By Ben Winderman
It’s Friday afternoon soccer, Central Bucks East visiting the Ghosts of Abington. Both teams competing for postseason seeds, playing for coaches cut from the same local fabric. Randy Garber vs. Mike Gorni; together they sum over 100 years in suburban Philly soccer and have been teammates, colleagues, friends, and competitors.
The wind is an immediate factor, helping East win several deep throw-ins and corner kicks. The Ghost shadow East sensation Ben Marks closely, allowing him some space in the midfield, but as soon as he enters the attacking third, he attracts more attention.
Abington counters and misses a sitter in the 19th minute. East’s goalkeeper Jake Nesteruk scolds his team, demonstrating strong leadership.
Former Pitt Panther now East assistant Brendan Smith barks out “How many restarts are we gonna give up in our end?”
But Abington’s penetration is sporadic.
In the 30th minute Abington GK Mallcolm Kane spills a ball to opportunistic East forward Booker Farrior, who calmly passes it into the Ghosts’ net. Down 1-0 to CB East is exactly where opponents don’t want to be. At halftime, the game’s been innocuous with limited pressure and passion.
Abington comes out with a bit more urgency in the second half, but East defenders Evan Vare and Robert Salvo interrupt the attack continuously. Ben Marks chooses a more active role, tracking back and several times stripping Abington players being too deliberate with the ball. In the 60th minute, Abington earns three corner kicks in a row, the first curling upper 90 before East midfielder Kyle Clow heads it clear.
Minutes later, on a hard angle free kick in the 70th minute, Abington attacker Kyle Rocks bends one just over the East crossbar.
Abington slides three attackers up, but dynamic play fails to develop. The East defense is organized and their clearances are dependable. This is classis CB East, “Ugly,” as Coach Gorni calls it, but effective.
In the 78th minute, Abington attacker Matt Bevilaqua runs onto a slipped ball and has a clear look at the East goal, but Nesteruk comes out aggressively and forces an errant shot. Many Ghosts fans groan as they know their best chance just passed. CB East holds on for the 1-0 win.
The Patriots are showing glimpses of postseason form, and if CB South falters vs. Souderton, the Patriots could theoretically share the Continental Division title. Coach Garber and his Ghosts have strong central players, particularly Chris Tracey and Billy Natter, but they’ll need more creativity and pace up top to make a splash in districts. Both teams play clean hard and make things difficult on opposing players. On this cold Friday afternoon in October, CB East was slightly better.
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