Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action in Thursday’s second round of the District One 4A Tournament.
CLASS 4A
#5 ABINGTON 6, #12 PERKIOMEN VALLEY 0
It had been a week without a game, and the Ghosts – who had a first round bye – were chomping at the bit to return to action. They wasted absolutely no time before seizing control of Wednesday’s second round game, opening up a 3-0 halftime lead on their way to the convincing win.
“The kids were just wired – they were ready to play,” Abington coach Randy Garber said. “After 18 games and three a week, then having literally a whole week off with a bye, they were ready to just play a game, and it showed. One goal was nicer than the next. We had a lot of chances that we missed.
“The kids just worked hard, and the best part of the whole game – I got 30 players in the game, and for me, it was an absolutely wonderful team win because that many people got involved.”
Ten minutes into the game, Luke O’Donnell turned a Thiago Lage assist into the game’s first goal.
“We were pressing, and he found a ball in the box and finished it,” Garber said. “Pat Capone scored the second goal with an assist from Liam Hartman. Both goals were very good goals. Both of them were on the ground and just put in the corner.”
Freshman Brady Hartman scored on the rebound of a goalie save.
“Pat Capone shot, and the goalie saved it, but it caromed out, and Brady Hartman got the rebound and put it in to make it 3-0 at halftime,” Garber said.
A you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it goal by Michael Lyou put the Ghosts on top 4-0.
“He had a goal on the left-hand side on a set piece,” Garber said. “He came running through, and it looked like he was all the way at the end line. It hit the crossbar and hit the far post and went in. I don’t know how it ended up going in. He’s our center back and very rarely scores, but he had a cracker of a goal off a set piece.”
Liam Hartman’s unassisted goal gave the Ghosts a five-goal advantage, and the game’s final goal by Lage was highlight reel material.
“Thiago received the ball near midfield and from midfield beat the whole entire defense and the goalkeeper for the sixth goal and ended up doing a full flip in the air to celebrate,” Garber said. “His goal – everyone just shook their because he ran literally from the other side of the defensive side of the field through the whole entire team.”
The Vikings were coming off a win over Methacton in penalty kicks in Tuesday’s first round.
“Perk Valley played a tough game against Methacton,” Garber said. “That took a lot out of them. They played, had a practice and then played us. That was a tough assignment. We just had one of those games. The coach probably shook his head and said, ‘Today, they were better than us. Tomorrow we could play them and do a lot better.’”
The Ghosts’ coach credited the efforts of several players.
“Drew Paxson was outstanding in the back,” Garber said. “He just was very, very steady. Michael Lyou with the goal – he was just outstanding as a center back as well.
“Kevin (Kretschman) didn’t have a whole lot of work in goal, but the work that he had – he ended up having a shutout.”
Abington (16-2-1, 13-2-1 SOL) will host a familiar opponent – SOL Liberty rival Hatboro-Horsham – in Saturday’s quarterfinal contest. The two teams split the regular season meetings with Abington winning 2-1 early in the season and Hatboro-Horsham winning the rematch 1-0.
“The guys were disappointed – they wanted the fourth seed so we would have two games at home if we got through the first game with Perk Valley,” Garber said. “We thought we’d have to go to Henderson Saturday, and Hatboro goes and upsets Henderson. We’re going to end up playing Hatboro at our place. It’s crazy. You just never know. Hatboro is a very good team.”
Perkiomen Valley 0-0 0
Abington 3-3 6
#7 NORTH PENN 3, #10 HAVERFORD 2
With overtime all but inevitable, the Knights pulled off some late-game heroics when – with 26.5 seconds on the scoreboard clock – Jovani Gonzalez turned a Nate Kim free kick into the game-winner in a dramatic finish.
“Jovani was Johnny on the spot,” North Penn coach Chris DePeppe said. “It was a really well-played match. Both teams wanted to go forward and attack. I thought it cleanly played – hard but clean. I thought the officials were excellent.
“They’re one of the top two or three teams we played this year. I knew they would be a handful, so I give them credit. These postseason games are emotional roller coasters. It’s the fear of termination. We’ve been there, we know what it’s like.”
The game began with two strong teams battling for control.
“We traded blows, and Jimmy Perrin won a ball back deep in their corner – I don’t know how he kept it in on the end line, but he did and managed to fight through another tackle and somehow poked it to Gio (Gonzalez), and Gio did what he usually does and buried it far post,” DePeppe said. “I thought at the time we looked pretty hungry and looked like we were starting to get into the flow of the game, so we tried to keep the attack on, and sure enough within 10 minutes, they scored.”
Shortly after knotting the score, the Fords connected on a go-ahead goal.
“It was a beautiful goal,” DePeppe said. “We started to get stretched a little bit, and they diced us with four or five nice tidy passes right through the midfield. Their midfield was really technical players. Their number 12 – I don’t know his name, but he was tremendous.”
The Fords took that 2-1 lead into halftime.
“I didn’t want to take too many risks, but in the second half, we put some of our big boys up top, so Jovani (Gonzalez), Hunter (Stites) and Alex (Stewart) – we rode on them much of the second half,” DePeppe said. “It was just looking at the clock, looking at the clock – when are we going to make changes? Are we going to push another man up?
“Just as I was about to do it, we got a free kick. Jovani put a good ball in, the keeper – it kind of spilled out and Achilles (Triantafyllos) jumped on it and roofed it to tie the game up. Once we did that, I just kind of felt we were going to get another one. We took control of the match and put a lot of pressure on them.”
The stage was set for Gonzalez’s game-winner.
“He is so composed,” DePeppe said. “In a game that’s very emotional and tense and guys can sometimes lose their heads, he’s a player that just has such great touch and control. He slows the game down, takes control, and it gives confidence to the players around him.
“Nate Kim is the same way. You have to have the balance – you have to have the intensity and composure. The game demands that.”
DePeppe credited his senior leaders for making a huge difference in the game.
“We locked it down and didn’t give up anything in the second half,” the Knights’ coach said.
Comprising the Knights’ stingy defense were Ryan Mindick, Brian Scott, Achilles (Triantafyllos), Jake Myers and goalkeeper Gabe Kemp.
“Jake Myers has been our right back now for several games – he’s a midfielder/right back, and he’s been doing a great job,” DePeppe said.
North Penn (15-4, 13-3 SOL) will travel to #2 Lower Merion for a quarterfinal contest on Saturday. The aces defeated Souderton 6-0.
“I know how good Souderton is, so I have slight trepidation, but with this group, they have a lot of belief, guys who have done it before, so we will take on all comers,” DePeppe said. “I know they’ll be a handful, but you have to beat the best to get there.”
Haverford 1-1 2
North Penn 2-1 3
#8 PENNRIDGE 3, #9 WEST CHESTER RUSTIN 0
Jake Saville had a role in 23 goals during the regular season. The senior captain was the Rams’ leading scorer with 13 goals, and he added to that total on Thursday, connecting for a hat trick to lead the Rams over the ninth-seeded Golden Knights.
“Rustin played a nice game,” Pennridge coach Pete Valiimont said. “It got a little heated here and there at spots, but it’s a district playoff game – you lose, and your season’s done.
Saville put the Rams on the scoreboard 14 minutes into the contest, and with 10 minutes remaining in the first half, the senior captain connected for his second goal.
“Shane Valez took a ball from end to end – just an unbelievably talented and skilled display of dribbling – and then found Jake,” Valimont said. “Jake did the rest and just buried it. It was fantastic, a great connection.”
The Rams took that 2-0 lead into halftime and added to it with a goal just over 12 minutes into the second half.
“We had a restart, and Jake just hit a ball into the back of the net from 25-30 out, a complete rip,” Valimont said. “And there was many more great chances. We left a lot out there.
“At the end of the day, we got all our seniors in a second round district playoff game. Our guys came out – no injuries, juiced up, a great effort all around.”
Pennridge keeper CJ Dimmick recorded his 10th clean sheet.
“I will give 1,000 percent hats off to our goalkeeper tonight,” Valimont said. “CJ Dimmick was absolutely fantastic.
“He made a couple of break-away, point-blank saves – I don’t know any other goalie right now that would make those saves. There was about a 15-minute spell in the second half where they had a couple of back-to-back corners, a couple of restarts. We just couldn’t get the ball out, and CJ came up absolutely huge.
“Hats off to all. Jake (Saville) had his game, Shane (Velez) had his, CJ (Dimmick) had his, and the rest of our guys just played their butts off. They really did.”
Pennridge (14-2-3, 11-2-3 SOL) will travel to top-seeded Conestoga for Saturday’s quarterfinal contest.
“I know their coaching staff – they’re fantastic,” Valimont said. “One of their assistants is a really good friend of mine. They have seen us play, we have seen them play. We actually sent guys down to one of their earlier games just to be safe.
“It’s an 80-minute game. No one is going to expect us to come out of there with a win. Every referee I’ve talked to has said that all the talk is real and they’re legit. They’re absolutely fantastic. We’re going to do our best, we’re going to plan and do everything we can in the next 24 hours to be ready, and we’ll see what happens.”
West Chester Rustin 0-0 0
Pennridge 2-1 3
#13 HATBORO-HORSHAM 2, #4 WEST CHESTER HENDERSON 1
The visiting Hatters were unfazed by the Warriors impressive resume, opening up a 2-0 lead and holding on for the win to earn their first trip to the district quarterfinals since 2007.
“Obviously, we knew going into the game that they were going to be a very good side,” HH coach Kyle McGrath said. “We had scrimmaged them back in August, but that’s a long time ago. They won the Ches-Mont League, and I know Dom (Poplozio), the head coach, very well. We knew it was going to be a tough game.”
The Hatters struck first in the 23rd minute when Jack Elwell scored an unassisted goal.
“It started out back and forth, a pretty open game, which doesn’t really suit our style of play,” McGrath said. “My goalkeeper had a ball – since he doesn’t punt, he throws it. It kind of bounced around and fell to their center back.
“My forward, Jack Elwell, went to pressure him and was able to pressure him into a mistake. He stole the ball, took a touch kind of sideways to get a better angle and crushed it past the goalkeeper from the top of the box.”
The Hatters took that 1-0 lead into halftime and added to it in the 50th minute on a goal by Caleb Hudson on a perfectly placed corner kick by Tommy Harmon.
“We started the second half well,” McGrath said. “We didn’t want to just sit back and defend for 40 minutes because the guys that they have are very good offensively.
“We were able to go on a little foray into their end of the box. We thought we earned a penalty kick. Nick Katherine got fouled pretty obviously we thought, but there was no call. The call went for a corner kick. It was our third or fourth corner of the night, and the previous two corner kicks Tommy Harmon played it right in, and it was always right to the goalkeeper, who’s a very big kid for Henderson and very good controlling the box.
“So, I told him – you can’t go to the goalie, you can’t go to the goalie. He played a beautiful ball in. Caleb Hudson was up from center back, just a perfectly timed run, a head ball right into the goal to give us a 2-0 lead in the 50th minute.”
The Warriors cut that lead in half with a goal in the 72nd minute.
“They had a throw in – they have a kid who can throw the ball almost to the back post, and they flicked it on, and we lost the mark and he finished it,” McGrath said. “Then it was a frantic final eight minutes.
“Even when it was 2-0, they were obviously throwing numbers forward. They had a really good opportunity, and Noah (Schlosser) made an outstanding diving save from 22 yards out. He was full stretched, pushed it around the bar on a half breakaway to keep the score 2-0. It was a real, real good save at that point in the game.”
Schlosser had eight saves in a standout effort in goal.
The Hatters’ coach was understandably pleased with his team’s performance.
“My guys – Jacob Kim, my center back, Caleb Hudson, Tommy Shegogue and Paul Guevara were outstanding to lock down and see the game out,” McGrath said. “Ryan Toporowski and Jack Freedman also played great tonight in the center midfield against their talented attacking mid.”
Hatboro-Horsham (14-6, 11-5 SOL) will travel to Abington for Saturday’s quarterfinal. The two teams split their two regular season games with the Ghosts winning the initial meeting (2-1) and the Hatters exacting revenge with a win in the rematch (1-0). The winner of Saturday’s rubber game will earn a state tournament berth.
“We talked at the beginning of the season and then more recently at the beginning of the week – we were disappointed with how our regular season went,” McGrath said. “We told the guys – ‘Like everyone else, if you win three games this week, you have an opportunity to make the state tournament,’ which we haven’t done as a program, so we’re one game away from that. We know it’s going to be a heck of a game on Saturday against Abington.
“We obviously know them well, they know us well. Since the Suburban One League realigned, either us or them have won the league since they’ve been in the division. We’ve gone in every year knowing they’re going to be tough competition. It’s going to be a matter of who comes out on top on Saturday in a very important game.”
Hatboro-Horsham 1-1 2
West Chester Henderson 0-1 1
#19 COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 3, DOWNINGTOWN WEST 2
The Golden Hawks played the role of giant killer, making the trek to Downingtown and stunning the tournament’s third seed. The impressive win – which sent the third-seeded Whippets home for the season – came on the heels of pulling off a mini upset in Tuesday’s opening round when they defeated 14th-seeded Spring-Ford.
“I’m immensely proud of the boys tonight,” Rock South coach Alan Nicholl said. “They epitomize what a ‘team’ should be. Their work ethic, togetherness, heart and willingness to sacrifice for one another got the win tonight.”
The visiting Hawks threw a scare into the Whippets with a Ronan Harding goal (Josh Nikolevski assist) 11 seconds into the contest.
“Downingtown’s first touch was the goalie taking the ball out of the back of his net,” Nicholl said.
Five minutes later, the Whippets knotted the score, and they took a 2-1 lead with a goal midway through the first half. The Golden Hawks were not deterred, knotting the score with four minutes remaining in the half on a goal by Cooper Walters with a Frankie Rafferty assists. The goal, according to Nicholl, came on a keeper miscue.
“It was a very fast paced opening half, and I think we struggled early on with the big field,” Nicholl said. “Downingtown knocked it around well. They have a couple of very good ball handlers and are dangerous coming forward.
“We talked about the big field, made some adjustments to keep our shape and our lines tight, and we were more in it to start the second half.”
The Golden Hawks scored a goal that held for the game-winner with 18 minutes remaining in regulation when Sepan Kovalev scored on a corner kick with an assist from Josh Nikolevski. That 3-2 Rock South lead held up until the final whistle.
“It was a frantic finish, but we worked our tails off tonight and kept our composure to see the game out,” Nicholl said.
The Golden Hawks’ coach had nothing but good things to say about his team’s effort.
“Josh Nikolevski, Stepan Kovalev and Jackie Rafferty deserve a holiday after that industrious performance,” Nicholl said. “The defense – (Isaac) Burenga, (Lex) Lenoir and the Cohen brothers (Shane & Garrett) were tested by a very potent West offense and deserve every bit of the man-of-the-match award for this one.”
Council Rock South (14-5-1, 10-5-1 SOL) will travel to #6 Boyertown for a quarterfinal game on Saturday. The Bears defeated Plymouth Whitemarsh 4-2 in penalty kicks after the two teams battled to a scoreless tie after regulation and a pair of overtimes.
Council Rock South 2-1 3
Downingtown West 2-0 2
#6 BOYERTOWN 0, #22 PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 0 (2 OTs) (4-2 PKs)
The visiting Colonials turned in a stellar defensive outing, holding the favored Bears off the scoreboard for 110 minutes, but unfortunately, they weren’t able to find the back of the net either, and in the end, it come down to penalty kicks where the Bears held a 4-2 edge.
“Our guys really gave it everything they had – I’m incredibly proud of each and every one of them,” said coach Rich Kessler, whose team connected on its first two PKs and the next two hit the crossbar.”
As for the game itself, it could have gone either way as both teams had their opportunities.
“It was the type of game where anyone could take control of the game at any moment, but neither team was able to,” Kessler said. “The game was very uneventful and very evenly matched throughout the game.
“Both teams had a lot of great chances to score, both defenses constantly turned the other team away, and both goalies had to make some amazing saves to keep the game tied. Penalty kicks are a cruel way to end a season, but our boys should hold their heads high after battling the way they did.”
The Colonials’ coach praised the standout efforts of several players.
“Our goalie, Dan Small, was great, and our senior captain and center back Dean Allen was a rock in the back,” Kessler said. “Center mids Henry Couchara and Connor McBride played great.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh closed out its year with an 11-8 record (10-6 SOL) after compiling an 8-18-1 record over the preceding two years which included a 3-7 COVID-shortened season.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0-0-0-0 0 (2 PKs)
Boyertown 0-0-0-0 0 (4 PKs)
#2 LOWER MERION 6, #18 SOUDERTON 0
Lower Merion had proven it could score goals in bunches over the course of an outstanding regular season, scoring 77 goals and averaging over four goals a game on their way to a 16-1-1 record.
The Aces put a pair of goals on the scoreboard in the first half and then erupted for four more in the second half.
“Obviously not the way we envisioned our season ending today, but we have a lot to be proud of,” Souderton coach Matt Benner said. “We are saying goodbye to a great group of seniors.
“They did some great things for the program and gave our upcoming classes a lot to build upon. We look forward to working hard in the offseason to go further next year. And hats off to Lower Merion. They are an outstanding side, and they showed that today.”
Souderton closed out its season with an 11-6-3 record. The Indians were 8-5-3 in SOL play.
Souderton 0-0 0
Lower Merion 2-4 6
CONESTOGA 5, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 0
The Pioneers – ranked seventh nationally in the United Soccer Poll – led by just a 1-0 to score at halftime but then used a four-goal second half explosion to blow the game wide open.
“The boys had a great year and played very well the first half,” East coach Josh Isaacsohn said. “Our keeper, Casey Prajzner, was simply amazing and held us in the game.
“Conestoga has a simply unbelievable team in every aspect of the game and opened it up in the second half. This game aside, I am so very proud of our team and particularly our seniors who were amazing on the field and even better young men off of it.”
Central Bucks East closed out its season with an 11-6-3 record (9-4-3 SOL).
Central Bucks East 0-0 0
Conestoga 1-4 5
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