Abington advanced to Saturday’s District 1 6A title game with a double overtime win over Lower Merion. Pennsbury & Neshaminy saw their successful seasons come to an end. Check out the Kwik Goal game recaps. Abington/Lower Merion photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos.
District 1 4A semifinals
#5 Abington 2, #1 Lower Merion 1 (2 OTs)
Owen Gesing says he hasn’t scored many goals in big games, but in Tuesday’s District 1 4A semifinal against top-seeded Lower Merion, Abington’s all-league midfielder scored the biggest goal of the season.
He recounts the riveting sequence.
“It was double overtime, the second half of overtime, golden goal,” Gesing said. “We have a kid on our team, Carter (Shannon), who can throw the ball in like 35-40 yards, so he threw it in the box.
“We didn’t win the first ball, and it came out to me, and I just knew I had to hit it first time, like there was nothing else I could do. I got up for it and volleyed it, and honestly, it’s like a blur at this point. It was nuts, it was awesome.”
Gesing’s golden goal propelled the Ghosts to the heart stopping win.
“Start to finish, there was action – it was really entertaining, for sure,” Abington coach Isaac Pitkow said.
Tuesday afternoon’s semifinal was a classic battle between the perennial district powers with the Aces striking early, taking a 1-0 lead five minutes into the game.
“We started off really slow, and we gave up a goal early,” Gesing said. “We had a lot of people yelling at each other, telling each other to wake up.”
The Ghosts woke up, and both teams had their opportunities, but neither team converted until the Ghosts got a late goal from Jaza Vasquez on a free kick with 10 minutes remaining in regulation, setting the stage for double overtime.
This year, the Ghosts – who had five ties in the regular season – have been everyone’s big game. The key to staying strong, according to Gesing, is simple.
“It’s trusting each other,” he said. “That’s been another big thing through the season for us. Our starters are on the field for a reason. We know we have the ability to beat anyone.
“It’s just having trust in each other to each play our own role, each do our own job. We know if we do, we’ll get the job done.”
The Ghosts will face second-seeded Conestoga in Saturday’s district final. Last year, they fell to Haverford 3-1 in the district final but went on to win the state title.
“Every year our goals are to win the league, win districts and win states,” Gesing said. “Last year we fell short of districts in the finals, but this year is my senior year, and we gotta get it done. We gotta win districts.
“That’s definitely one of my big goals. To a lot of people like non-soccer players, states sounds like the biggest tournament, but our district is so good, so it’s almost harder than states.”
Scoring Summary
First half –
Lower Merion goal
Second half
Jaza Vasquez (A)
First overtime –
No score
Second overtime
Owen Gesing (A)
Abington coach Isaac Pitkow:
–The game: “Lower Merion probably scored five minutes into the game. When we scouted them, they scored so many goals this year on long throws and corners and they’re so good on them, similar to us. They scored on a long throw into the box, then cleared it and then put it right back into the box., and they were really pumped up after that, and we were a little rattled.
“The game was just crazy energy because there were hundreds of people at the game, and our boys were still trying to find their feet after that happened. Then we kind of went back and forth, jockeying with them for a little bit. We had a nice period to end the half where we took a lot of control. Jaza (Vasquez) hit the crossbar on a header from one of our long throw-ins from Carter (Shannon), and that was probably our best chance of the first half. So, the first half ends, and we’re down 1-0.
–Jaza delivers: “We’re feeling like we definitely have a chance to get back in the game, we regroup at
halftime. We come out, and we start playing pretty well in the second half. I would say we probably took control more than they did. They still had some chances, but I’d say we had the better in the second half, but we couldn’t get our goal until about 10 minutes left in the game. Jaza scored on a free kick right outside the box. Kyle Kretschman got fouled and went down right outside the box, and Jaza took a quick free kick before the goalie was set up, and it was beautifully placed. So that was the tying goal. It was right outside the 18 and probably 20 yards out, and Jaza didn’t ask for 10 yards, and it was just a heady, smart play. He just quickly kicked it when the goalkeeper wasn’t ready and scored.
“Then we’re feeling good, and we’re on them at the end. I thought we might get one at the end of the game, but it went to overtime.”
–Gesing OT hero: “First half of overtime, no goal. Second overtime with about 10 minutes left – a long throw from Carter was cleared to the top of the box, and Owen Gesing had a karate kick type volley one time. It was just an absolute screamer that won the game, and it was just unbelievable.”
–Shoutouts: “There was a period right after we scored when there was 10 minutes left, and Lower Merion had two or three shots that Dom (Veitz), our goalkeeper, saved. They were just unbelievable saves, point blank, that he just stoned them. There was one in particular where he saved it – it was inside the 18 a point blank shot that he saved, rebound, Lower Merion shoots again. He caught it, and when he saved that, that was when we knew ‘All right, we’re gonna win, we’re gonna win after all the momentum.’
“Owen Gesing’s goal and Jaza’s goal were amazing. Kyle Kretschman played unbelievable. Two other guys I’d shout out were Sean Westmoreland in the back and Carter Shannon in the back. We were pushing guys forward and we pushed Sean forward too, but Carter was in the back dealing with everything because they’re so good on their throw-ins and corners just like we are, and they put you under so much pressure by just dumping the ball in the box. Carter was just winning every header in the back, clearing everything for us, so he was on fire.
“A big coaching decision that I always have to make this year is with Kyle Kretschman. Clearly, center back is his primary position, but he also plays striker for us, so without Carter playing the way he was playing – we’re always deciding should we put Kretschman back or should we put him up. That’s our big question mark as a coaching staff, but the way Carter played, it was pretty clear that we could put Kretschman up there, and Kretschman got fouled for Jaza’s free kick. Kretschman’s at the center of everything we do because the defense is paying attention to him always, so a big shoutout for Carter too.”
Up next: Abington will face #2 Conestoga in the District 1 6A title game at Garnet Valley High School on Saturday (3pm).
Abington 0 1 0 1 – 2
Lower Merion 1 0 0 0 – 1
#2 Conestoga 3, #6 Wissahickon 0
Conestoga took a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into Tuesday’s district semifinal, and by halftime, the Pioneers had a 3-0 lead. They went on to win by that margin.
Wissahickon’s season is far from over. The Trojans will face top-seeded Lower Merion in the third-place game for seeding purposes for the upcoming state tournament.
Wissahickon 0 0 – 0
Conestoga 3 0 – 3
Playbacks
#3 Avon Grove 2, #7 Pennsbury 1 (OT)
The Falcons lost a heartbreaker in Tuesday’s playback game at Avon Grove. They fell behind early but rallied to knot the score on a goal by Ajnur Curevac early in the second half. Avon Grove won it in the first overtime.
“We had a very good run, and we were able to make some memories out on the pitch that I hope these boys will look upon fondly,” Pennsbury coach Tom Stoddart said.
Scoring summary
First half
Avon Grove goal
Second half
Ajnur Curevac (P) 46th minute
Overtime
Avon Grove goal
Pennsbury coach Tom Stoddart:
–The game: “We had the better of the opportunities in the first 40. Conceded a goal on a well-designed corner kick play by Avon Grove.
“We came out in the second half and got the equalizer. To their credit, Avon Grove put in a very good second half. James Purdum made some fantastic saves. We almost connected late on three different opportunities
“Unfortunately, we conceded the season-ending goal on a restart. We cleared the initial service, but Avon Grove showed great skill to get the ball back down to the turf and played a pass into the box. The ball was played forward, and they finished an absolute sitter for the win.”
–Props: “Ajnur Curevac scored five goals in our four playoff games. I’m just tremendously proud and happy for him. He has worked incredibly hard and has provided a blueprint for the underclassman on how to be a great leader on and off the field.”
Pennsbury closed out its season with a 13-4-3 overall record.
Pennsbury 0 1 0 – 1
Avon Grove 1 0 1 – 2
#9 West Chester Henderson 1, #13 Neshaminy 0
Henderson scored the game’s only goal with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation. The Redskins had no answer.
“We pressed guys forward, put some pressure on but could not get the equalizer,” Neshaminy coach Tom Foley said. “We played well defensively but just couldn’t find the back of their net. It was one heck of a season.
“Our guys played hard all year and played some quality soccer at the end of the year. I would like to thank all of our seniors – Dylan Cloud, Stephen Buczek, Jake Fallon, Connor Choi, Christos Vasilarakis, Zach Hargraves, Joel Mendez, Nick Romanowski, Nick Indellicato, Monty Jawawdeh, Pat Kaiser, Ryan Charleton, Shane Beeman and Matt Albarran – for their dedication and hard work. The coaches will miss them and wish them nothing but the best in their future endeavors.”
Neshaminy closed out its season with a 10-4-7 record.
Neshaminy 0 0 – 0
WC Henderson 0 1 – 1
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