CB West and Pennridge squared off in a classic SOL Continental Conference battle at Talen Energy Stadium on Sunday. Photos provided courtesy of Jon Sklut. CLICK HERE for a gallery of photos.
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 2, PENNRIDGE 1
They’ll be talking about this day for a long, long time.
And not only because it was a classic battle between the SOL Continental Conference rivals that included a West comeback after the Rams took a lead early in the second half. Adding to the drama and excitement was the fact that - in a once-in-a-lifetime experience for both squads – it was played at Talen Energy Stadium, home of the Philadelphia Union.
“It was really awesome to be able to be in that stadium and that environment for a game like that, especially against Pennridge, an in-league game,” West junior Bailey Moyer said. “It’s one of the best soccer experiences I’ve ever had and definitely one of the best I will ever have. I just think it’s awesome.”
The two teams earned the privilege of playing in the Major League Soccer stadium by selling a designated number of tickets to a Union game.
“All the credit to Stef – reaching out to me in the late spring to do this,” Pennridge coach Pete Valimont said of West head coach Stefan Szygiel. “As soon as he did, I said, ‘Yup, we’re in.’
“I’ve told people – this is equivalent of a high school football team playing down at Lincoln Financial Field. Regardless that it’s 99 percent empty – for the one percent of our fans and their fans, it’s just fantastic.”
Valimont and Szygiel, it seems, share a similar coaching philosophy.
“We’re both passionate, and we want to provide opportunities for the boys, for the program,” Szygiel said. “Pete was gung-ho about it. It was four or five months in the making.
“I will say the Philadelphia Union just knocked it out of the park. They did such a great job making us feel like – wow, this is something special that hopefully these guys are going to always remember. Everyone was out there warming up 90 minutes before kick-off, and whether or not they got minutes in the game, they all were part of the experience.
“They had the Pennridge logo, the CB West boys’ soccer logo. The field was in great shape. It was really exciting, the whole experience – the locker room, the walkout, being that close to the field, and frankly, it was a really exciting game. Especially the last 25 minutes, it was super exciting.”
The game was originally schedule for Saturday, Sept. 29, but was postponed because of field conditions.
“It ended up working out great – having the stadium to ourselves on a Sunday in the afternoon,” Valimont said. “It was fantastic.
“At the end of the day, you want to get everyone on the field, but you can’t. It’s a league game that’s very important. We’re both top 15 teams in the district, and you’re trying to do everything you can. If you can at least take a step back and take away the experience that you were just a part of, you’re never going to forget that.”
*****
The game itself was a war, and after 40 minutes, the two teams were locked in a scoreless tie.
“Flat out, Pete did such a good job,” Szygiel said. “In the first half, they outplayed us. We had a couple of good looks, but they had the possession. They were finding the spaces. They looked fitter, they looked hungrier. The fact that it was 0-0 at halftime – I was a little surprised, but we did what we do defensively. They had some chances, but we did defend well, which is what we do.”
Two minutes into the second half, the Rams got on the scoreboard when Marco Grenda (Nick Dunn assist) found the back of the net.
“They fully deserved it,” Szygiel said of the Rams’ goal. “For another 10 minutes, they still had the better run of play. We didn’t really respond until we were about 55 minutes in – I said, ‘Okay, let’s go for it.’
“Bailey (Moyer) does such a great job for us as a central defender, but he’s also our leading goal scorer, so we moved him up top, and Bailey was able to tie the game up and that injected some life in us. We kind of stayed on the front foot, we stayed in attacking mode. We just need a little bit of possession higher up the field and somebody just make something happen.”
Moyer’s equalizer – with an assist from Kanishk Nazareth - came with 18 minutes remaining in regulation.
“It was 0-0 going into half, and we come out and we give up one early,” Moyer said. “You could see it in our faces that we didn’t want it to end like that. A couple of kids stepped up and made some big-time plays.
“I got thrown up top, and luckily, the ball bounced through to me, it come right to me. I took a couple of touches, picked my head up and put it far post. It was awesome, but they didn’t stop.”
Neither did the Bucks, who took a 2-1 lead when – with 10 minutes remaining – Colin Burn (Jack Galt assist) scored the go-ahead goal.
“They didn’t stop until literally the last second of the game,” Moyer said of the Rams. “Luckily for us, they got called off-sides inside our six. It was a crazy game.”
“We were able to pull one off,” Szygiel said. “Colin Burn did a great job. He hit a good left-footed shot and was able to make it 2-1. Then we defended the rest of the time. We’re rotating guys.
“Honestly, we had to use absolutely everything we had in the tank to beat them today. I thought Pennridge was the better team. I think we played a really good 25 minutes and happened to score twice. Otherwise, I think they outplayed us.”
On the other side of the field, Valimont had nothing but good things to say about his team’s effort.
“You couldn’t have asked for a better game,” the Rams’ coach said. “Unfortunately, we’re on the wrong end in the win-loss column, but my guys played outstanding.
“We played a totally different formation against West. We got a lead on (goalie) Dylan Smith, which – you’re telling me you’re going to score on Dylan, that’s a rarity this season. The kid’s so good. To their credit, Stef is very smart – they switched it up and got real offensive, nothing to lose, and we just had two breakdowns in the back, and unfortunately, they scored off both of them, and that was it.”
Szygiel acknowledged the efforts of several players in the win.
“It was another great performance from Dylan (Smith) in terms of keeping the guys motivated, focused and just – ‘Hey, there’s plenty of time left. We’ll figure this out,’” the Bucks’ coach said of his goalie, who recorded four saves. “My entire back line - Bailey Moyer, James Lutz, Nick Centenera, Michael Redfield and Luke Fuhrman - they grind for us every game. That’s our backbone. They just do such a great job of making us so hard to play against back there.
“On the other side of the ball, we’re trying to figure it out. We played a 4-5-1 formation today. We tried some other stuff, but with that 4-5-1, we started to show some good stuff. We benefitted from forward Jack Galt’s work rate and energy up top.”
Valimont had a message for his players in the postgame locker room.
“This is a district playoff atmosphere,” the Rams’ coach said. “The next two weeks and the week after – fingers crossed that we can make it happen – this is going to pay off towards the end of October and November, and to do it in that type of atmosphere in that stadium – they had our school name on the digital screen and on the banner. It’s just fantastic. The Union did a really nice job.”
“I’ve never been on a major league baseball field or Lincoln Financial Field, but I was on the MLS Philly field and got to coach there. For me and my staff – they’re never going to forget it. My boys – my five-year-old triplets got to be on the field and kick the ball with their dad. I got a picture of my mom and my wife – those things I’m never going to forget.”
Central Bucks West (10-2, 8-1 SOL) will host Hatboro-Horsham in a non-league game on Monday, and Pennridge (9-3-1, 4-3-1) will travel to Central Bucks South on Tuesday.
Pennridge 0-1 1
Central Bucks West 0-2 2
- Log in to post comments
