tournament. (Photo provided courtesy of Kelly Reid/CB East boys soccer)
#9 ABINGTON 1, #24 HAVERFORD 0 (2 OTs)
Just over seven minutes remained in the second overtime when Thomas Santangelo finished off a cross by Nevin Baer, propelling the Ghosts to the hard fought win in nasty conditions at Schwarzman Stadium.
“We finally took the ball down the flank, and Nevin knocked the ball across,” coach Randy Garber said. “It could have been anyone that touched the ball in – it was so tight. Thomas Santangelo just side-footed it into the back of the net.
“(Haverford) was very disappointed. They played their hearts out, and to have that type of finish in those conditions – anyone could have won that game. You were looking for a mistake to end the game, but we ended up scoring a good goal because of the fact that we built it up from the right side. Nevin couldn’t have hit a better ball across. It was just a matter of who was going to be in a position to just side foot it in.”
The Ghosts had the better of play for much of the game, but the Fords’ defense stood tall.
“We had a lot of pressure in the first half, we had some good chances – Nevin (Baer) had a restart on the on the left-hand side, and he put the ball right in goal,” Garber said. “One of their defenders just headed it out. He did the same thing in the second half, and the defender headed it out again.
“We had more chances to score, and they tried to counter while we were pressing to go forward. They could have very easily put a ball in the back of the net and walked away with the win as we did. We overall had more chances, and when you talk about a player like Nevin Baer – if not the top player in Eastern Pennsylvania that’s playing high school soccer – you put the ball on his foot anywhere in the offensive third of the field, things are going to happen.”
Garber also lauded the play of his defense.
“Sam Dumas had a shutout and did a superb job,” the Ghosts coach said. “Our entire defense – Reese Gibbs in the back just kept our defense together. Kyle Phillips, our center back, won so many balls in the air, and Michael Burnstein did a nice job on the right side, along with Alex Woll, who played the left back. Those four guys were tough and had a lot of pressure on them under the circumstances. Balls were all over the place, and they did a nice job. Our defense was superb.”
The Ghosts not only survived the Fords, they also survived the weather.
“It was real nasty, and we have a grass field on top of it, so we got a double whammy,” Garber said. “Our grass field has a very, very good draining system, and we did not have any standing water whatsoever, and it rained from start to finish. It was wet and sloppy.
“The kids on both sides played very well considering the conditions. They were very good, very tough and didn’t give an inch. They’re a bunch of tough kids.”
Garber had high praise for Fords’ goalie Michael DePalma.
“He played extremely well,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “He cut off a lot of opportunities we had just by making good decisions and coming out and getting to the ball before we did.
“Their defense had big, strong athletic kids in the back, and they were just playing one-touch soccer out of the back and hoofing it down the field. It’s always the toughest to get the first win under your belt.”
Abington (15-3-1, 11-2-1 SOL) will travel to eighth-seeded Spring-Ford for Thursday’s second round game.
Haverford 0-0-0-0 0
Abington 0-0-0-1 1
#14 PENNSBURY 3, #19 OWEN J ROBERTS 0
The Falcons opened up a 1-0 halftime lead and added a pair of goals in the second half to earn the opening round win.
“It was a nice win,” coach Tom Stoddart said. “We played a pretty solid game and got ourselves started, and that’s always the hardest part in playoffs.
“Both sides were a little rough in the beginning – I think it was nerves and playoffs.”
The Falcons – who were without senior standout Nyles Cayemitte (illness) – received a lift from a new face. Eighteen minutes into the game, Alec Snedaker came off the bench to score his first varsity goal
“Alec Snedaker was one of our top goal scorers on the jayvee level, and we were giving him more and more time,” Stoddart said. “Obviously, he picked a good spot to get it in.
“It was a loose ball in the box. Evan Reichard chased it down and knocked it over to him, and he just put a beautiful swing on it and sent it in to the back post.”
Pennsbury took that 1-0 lead into halftime.
“We put together a really nice possession three minutes into the second half,” Stoddart said. “Jaden Haig had the assist, but Joe Ficarotta did a great dummy going through the middle of the box, and the ball just laid out for Erik Mauro. He had a nice composed left-foot finish to get that really early second-half goal to kind of set the tone, which was good.”
With under two minutes remaining in regulation, the Falcons put the finishing touches on the win when Zach Summer found the back of the net.
“Owen J brought some pressure, but Zach Summer came out of the back and just made a hustle play, saw an opening, went to goal and knocked it in,” Stoddart said. “It was definitely a pretty high-paced playoff game. Owen J had some nice play throughout, but we talked about our defense really being secure and aggressive and keeping everything in front of them and keeping that clean sheet. They did a great job with that.
“It was just an overall good team win. Hats off to Alec Snedaker for getting us started with his big first goal. With Nyles being out, that was really nice. Obviously, that laid a lot more work effort onto Joe and Evan to be creative up top and Erik and Jaden. It was next man up and we got it done.”
Pennsbury (13-4-2, 9-2-1 SOL) will travel to third-seeded Boyertown for a second round game on Thursday.
Owen J. Roberts 0-0 0
Pennsbury 1-2 3
#16 PENNRIDGE 3, #17 BENSALEM 1
Aidan Castle was a difference maker for the Rams in Tuesday’s opening round win. The sophomore standout put the Rams on the scoreboard 15 minutes into the opening half.
“Our speedster won a ball at the top of the box, worked his way into the box with it and just hit a laser,” coach Pete Valimont said. “It was probably one of the hardest shots I’ve seen him hit all year – upper 90, near post.”
The Rams took that 1-0 lead into halftime. Ten minutes into the second half, Ben Scary found the back of the net.
“He got a ball on the far side of the 18, took a touch or two across and then hit a laser near post low, and I think he caught the goalie off guard because he was moving away, and Ben just buried it,” Valimont said. “The first two goals were just absolute rips.”
Carlos Erazo converted a penalty kick to all but seal the Owls’ fate.
“Aidan Castle did his move – he’s arguably the fastest kid in the league, and he just burned their guy, got in the box and we finally got a PK call that went in our favor,” Valimont said. “Carlos Erazo – who’s just a workhorse – stepped up and just buried it. That was 3-0 with about 15 minutes left.
“They scored a scrum goal off a corner with about eight minutes left and had a little bit of life, but at the end of the day, we were able to clear the balls we had to clear. We had two balls hit off the crossbar in the second half, so it could have been even more.”
Valimont credited the play of Dillan Natitus, Ben Scary and Carlos Erazo in the middle.
“Those three guys just worked their butts off continuously,” the Rams’ coach said. “Castle obviously did his thing with his speed, and our back line played great. Dalton Guthrie in the back played fantastic. Our freshman, Shane Velez, is not even 15 years old, and doesn’t come off the field in a first round district playoff game in this weather.”
Bensalem closed out a successful season with an 11-7-1 record.
“Bensalem is not a joke of a team,” Valimont said. “They are aggressive, they are physical, and their stopper played fantastic, but credit to my guys.
“We had them scouted, they stuck to the game plan, they shut down number 11, their goal scorer. They knew how good they’d been – they were 11-1-1 the past 13 games. My guys stepped up to the challenge and they really answered it and played fantastic.
“We got fortunate in the first half. A ball bounced around and hit off our goalie and off the post. We were able to push it out and clear it. That could have been a difference maker, and that’s all because of weather.”
Pennridge (11-7-1, 4-7-1 SOL) will face top-seeded North Penn in an All-SOL Continental second round game on Thursday at 3 p.m.
“We’re playing them at La Salle – everyone we’ve told is kind of taken aback that we’re playing down there,” Valimont said. “Their grass I know isn’t great, but they played a quarterfinal and an elimination playback game on their turf last year, but that’s fine.
“We’re looking forward to it. It’s a big field at La Salle, and we do pretty good on big fields. We played on a field in Talen Energy this fall. We did pretty well. At the end of the day, we don’t have to scout them. They don’t have to scout us. We just need to rest up and be excited. We have nothing to lose, they have all the pressure on them. They’re a talented group, but we’re walking in there super excited for the match.”
Bensalem 0-1 1
Pennridge 1-2 3
#20 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 1, #13 WEST CHESTER HENDERSON 0
The visiting Indians were the underdog in seed only.
They controlled play for the better part of Tuesday’s district opener, and junior Shane Bradley scored the only goal they would need five minutes into the second half.
“For about 65 of the 80 minutes, we held the ball tonight,” coach Joe Stackhouse said. “We came out on fire, pressured them right from the start.
“Sometimes we have a tendency to come out flat. We told them – ‘You guys really have to set the pace of the game.’”
The Indians did just that although they did not score until Bradley found the net early in the second half, connecting on the rebound of his own shot.
“He did most of the work,” Stackhouse said. “It was more or less off a pressure situation on a defensive miscue, and we gained possession.”
Henderson, according to Stackhouse, had only three shots on goal.
“Two required good saves,” the Indians’ coach said. “We had 11 corner kicks to their three.
“I don’t want to say we dominated, but we had the best of the play. Considering the conditions, it was a good run. Every one of the kids that went on the field tonight played exceptionally well for. Collectively as a group, we played exceptionally well.”
Jeremy Berman had three saves and earned the clean sheet in goal.
Council Rock North (11-6-2, 7-4-1 SOL) will travel to fourth-seeded Unionville for a second round contest Thursday. Unionville defeated Rock North 1-0 in last year’s district quarterfinal round.
Council Rock North 0-1 1
West Chester Henderson 0-0 0
#23 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 1, #10 DOWNINGTOWN WEST 0
Three days after falling the Whippets 2-0 in the final game of the regular season, the Bucks made the return trip to Downingtown and avenged that loss, winning when it mattered most in Tuesday’s opening round of districts.
“The story tonight was a lot of buy-in from my guys to a game plan,” coach Stefan Szygiel said. “Downingtown West is just so, so talented on the ball and so clean and sharp and technical.
“We knew they were going to have way more of the ball than us. As long as we weren’t letting them advance with possession into dangerous areas – we just had to try and defend as a unit and try and win it before they hit those key areas and look to counter.”
With five minutes remaining in the first half, Ian Munoz scored the only goal the Bucks would need, using a Bailey Moyer assist.
“Bailey Moyer served in a great ball from probably about midfield, and Ian Munoz was able to get up for the header and put it away,” Szygiel said. “I’m just so happy for Ian because he’s a kid that’s grinded his way for the program, bided his time, and he scored a huge goal for us tonight.”
Coming up huge for the Bucks was goalkeeper Ryan Van Pelt, who recorded eight saves and earned his ninth clean sheet.
“He was phenomenal tonight,” Szygiel said. “We had multiple game-saving moments from him. We cleared a few off the line.
“Jayden Morris cleared one or two off the line because they were getting into dangerous spots. My entire back line of Bailey Moyer, Vince Cavanaugh, Cole Young and Jayden Morris as well as James Lutz, Ian Munoz and Blake Bensing in the midfield just had to do a lot of defending tonight.
“We just got some excellent minutes off the bench from Krris Vellayappan. It probably was the spark we needed to see the game out. David Roy put in an awesome blue collar shift for us tonight as well.”
Central Bucks West (8-6-5, 5-4-3 SOL) will travel to seventh-seeded Radnor on Thursday. The two teams battled to a scoreless tie during the regular season.
Central Bucks West 1-0 1
Downingtown West 0-0 0
#18 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 1, #15 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 0
The Patriots saw their season come to an end at the hands of the visiting Cougars.
“It is incredibly disappointing but I am still very proud of our comeback season and am very excited at the talent we have coming back for next season,” coach Josh Isaacsohn said.
Central Bucks East closed out its season with a 10-7-2 record. They were 8-3-1 in SOL play.
#12 HARRITON 1, #21 UPPER DUBLIN 0
The Flying Cardinals lost a heartbreaker in Tuesday’s opening round.
“The result is obviously disappointing since we played so well in the terrible weather,” UD coach Andy Meehan said. “We knew what we had to do to try beat them which was stop their best player up top and work the ball through the midfield. I thought we did an excellent job defensively.
“They have a phenomenal player up top, but we were able to prevent him from getting at good chances. I think he had one shot on goal and I think mis-hit it. We were unlucky, and one of their players hit a shot towards goal, and if it wasn’t pouring rain out, our goalie would have easily saved it.
“Our issue was we couldn’t find the back of the net. We had chances but couldn’t get it past them. They defended very well and got eight men behind the ball and closed down space in front of them.”
The loss brings to an end a season that saw the Flying Cardinals make a dramatic turnaround.
“Overall I view this season as a success since last year we finished 6-11-1 and this year we finished 11-6-1 and was able to get to the playoffs,” Meehan said. “The credit goes to the seniors and their leadership. They put the work in in the offseason and it showed in the success we had this year.
“It’s just a shame that it had to end because I wanted it to last. Our underclassmen have some big shoes to fill, but knowing them, they’ll be up for the challenge to try and build on what the seniors left behind.”
Upper Dublin was 10-3-1 in SOL play.
#22 WEST CHESTER RUSTIN at #11 NESHAMINY (Ppd. to Wednesday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m.)
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