North Penn, Abington, Neshaminy & Central Bucks West were winners in SOL boys’ soccer action in Thursday’s District One 4A second round. NP/Pennridge photos provided courtesy of Keith Clemens Photography. CLICK HERE for a gallery of photos.
#1 NORTH PENN 6, #16 PENNRIDGE 0
It took all of 18 seconds for the Knights – showing absolutely no signs of rust after a week’s layoff – to get on the scoreboard in Thursday’s second round contest.
“Carter Houlihan ran down and served the ball, and Johnny Graber – who we were giving a start – scored,” Paul Duddy said of the early goal that turned out to be the game-winner. “It was great to see. When you score 18 seconds into the game, it kind of changes things.”
The Knights made it a 2-0 game less than three minutes into the contest when Jamie Stewart scored, also using a Houlihan assist, and they were just getting started. Another Stewart goal, this one with a Jack Durkin assist, was followed by the first of two goals by Houlian (Ryan Stewart assist). The Knights took a commanding 4-0 lead into halftime.
For good measure, the Knights tacked on a pair of second-half goals – one each by Houlihan (Durkin assist) and Nate Burrell (Ryan McCann assist).
The two SOL Continental foes met exactly one week earlier with the Knights earning a 1-0 win on the heels of a 2-0 win earlier in the season.
“To shut them out again today was great,” Duddy said. “They’re a good team, and to play great defense three games in a row is a credit to our defenders and goalkeeper.”
Sawyer Meade earned the clean sheet in goal. The Knights’ stout defense was comprised of inside defenders Jack Durkin and Jamie Stewart as well as outside defenders Hunter Stites and Starrett Vesper.
“We bring some guys in off the bench that do pretty well,” Duddy said, crediting Ryan Mindick. “Probably the most unheralded player on our team right now is Roman Ilovsky, who plays outside midfield, but he does a lot of defending for us. He’s a smart player.
“We put Josh Jones wherever we need him. If we need him to defend and come back and win head balls – he wins head balls like nobody’s business in this league. You can be tall and not be great in the air. He’s tall and he’s great in the air.”
North Penn (18-1, 11-1 SOL) will host Abington in Saturday’s quarterfinal round at a time and place to be determined. Pennridge (4-6-2 SOL) closed out its season with an 11-8-1 record.
Pennridge 0-0 0
North Penn 4-2 6
#9 ABINGTON 3, #8 SPRING-FORD 2
Staring at a 2-0 deficit midway through the first half against a talented Rams’ squad, the Ghosts appeared to be in jeopardy of seeing their season come to an end. That didn’t happen, and listening to coach Randy Garber tell it – the Ghosts’ second round win that saw Nevin Baer score on an impossible shot with 40 seconds remaining in regulation felt almost like it had been stolen.
“Here we are with less than a minute – I’m telling them to slow down,” Garber said. “Reese (Gibbs) hits a ball over the top, and it just happens that Nevin (Baer) was all the way up front, and they got caught flat. The ball goes over the top, a 50-50 ball between the goalkeeper and Nevin. Nevin beats the goalkeeper, but his touch went way, way wide. He came back, and the angle he scored on with his left foot was very difficult. He just whacked it along the ground with pace on it that it just beat the fullback trying to save it with less than a minute to go.
“I felt like we stole something. I felt like I was in a store and stole something and no one saw me because they were that good. They were very organized. I was very surprised that they didn’t try to possess the ball when they were up 2-0 and just make us chase it. They had enough ability, and they had enough speed. They could have just held onto the ball. I have a gritty bunch of kids that don’t quit.”
The night didn’t start off on the most promising note. Traveling to Spring-Ford turned into an hour and 45-minute road trip for the Ghosts.
“We had a 45-minute warm-up, which is more than enough time to warm up,” Garber said. “What a beautiful facility, and they just came out on fire. It looked like we were standing still.
“They knocked the ball, possessed the ball, and before you know it, they scored a great first goal on a volley from maybe 19, 20 yards out, and the kid just hit a cracker in the upper corner to make it 1-0. Ten minutes later, they go and score their second goal, which was another good goal, to make it 2-0. We kept on saying to the players, ‘Just relax, don’t panic. Get your legs. You pinch one before half and make it 2-1, and we’re back in it.’”
That’s exactly what the Ghosts did as Gavin O’Neill found the net 25 minutes into the game to trim the Rams’ lead in half.
“As soon as we found our legs and started feeling better about ourselves, we knocked the ball across, and Gavin O’Neill heads the ball in from about six yards out to make it 2-1,” Garber said. “We’re kind of back in it. I’m thinking, ‘Let’s just get to halftime. We’ll talk about it at halftime and see what happens. See if they make any adjustments.’”
The Ghosts, who trailed 2-1 at halftime, came out strong in the second half.
“In the second half, we started to play a lot more physical – it was a very, very physical game, and they got away from their game because we started winning balls and they weren’t used to that,” Garber said. “Instead of them trying to possess the ball, they tried to do the same thing we were doing, which was playing direct.
“I think the way we played threw them off their game a little bit. Midway through the second half, Nevin Baer – he’s as clever as clever can be – draws a penalty kick, a legit penalty kick. The kid brought him down. Reese Gibbs stepped up and knocked it in the back of the net.”
Just like that, it was 2-2 with 18:48 remaining in regulation.
“Both teams had chances, but they weren’t feeling comfortable,” Garber said. “We kept on winning balls and going forward. They had plenty of chances to finish before it got into overtime.”
Thanks to Baer’s late heroics, overtime wasn’t necessary, and the Ghosts advanced to the district quarterfinals.
“What a good game – two in a row,” said Garber, whose team was coming off an overtime win over Haverford. “You don’t find this environment in club soccer – not what you saw the last couple of nights with those kids and the people in the stands. That was something special.”
The Ghosts’ coach credited the standout play of several players.
“Kyle Phillips just played out of his mind in the back as a defender,” Garber said. “Our goalkeeper Sam Dumas did everything that he could to keep the ball out of the back of the net. He got two goals scored against him, but they were very good goals. They weren’t his fault.”
“Reese (Gibbs) and Nevin (Baer) – anytime they play, you’ve got to applaud those two because they’re that good. Bryce Lexow worked hard and played every minute. Michael Burnstein did a superb job and Alex Woll again was superb.”
Abington (16-3-1, 11-2-1 SOL) will take on top-seeded North Penn in Saturday’s quarterfinal at a site and time to be determined.
“I told them at the end of the game, ‘Well, guess what guys – you just made the matchup that everybody wants to see,” Garber said. “You have Carter Houlihan on North Penn and you got Nevin (Baer) – you’re going to see two of the best high school players in Eastern Pennsylvania. Both of these kids should make All-American hands down.”
Abington 1-2 3
Spring-Ford 2-0 2
#11 NESHAMINY 1, #8 HATBORO-HORSHAM 0
There was no rest for the Redskins.
Twenty-four hours after eking out a 1-0 opening round win over West Chester Rustin, they made the trek to sixth-seeded Hatboro-Horsham for a second round match that was another war. Eight minutes into the second half, Jonotan Lopez found the back of the net for a goal that turned out to be the game-winner.
“It was a good hard fought win for our guys,” coach Tom Foley said. “Ryan Schoenemann, who had an exceptional game tonight, threw it in. Gavin Rowan kind of knocked it off the crossbar, and Jonotan Lopez cleaned it up and knocked it in.”
The Redskins’ coach knew that goals would be hard to come by against a Hatter squad that had 13 shutouts on its resume and had allowed just nine goals in 18 regular season games.
“They don’t score a lot of goals, but they’re quick, physical kids,” Foley said of the Hatters. “We did a pretty good job. We were probably a little tired offensively and didn’t have our best attack of the night, but we defended really, really well.
“The kids played exceptionally hard on defense, and we managed to convert a long throw in eight minutes into the second half, and we managed to hold on.”
The Redskins’ coach credited the play of his defense.
“They had a lot of flighted balls in the box from fouls in the midfield,” Foley said. “Alex Daeche was huge just heading balls out of harm’s way for us.
“Trevor Rush, our goalkeeper, had to make one diving save. Most of the other saves he had were relatively routine. We didn’t give them any clean looks. We won a lot of balls and did a great job of containing them. I was really proud of the kids.”
Thursday’s shutout was the third in the last four games for the Redskins. The only goal they gave up in that four-game span came in their 1-0 loss to Pennsbury when they were down a man for 80 minutes.
“Mike Albarran and Alex Daeche were exceptional in the middle tonight,” Foley said. “Ryan Schoenemann and Cole Jackson in our midfield both did a great job for us. Ryan was all over the field winning head balls, tackling.
“Lou Salmi and Ian Siwinski did a great job in the back. We did a really good job on defense.”
Thursday’s game was the fourth consecutive 1-0 game for the Redskins.
“I thought we were a little tired on the attack,” Foley said. “We decided we were going to play hard defense, and that’s where we spent most of our energy.
“We took advantage of our restarts – our free kicks, our throw-ins, our corners, and we managed to get a goal off a restart, and we held on for the rest of the way. It was a good win against a team that hadn’t lost in 16 games, so that’s even better.”
Neshaminy (14-6, 8-4 SOL) will travel to Boyertown for a quarterfinal matchup against the third-seeded Bears. Hatboro-Horsham (12-1-1 SOL) closed out its successful season with a 15-3-1 record and the SOL American Conference title.
Neshaminy 0-1 1
Hatboro-Horsham 0-0 0
#23 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 2, #7 RADNOR 1 (OT)
The Bucks aren’t ready to call it a season just yet.
Underdogs on paper for the second tie in as many games, they rallied from an early 1-0 hole to defeat the Raiders in overtime.
“It was great to see,” coach Stefan Szygiel said. “It was a great response from the guys. They’re into it. They’re totally bought in.
“They don’t want it to end just like any team would say in this situation, but we have to find one more (win) in us.”
Radnor got on the scoreboard within the first 10 minutes and controlled play early on in Thursday’s contest.
“Especially the first 15 minutes, their energy, their pressure, a couple tactical adjustments they made were certainly different than when we played about a month ago in the regular season, and that caught us off guard,” Szygiel said of the scoreless tie on Sept. 21. “I give them a ton of credit for that because we were prepared for certain things. There were probably three or four things they were doing that were different, which I would expect from that program.
“We knew it was going to be a tight game the whole while. Defensively, both teams are very stout. It just wasn’t going to be one of those games where one of us was going to score three or four goals.”
Radnor’s 1-0 lead held until the Bucks knotted the score five minutes into the second half on a goal by Ian Munoz. It was his second in as many district games.
“It was off of a set piece, the ball kind of bounced out, it was a bit of a scrum situation, which we see a lot of obviously – Ian got his left foot on it and was able to go to the far post and just under the crossbar,” Szygiel said. “That is what he’s taught –in that situation, put the ball into a dangerous area. He put it back on frame.”
That 1-1 tie held until early in overtime.
“We started positively and went right down in their end and tried to generate a chance,” Szygiel said. “Their keeper had to come out and make a play.
“They came right down in our end. I thought it was done. They got down the right side, the kid laid a great pass to about 12 yards out. They had a runner coming in, and I was like, ‘Well, we battled.’ We got lucky – he put it over the crossbar.”
The Bucks came back down the field, and this time they didn’t come up empty as Jimi Leder turned an Alan Zlotin pass into the game-winner.
“We were able to serve a ball in, it kind of bounced out, and from about 30 out, David Roy played the ball back in,” Szygiel said. “Alan Zlotin was able to get a little header flick to it, and Jimi Leder came in and finished it.
“We talk about it a lot with Jimi and say – ‘We know you’re going to be keyed in on, you’re going to be bopped around. Every team knows about you, every team knows about Alan Zlotin.’ You just have got to hope we get enough chances in a game for those to guys to make something happen. The other guys are also making things happen right now.”
The Bucks’ coach acknowledged the strong efforts of several players.
“Ian Munoz has been huge for us the past two games,” Szygiel said. “Blake Bensing has been putting in just absolutely blue collar minutes which we need right now.
“Ben Danzis has been giving us great minutes, and David Roy continues to have a great late-season surge for us. Kanishk Nazareth is working very hard for us. My back line of Bailey Moyer, Vince Cavanaugh, Cole Young and Jayden Morris and our other midfielder, James Lutz, are holding strong. We just have to find a way to win one more.
“We never want to be done, we never feel like we’re down and out. I love watching them dig in and fight hard for each other. Probably my favorite thing is to see a group of players do that for each other.”
Ryan Van Pelt had a strong outing in goal, recording seven saves.
“He had another stellar night for us,” Szygiel said.
Central Bucks West (9-6-5, 5-4-3 SOL) will travel to second-seeded Lower Merion for a district quarterfinal game Saturday.
Central Bucks West 0-1-1 2
Radnor 1-0-0 1
#3 BOYERTOWN 3, #14 PENNSBURY 1
A goal by Evan Reichard just over 12 minutes into the first half spotted the Falcons an early lead. The Bears responded with back-to-back goals in a six-minute span to go into halftime with a 2-1 lead.
That score stood until the Bears tacked on their third goal with 34 seconds remaining for the 3-1 final.
“We had a horrible first half – despite scoring first, we played timid,” coach Tom Stoddart said. “The second 40 we were fantastic and played like champions. We just couldn’t find the back of the net.
“I am very proud of the boys winning their first ever SOL National title.”
Pennsbury (9-2-1 SOL) closed out its season with a record of 13-5-2 and a conference crown.
Pennsbury 1-0 1
Boyertown 2-1 3
#4 UNIONVILLE 3, #20 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 0
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