Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action Monday. UD/Wissahickon photos provided courtesy of Geanine Jamison. Check back for a gallery of photos.
SOL American Conference
HATBORO-HORSHAM 2, ABINGTON 1 (2 OTs)
The parallels were too numerous to ignore.
Entering Monday night’s match, the Hatters and Ghosts had identical 13-2-1 records, identical 10-1-1 SOL American records, had both lost to Upper Dublin in conference play, were one space apart in the District I 4A rankings and had played to a 2-2 draw back on Sept. 19.
So, naturally, the second meeting came down to the team that got the last chance.
Thanks to an attempted cross turned game-winning volley by freshman defender Jake Freedman, the Hatters grabbed the three points and clinched at least a share of their second SOL American title in the last three seasons.
“Both games were very even, the last time they scored late to tie with us,” Hatters coach Kyle McGrath said. “Tonight, it’s 1-1 and both teams scored good goals in regulation so we talked before overtime that it was going to be who wanted it more in the 18-yard boxes. Jake put a good ball into the goalmouth and it went in.”
The draw with Abington was Hatboro-Horsham’s only non-win since falling to Upper Dublin on Sept. 4 in the second game of the season.
Monday’s first half didn’t see an abundance of chances, but both teams competed at a high level as the ball went back and forth down the pitch.
“We knew going into the game who their top guys are,” McGrath said. “Our guys play club against them all the time, they’ve played against them in high school and we know Nevin (Baer) and those guys are all great players so we wanted to make things as difficult as possible. My back four has been playing very well of late and they continued that tonight.”
Nathan Scavo provided the first goal of the match, striking on a breakaway 10 minutes into the second half. The sophomore took off when a defender’s header went the wrong way, racing into space and ripping a shot square into the middle of the net.
The Ghosts responded a few minutes later when midfielder Andrew Kulynin converted a header at the far post off a free kick from senior Nevin Baer.
“Hatboro worked hard, they’re well-coached and we gave them too many chances on throw-ins and restarts where they dumped the ball into the mix and eventually, the ball’s going to go into the back of the net,” Abington coach Randy Garber said. “We gave them too many opportunities and they cashed in, deservingly so. We didn’t have that many chances and gave them way too many chances to score goals.”
Abington lost starting keeper Jalen Harris to an injury with 13 minutes left in the first half but senior Sam Dumas filled in spectacularly. Dumas ended up with six saves, including a pair of incredible stops on a Jake Weiss screamer and an Enrico Romano header on a corner less than two minutes apart late in the second half.
“He came in and played awesome after the injury,” McGrath said of Dumas. “Again, we just talked about keep putting the ball on target and eventually we’re going to find one to go in. He made a couple really nice saves, but fortunately we found one that went in.”
The game-winning goal came from a simple attempt to keep a scoring chance alive. After the Hatters won a free kick, senior co-captain Vince Buccafuri drove a free kick into the box. The ball stayed in play, leading Freedman to run it down in the corner, get in front of it and rip a right-footed effort back toward the frame.
His hit found a good line and dipped under the crossbar to give the Hatters a win before he was swarmed in celebrating teammates.
“Honestly, time kind of froze at the end, I just put it up and didn’t know what was going on,” Freedman said. “Next thing I know, all of my teammates were coming in. It was just a great moment.”
“We were a little disappointed after the first time since we gave up a late goal,” McGrath said. “We knew we had a lot of games between then and the next time we played them, but we always had in the back of our minds that we wanted another crack at Abington.
“We told the guys before overtime – ‘What more could you ask for in a high school soccer game? You’re at home in front of your friends and family and going into overtime with a chance to take over first place in the league.’”
A win or draw on Thursday will hand the Hatters an outright conference championship.
“They understand what’s at stake,” McGrath said. “Thursday is a huge game, this helps us in the district rankings hopefully and solidifies us for a bye. But, our No. 1 goal was to win the league and we’re almost there.
“Everybody on my team has been invested. It’s high school soccer, so not everybody plays but everybody works hard at practice to push each other and it was good to see them have the opportunity to celebrate with their teammates.”
McGrath acknowledged the strong play of his back line – Vince Buccafuri, Caleb Hudson, Jake Weiss and Zach Joachim.
“We didn’t get a shutout, but my back four against the guys that Abington has offensively did an awesome job again,” McGrath said. “To keep Nevin (Baer) off the scoreboard other than his assist and to keep some of those other guys they have offensively kind of in check was very good to see as we get closer to the end of the season.”
Hatboro-Horsham (14-2-1 11-1-1 SOL) visits Plymouth Whitemarsh on Thursday while Abington (13-3-1, 10-2-1) hosts Cheltenham.
Hatboro-Horsham 0-1-1 2
Abington 0-1-0 1
UPPER DUBLIN 4, WISSAHICKON 3 (2 OTs)
The Flying Cardinals celebrated Senior Night with a thrilling victory, surviving a heroic late-game comeback by the Trojans to win in double overtime when Jordan Kahny connected on the game-winner.
“It was definitely an interesting game,” UD coach Andy Meehan said. “It’s always tougher the second time we play Wissahickon – (coach Stuart Malcolm) seems to make the proper adjustments, and no matter what type of season they’re having, they always play hard the second time around.
“We knew that going in, and being our Senior Night, we wanted to be sure we were ready for it. It turns out we got fortunate, and we were able to come on top.”
In a first half that saw Meehan play the majority of the seniors, it was junior Sean Seabrook staking the Cardinals to a 2-0 halftime lead, scoring his first goal 15 minutes into the opening half off a Zach Berman corner. Five minutes later, Seabrook found the net again to make it a 2-0 game.
“Ethan Hill passed it to him, the keeper was out of position, and Sean was able to kick it over his head into the back of the net,” Meehan said.
The Trojans pulled to within one before halftime with a goal from the top of the 18.
“They were able to put it in the top corner,” Meehan said. “It was a very good shot.
The second half, according to Meehan, was back and forth until the Cardinals added a third goal with 12 minutes remaining.
“Chris Kenney had the ball about 20-25 yards out, and he just hit a rocket into the top corner that put us up 3-1,” the Flying Cardinals’ coach said. “This is where it got interesting.
“They were able to get two goals in the last four minutes. They scored one off a corner – we missed a couple of marks and they were able to get a touch on it. They got a PK in the last minute of the game, and they put one away to tie it up.”
Just like that, the two teams were deadlocked and staring at overtime.
“They had a lot of momentum, and needless to say I was not happy with it and neither were (the players),” Meehan said. “It was one of those things – we had the game won, and we just took our foot off the gas pedal. They came like a storm and were able to get two goals very quickly. It’s not something we were expecting to happen, but it did.”
Neither team scored in the first overtime.
“They had some chances, we had some chances,” Meehan said. “We just couldn’t finish.
“Eventually, with four minutes left in double overtime, we had a couple corners in a row, and we were able to put away that last one. It was credited to Jordan Kahny who scored.”
Zach Berman took the corner that set up the game-winner.
“We really needed the win, and they all knew it,” Meehan said. “When we got those corner kicks – we were getting close throughout the game, we were getting good contact off corners.
“Jordan (Kahny) had a couple of near misses. Eventually, the ball was played into the six, and to be honest, I didn’t even see it go in because there were so many people around. I saw everybody start celebrating and knew the game was over.”
Meehan credited the play of several players.
“Oliver Berman played very well in the back – he was leading the back line,” the Cardinals’ coach said. “Chris Kenney had a very good game in the middle. He was able to control the ball through the middle and get some good passes and touches on the ball.
“Jordan Kahny had a really good game getting up and down the sidelines. He was getting double teamed and triple teamed at certain points, and he was able to work his way out of the pressure, and he was doing it the whole game. He was all over the place, and eventually he got the last goal.”
For the Trojans, Jake Slackman scored two goals and Nathan D’Aquanno had one.
Upper Dublin (10-6-1, 9-3-1 SOL) will travel to Springfield Township on Thursday, and Wissahickon (6-10, 6-7) will host Upper Moreland on Thursday.
Wissahickon 2-1-0-1 4
Upper Dublin 1-2-0-0 3
SOL Continental Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 6, QUAKERTOWN 0
Six different players contributed goals, four others handed out assists as the Bucks rolled to the conference win.
The Bucks seized control of this one early, putting four goals on the board in the first half. Finding the back of the net were Alan Zlotin (Ben Danzis assist), Kanishk Nazareth (Zlotin assist), Jimi Leder (Shamus Duffy assist) and Krris Vellayappan (David Roy assist).
Adding their names to the scoring column in the second half were Blake Bensing (Bailey Moyer assist) and Sean Billemeyer (Bensing assist).
West goalkeepers Kirk Ransome and Luke Shank combined for the eighth clean sheet of the season.
Central Bucks West (7-5-4, 5-4-2 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks South, and Quakertown (3-15, 0-12) will host Souderton on Thursday.
Central Bucks West 4-2 6
Quakertown 0-0 0
Non-league
NESHAMINY 1, NORTHEAST 0
Mike Albarran scored on a breakaway with six minutes remaining in regulation, propelling the visiting Redskins to the hard fought non-league win.
“Our keeper punted, and Mike (Albarran) kind of pried it loose on their side and went in on a breakaway and scored,” coach Tom Foley said. “It was the tale of two halves.
“They’re probably one of the best teams we’ve played all year. They move the ball really well, they’re a real technical team. They kind of had us on our heels in the first half. Things broke down for them a little bit when they got to our goal area because we shut them down. We didn’t give them too many clean looks. They had the majority of the play.”
Things changed in the second half.
“We just told them that we had to make a team like that go backward, and they bought into it in the second half,” Foley said. “We created turnovers, and we took the play to them a little bit.
“We started creating opportunities, we started to get fouled around their box – they were fouling us 20 or 30 yards out, so we took the play to them in the second half.
Northeast entered Monday’s game boasting a 10-1-1 record.
“It’s a great win going into this week, it’s a great win setting the table for Thursday, and it’s a great win for the power rating – it’s like a 19-point game,” Foley said.
The Redskins’ coach credited his defense for its performance in the win.
“Our defense – Alex Daeche, Dan Nogueira, Lou Salmi and Ian Siwinski – did a great job, and Cole Jackson did another outstanding job as the defensive midfielder today,” Foley said. “Vince DiMaria came in and gave us some really quality minutes on the right midfielder spot. He brought a lot of energy and shook a lot of balls loose today as well.
“We’re really proud of the group. It was a great win for the team. It was a really solid game. We’re very happy about the win tonight.”
Neshaminy (12-5, 8-3 SOL) will host Pennsbury in a battle for the top spot in the SOL National on Thursday (6 p.m.).
Neshaminy 0-1 1
Northeast 0-0 0
SOUDERTON 7, ARCHBISHOP CARROLL 0
Levi Gross turned a Conor Kellough corner kick into a goal in the 32nd minute. It was a goal that turned out to be the game-winner.
“We haven’t had too many goals from restarts this season, so that was nice to see,” coach Matt Benner said. “Levi headed it in at the back post, and he had just come onto the field off the bench, so it was nice to see him make an immediate impact.”
A minute later Reece DiRenzi found the net with an assist from Jon Padilla. The Indians took that 2-0 lead into halftime.
Michal Chu (Brody Emery assist) scored in the 43rd minute, and five minutes later, Carl Boehm connected with a Matt Groves assist. Groves also set up a goal by Padilla in the 57th minute. Groves- who led a balanced Indian attack with a goal and two assists – scored with a DiRenzi assist, and Brandon Fornwall’s unassisted goal closed out the scoring in a contest that saw seven different players score goals.
Souderton (7-8-2, 3-6-2 SOL) will host Quakertown on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
Souderton 2-5 7
Archbishop Carroll 0-0 0
UPPER MORELAND 4, INTERBORO 1
The Golden Bears opened up a 2-0 halftime lead en route to the convincing non-league win.
“We had a lot of chances, and we actually had a hard time finishing despite scoring four goals,” UM coach Matt Duffey said. “The thing that I was most pleased with is that we were moving the ball well.
“It wasn’t a situation where we were kicking and running the whole game because we were playing against a team that only had one win. We were actually passing and moving the ball really well, so I was happy about that.”
Tyler Holman put the Golden Bears on the scoreboard in the 29th minute, and a minute later, Ivan Salazar found the back of the net to make it a 2-0 game.
Matteo Infante accounted for both second-half goals – the first in the 45th minute and the second to close out the scoring in the 77th minute. Interboro scored its only goal in the 47th minute.
Duffey credited the efforts of several players in the win.
“Probably one of the best efforts today was Matteo, who scored two goals,” the Golden Bears’ coach said. “Joe Kane in the midfield had a very good game, and Michael Soroka and Josh Henderson, our central defenders, played very well.”
Upper Moreland (7-8-1, 4-7-1 SOL) will host Plymouth Whitemarsh on Tuesday.
Interboro 0-1 1
Upper Moreland 2-2 4
SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 4, BISHOP McDEVITT 0
Sparked by goals from four different players, the Spartans rolled to a shutout win of McDevitt in non-league action Monday. Scoring goals for the Spartans were Tommy Bailey, Michael Iller, Leo Castro and Matt Leibfreid.
Springfield Township (6-9, 3-9 SOL) will be on the road at Cheltenham Tuesday.
WEST CHESTER RUSTIN 2, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 0
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