By Alex Frazier
Three games. Three goals.
That’s all that separated Central Bucks West and Hatboro-Horsham Thursday afternoon when the two teams squared off at War Memorial Field in the finale of the Continental Conference league season.
Eighty minutes after the opening whistle, the ratio remained the same—only the winner was different.
Central Bucks West rode a second-half penalty kick to a 1-0 victory, snapping the Hatters’ three-game winning streak.
“We didn’t generate enough opportunities, we didn’t generate enough pressure,” said Hatboro-Horsham coach Ben Winderman. “We played very ambiguously.”
After a first-half of futility, West coach Steve Detweiler told his squad at halftime to come out shooting.
“If you’re not going to shoot, you’re not going to be on the field,” he told them.
They took it to heart, out-firing Hatboro-Horsham, 8-1. However, only the second shot of the half counted.
West’s Billy Carroll was dribbling into the box en route to the goal when he was taken down from behind.
“The play that led to the penalty kick - we didn’t go up for a head ball, and it resulted in them getting into the box,” said Winderman. “We were not to be excused on that play. We just got punished for a previous mistake.”
Sam Wild took the PK, striking the ball low into the left side just 49 seconds into the second half. It was his second successful penalty kick of the year.
“I shoot depending on what the goalie gives me,” said Wild. “He gave me the left so I took it.”
“We lost a lot of games like that so it’s nice to be on the other end of one,” said Detweiler. “Good things happen when you fight and defend and you get in the box. That’s what I’ve been teaching the boys all year—put yourself in a position to be there.”
Ironically, the last time the two teams played earlier in the season, it was Hatboro-Horsham that scored an early second-half goal to win.
“We didn’t want that to happen again,” said Wild. “We played with more intensity to make sure it didn’t happen.”
West had three more chances but couldn’t convert. In the 26th minute, Andrew Carroll headed a corner on goal, but Mike Mikulski pulled it in.
Thirteen minutes later, Will Wister fired a shot from the left side that Mikulski had to dive for to save.
“Our keeper played really, really well,” said Winderman. “He’s done such an awesome job.”
A minute later Bryan Warner, seeing that Mikulski was out of goal, lobbed a long shot that just missed the open net wide right.
“Everyone was playing in the middle third (in the first half),” said Detweiler. “There wasn’t anyone knocking on anyone’s door. We had them on their heels in the second half, whereas it was a tossup in the first half.”
The Hatters made a valiant effort to get back in the game during a stretch of about five minutes with about 10 minutes to go, but while they pressed into the West end, they only managed one shot.
“We’ve been a team of surges,” said Winderman. “Our pitfall has been the lack of the ability to sustain those surges, so if we don’t score on one of them, we tend to lose energy and focus and get frustrated.”
A 3-1 loss to C.B. South the night before after leading 1-0 at the half didn’t help the Hatters’ confidence against West.
Neither team had much of an opportunity to score in the first half, as the ball floated around between the 18s. Mikulski came off the line a few times to break up potential scoring threats, once beating Ben Hughes to a 50/50 ball and another time kicking a ball away from Carroll. The Hatters’ best chance for a goal came on a shot by Dan Grosso from the left side, but West keeper Lucas Thome safely grabbed it.
West’s best chance came late in the half with just 25 seconds left when he unleashed a long shot from the right side that banged off the crossbar in the left corner.
West’s season will end Friday with a game against Abington. The Bucks (5-12, 5-10 SOL) are looking forward to next year after a year of getting dirty in the trenches.
“Most of us are juniors and sophomores,” said Wild, “so getting wins at the end of the season is a good momentum builder. It’s also a good way to end the season.”
For Detweiler, the win was emblematic of how far his team has come this year.
“I told the boys in training yesterday, ‘I’m proud of you guys no matter what your record is,’” he said. “I cringed to watch 80 minutes of soccer the first three games out, and now I enjoy it.”
Hatboro-Horsham’s regular season is over. The loss drops the Hatters to 8-8-2 overall and 7-7 in the Continental Conference. They will have to wait until the district seeding meeting Sunday to see if they get an at-large bid for the playoffs. Last year five teams from the Continental were selected. The Hatters finished fifth this year.
“This hurts our chances,” said Winderman, “but you never know. We did well enough in the playoffs last year.”
Like the Bucks, Hatboro-Horsham is also a young team with promise for next year.
“It was a grind-it-out season,” said Winderman, “but any time you do that, it builds toughness and character.”
Central Bucks West 1, Hatboro-Horsham 0
Goals: Sam Wild (CBW)
Shots: Hatboro-Horsham 6, Central Bucks West 10
Saves: Mike Mikulski (HH) 4, Lucas Thome (CBW) 2
Corners: Hatboro-Horsham 4, Central Bucks West 6
Fouls: Hatboro-Horsham 9, Central Bucks West 9
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