Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action Thursday. CR North/Bensalem photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos.
SOL Patriot
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 2, BENSALEM 0
Nick Cirincione scored what would be the game-winner midway through the second half as the Indians celebrated Senior Night at Walt Snyder Stadium.
“Junior Mike Brusca scored a spectacular bicycle kick goal with about six minutes left in the match to provide some insurance,” said Rock North coach Joe Stackhouse, going on to credit the efforts of his players in the win. “Senior defenders Ryan Muroff, Jeremy Kamp, Connor Cell, James McCullough and Dom Wagner held Bensalem at bay to allow keeper Jeremy Berman record the shutout.
“The midfield engine of Simon Rupp, Max Rupp and Bobby Miller set the tone for the Indians attack. A rotation of senior forwards Andrew Bower, Chase Robinson and Rocco Montierro were dangerous all night and kept a ton of pressure on the Bensalem defenders.”
For Bensalem, Omar Padilla had an outstanding match with great support from classmates Tom Khmil and Bryan Estrada.
The win upped CR North’s record to 6-8-1 overall and 6-7-1 in SOL league play. The Indians will travel to Neshaminy on Tuesday. Bensalem is now 4-11-1 overall and 4-10-0 in the SOL. The Owls will celebrate Senior Night when they host Council Rock South on Tuesday.
Bensalem 0-0 0
Council Rock North 0-2 2
SOL Colonial
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 2, SOUDERTON 1
In yet another classic Colonial Division battle, the Patriots rallied from a 1-0 deficit to score a pair of unanswered goals and eke out the win.
“It’s unbelievable – it’s just such a battle every game,” East coach Josh Isaacsohn said. “It was another typical division game where we were really going at each other.
“The first half was pretty even. We had a few chances, they had a few chances. Hats off to Matt (Benner) and their coaching staff. They were organized, they were big, they really tried to exploit what they perceived as weaknesses, and they did a nice job. They won a lot of the balls in the air. They’re a very big, strong team.”
The Indians broke a scoreless tie when Ben Lare found the back of the net with a goal in the 50th minute. Less than a minute later, Dylan Rose scored the equalizer with a Toby Senior assist.
“That’s what really got us going,” Isaacsohn said. “Possession and flow of play started to tilt a little bit, but they’re really dangerous because on corner kicks they send #17, Tommy (Smith), up, and he’s a very dangerous player. They tended to leave him up after that and getting the ball in the box for them is just dangerous.
“We knew that we had to do everything we could to keep them out. They had a couple close calls as did we.”
In the 72nd minute, Michael Montabana scored the game-winner, finishing off a corner kick.
“We earned a corner kick on very good play by Michael Montabana,” Isaacsohn said. “Nick Knepp had the assist, and Michael Montabana got on the end of the corner kick and finished it.
“We really saw it through. They had a few chances at the end, there were a few nail biters, but when they push it up and especially at the end when their goalie goes up and he’s real tall too, it definitely makes your heart stop a little bit.”
The Patriots’ coach had plenty of praise to go around.
“Jared Needles came in and played on the outside mid position, and he was just fantastic today,” Isaacsohn said. “His defense led to great offense, and he just really did a great job.
“Michael Frye is our other outside midfielder, and he did a really, really good job. I also have to give a shoutout to our defenders – Trevor Jopling, Owen Willis, Ethan Green and Luke Christmas.”
Thursday’s win was the very definition of a bounce-back win, coming on the heels of a 4-0 loss to Pennridge on Monday.
“We came off a very, very brutal loss against Pennridge and really had to get it together, and to the boys’ credit, they really seemed to get it together,” Isaacsohn said. “Also, coming from a goal down to come back and score two goals to win says a lot about the character of this team, and they’re still doing it with three captains out. We have not had all of our captains play one game together this year because of injuries.”
Sidelined are captains Josh Daniels, Brandon Epstein and Dylan Walker.
“These are our studs, and for this to be happening without them is just tremendous,” Isaacsohn said.
Central Bucks East (8-4-3, 7-3-3 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks South on Saturday at 2 p.m. Souderton (9-3-2, 7-3-2) will host North Penn on Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
Souderton 1-0 1
Central Bucks East 0-2 2
Non-league
QUAKERTOWN 2, PALISADES 0
The Panthers shut out the Pirates to earn the non-league win.
Micah Reinford scored a goal in the first half that turned out to be the game-winner. Alex Jalboot added an insurance goal in the second half.
Quakertown (2-13, 1-12 SOL) will host Wissahickon on Friday.
Quakertown 1-1 2
Palisades 0-0 0
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