Wissahickon and CB East advanced to Thursday’s District One AAA semifinals. To view photos of the CB East/Plymouth Whitemarsh and Wissahickon/Conestoga matches, please visit the Photo Gallery.
#4 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 2, #5 PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 1 (OT)
With 7:20 remaining in overtime of Tuesday’s riveting quarterfinal, Evan Vare came out nowhere to work his magic, beating every defender in his path and then slipping a shot past the keeper for the game winner.
“I think we just got that quick counterattack,” Vare said. “They got the better of the play in overtime, but we just kept fighting. We knew it would come, and it actually did.”
It was Vare’s second overtime game winner in as many postseason games, and once again, the Patriots celebrated.
But one team’s joy is another team’s heartbreak, and for the 17 seniors who have elevated PW’s program to new heights, it marked the end of an unforgettable postseason that had captured the imagination of the entire school community.
“I told them I had absolutely nothing planned because I didn’t anticipate this,” PW coach Devon Landgraff said. “I look at a group of 17 seniors, and I told them, ‘This should be a celebration. The tears you all have right now – it’s a celebration of everything you’ve done. They’re tears of joy because you guys care so much. You’ve done so much, you’ve put so much in – for the community, for the student body, for the teachers.
“It’s evident with the support we had here. I felt like we had more fans than they did. I just feel like these young men have really stepped up as role models in our community. I’m so proud of them.”
The Colonials certainly made a believer out of coach Mike Gorni.
“Anyone who doesn’t give credit to PW is just crazy,” the Patriots’ coach said. “They’re as good a team as we’ve seen all year.
“We scouted them, we know they were great on restarts, but they’re really good from the field. They’re extremely technical. It was a very even game.”
Vare also tipped his hat to the Colonials.
“First of all, Plymouth Whitemarsh is a (heck) of a team,” he said. “They fought to the end. They could have won, but we happened to get on top.
“We just knew they were bigger and more physical than us, and they had really good restarts, so we had to be disciplined on those restarts defending them, but we knew that our offense could take it to them, and we did.”
The Colonials got on the scoreboard in the 19th minute on a goal by Alex Bilodeau. Eight minutes later, Vare got that goal back, using a Brian Gilligan assist.
“I got the ball, and I gave it to Brian Gilligan,” Vare said. “Brian Gilligan deserves more credit than he would actually get because he put a nice ball in.”
“What a brilliant ball,” Gorni said of Gilligan’s pass. “It had to slice perfectly between two guys, Evan taking it off his chest, and that’s such a precision pass, and then Evan just stealing a ball and beating three guys and going to goal (for the game winner) – that’s what a star player does, and he’s been real good in everything.”
The Colonials closed out their season with an 18-3 record (13-1 SOL).
“We’ve developed a family atmosphere here, and it’s absolutely been a fun ride,” Landgraff said. “They’ve just paved the way for the younger players to step up.
“The next time we’re in this it won’t be a shock. Each year, we keep building. Alex Bilodeau is our top guy, and he does it all. He’s been on the varsity since he’s a freshman. I kind of feel like we’re there. We’re not trying to build it anymore. We’re there – they did it. Seventeen seniors and they have done it. Mission accomplished. It’s a culture, it’s a tradition, and I’m just proud of them for all their hard work and efforts.”
For the Patriots (18-2, 13-1), who will face top-seeded Unionville in Thursday’s semifinal round, the win locked down their seventh trip to states in the last eight years.
“This is a difficult one because you almost just want to look at them and praise them,” Gorni said. “They’re so young, but they’re not playing like they’re young. They’re playing with a lot of purpose. What great goals tonight.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 1-0-0 1
Central Bucks East 1-0-1 2
#3 WISSAHICKON 2, #6 WEST CHESTER HENDERSON 2 (3-2 PKs)
Stuart Malcolm admits he couldn’t watch when – for the third time in as many years – his team’s district game went to penalty kicks.
“I have been through this too many times, and the last couple of times it didn’t turn out too good, so let the boys do it, let them take care of it, and we’ll go from there,” said the Trojans’ coach. “I felt bad for our seniors last year. They went out in penalty kicks their junior and senior years, and they hadn’t conceded a goal in either of those games.
“They were tied 0-0 with CB East and lost 11-10 in penalty kicks, and last year, they were tie 0-0 with Great Valley and lost (5-4).”
While he couldn’t watch, opting to sit on the bench instead, Malcolm could at least appreciate the outcome that saw his team edge the Warriors 3-2.
“It was a crazy shootout because both teams scored the first two so it was 2-2,” Malcolm said. “Between the two teams, the next six were missed.
“Five of the six were saved by the goalkeepers – only one missed the target. They were pretty impressive.”
With the two teams deadlocked after the first set of five PKs, the stage was set for sudden death. Devin Memis took the sixth kick.
“I talked to his dad after the game, and he said, ‘I knew the way he walked up that he was just itching to take the kick,’” Malcolm said. “He knew he was going to score, and he put it in.”
Trojan goalie John Carrozza came up with the stop on the ensuing kick to preserve the win, and the Trojans are bound for the state tournament for the first time since 2003. Carrozza stopped three of the last four shots he faced – the fourth was not on goal.
Earlier, Tom McHale turned a Ryan Becker pass into a goal that gave the Trojans a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute.
“We got off to a great start,” Malcolm said. “They were a good team. They were well organized, they knocked the ball around really well.
“They started to take control of things. We started to change our formation around – we were just trying to get back into it because the first 15-20 minutes we did pretty well. It wasn’t working, but we managed to get to halftime and sat down and said, ‘This is what we need to do.’
“They came out the second half and were knocking the ball around, but we managed to make some adjustments to stop the flow they’d had, and we got a second goal by Cole (Kropnick).”
Kropnick turned a Becker assist into a goal in the 53rd minute to put the Trojans on top 2-0.
“We thought he was seriously injured because he was laying down on the turf for literally three minutes,” Malcolm said. “He was cramped up, and we had to take him off at that point, and that’s when it all started.”
Kropnick re-entered the game again, this time a defensive role, but the Warriors had momentum. Richie Schlentz scored in the 64th minute, and 12 minutes later, Aiden McFadden scored the equalizer. That tie stood through two 15-minute overtime periods, and the stage was set for penalty kicks.
Sam Hunt and Alex Escude connected on back-to-back PK’s, but the Trojans did not find the net again until Memis delivered the game winner, setting off a jubilant celebration on the Trojans’ home field.
“I was talking to my students today – I’m not a rah, rah type of person to promote things, but I said – if you get a chance to come to the game tonight, it’s a really nice evening, and it’s a real neat experience,” Malcolm said. “Those who came saw a shootout. I’m sure they were excited to witness it and even more thrilled to be able to run onto the field at the end of the game to enjoy the end of it, but it’s tough for both teams.
“At that point, you sit on the bench, you roll the dice, and you hope you come out on the right side. We practice them everyday since we knew we were in playoffs. Every day we have penalty kicks. We have to practice a bit more.”
Tuesday’s game was the Trojans’ first trip to the quarterfinals since 2010, which resulted in a 4-1 loss to Pennsbury that Malcolm lists as one of his toughest.
“We were the number one seed, and we had never been the number one seed,” the Trojans’ coach said. “We lost 4-1, and it looked like it was a demolition. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
“I always say to the kids, ‘Rightly or wrongly, it’s up to you to put out there on the field. We’ll put you in a position, we hope, to tactically be as effective as you can. When you walk off the field and play as hard as you can, that’s all you can do.’ That’s the way it was tonight. It was our night. The ball bounced our way at the right time, and we got the win.”
The Trojans won despite turning in a performance that Malcolm said was not one of his team’s better games.
“Tom McHale had a great impact in terms of the goal, and he had a tough assignment on one of their best players,” the Trojans’ coach said. “For the most part, he did a nice job with that.
“The others were just moving all over the place trying to make things happen. In the end, we did what we had to do, and we got through.”
The third-seeded Trojans (18-2, 12-2 SOL) will face 15th-seeded Great Valley in a semifinal game on Thursday.
“I always say – I want to justify the seed,” Malcolm said. “If we were the 12 seed, I want to play in the 12 versus five game. If we won, that was great, but if we didn’t, we managed to get to the point everyone thought we should get to.
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow – you justified your seed. From here, enjoy everything that happens. They have two opportunities to do things we have never done. We have never gotten to the district final, and we have never won a state game. We have two opportunities to try and resolve that. We’ll see. It’s exciting to still be playing at this point.”
West Chester Henderson 0-2-0-0 2
Wissahickon 1-1-0-0
Class AA
#1 HOLY GHOST PREP 1, #4 SPRINGFIELD (MONTCO) 0
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