Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action Monday. William Tennent/New Hope-Solebury photos provided courtesy of Karla Donohoe. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f131331739 (Neshaminy/CR North photos courtesy of Trish Sexton/Neshaminy soccer)
SOL Patriot Division
Council Rock North 2, Neshaminy 1
Dom Czachor scored off a corner kick from Jack Randolph with 15 minutes remaining in regulation as CR North wrapped up sole possession of the SOL Patriot championship with the 2-1 win over Neshaminy at home Monday night.
“We possessed the ball in their half of the field probably 80 percent of the time,” said Indians assistant coach Brian Hoffman. “They had a back-up keeper – freshman Dylan Cloud – who played outstanding. He must have made 15-20 saves, and a handful of them were rather spectacular. Their starting goaltender has a concussion, so I guess they pulled this kid off the waiver wire. He played really outstanding.”
CR North jumped up 1-0 midway through the first half, as Zayd Najimi scored off an assist from Ari Pollack.
Neshaminy came back and tied it on a penalty kick by AJ Kollie.
But the Indians sealed the win with Czachor’s goal.
“They’re stronger than we are so they win a lot of balls,” said Neshaminy coach Tom Foley. “They were coming at us, and Dylan did a nice job. And our defenders kept them outside where they at least gave him a chance.
“Their first goal, we passed it to their guy and Dylan didn’t have much of a chance. Their second goal was on a corner and their guy headed it right under the crossbar. It was a nice goal.”
Hoffmann acknowledged the strong efforts of several players in the win.
“Jack Randolph played a great game, and Dom Czachor played outstanding in the back as well as
scoring on the corner kick,” Hoffman said. “He just made a lot of great tackles, a lot of good head balls, cut off a lot of passes that – if they’d gotten through – would have been dangerous.”
For Neshaminy, there were a lot of positive signs even in defeat, including Cloud’s 14-save effort that seemed like a lot more to the Indians.
“Dylan obviously played very well,” Foley said of his freshman goalkeeper. “We had freshman Connor Choi play in the back, and he played well.
“We brought a freshman up from the JV, Mike Kovarik, and he hustled a lot tonight. He ran down a lot of balls that got stuck in. I thought they did a really nice job for us. Overall, we played five freshmen and four sophomores tonight, so we got a little glimpse of our future if they keep developing, and I think they can.
“Overall, I was happy with the effort. It was a hard-fought game against the league champs, so that’s a good thing for our guys, and hopefully, they can get a little confidence from it.”
CR North (11-2-2, 10-2-2 SOL) wraps up its regular season with a home game against Pennsbury on Wednesday. The Indians sit at No.12 in the district power rankings.
Neshaminy (3-13-1, 2-12-1 SOL) hosts Bensalem on Wednesday.
Neshaminy 0 1 – 1
CR North 1 1 – 2
Council Rock South 3, Pennsbury 0
George Simon and Frankie Rafferty were quite a pair for the Golden Hawks, who went on the road and blanked Pennsbury on Monday.
“We played well tonight, especially against a spirited Pennsbury squad on their Senior Night,” said CR South coach Alan Nicholl. “We were organized and disciplined in the back with George O’Brien and (goalkeeper) Evan Zawodniak keeping Pennsbury off the board.
“This was an important win with playoffs looming next week, so we needed to make sure we were in stride and taking our chances when they came. I told the kids at half that keeping the clean sheet was the priority, and we did just that.”
Simon scored two goals in the first half, both off of Rafferty assists.
Rafferty scored late in the game, off a Simon assist.
CR South (10-4-2, 9-4-2 SOL) closes its league schedule Wednesday against Harry S. Truman. The Golden Hawks currently sit in the No. 17 position in the district power rankings.
Pennsbury (4-10-3, 4-8-3 SOL) plays at division champ CR North on Wednesday.
CR South 2 1 – 3
Pennsbury 0 0 – 0
Bensalem 1, Harry S Truman 0
A red hot Bensalem squad scored one minute into the second half, and that goal held up as it is now 2-0-2 in its last four games heading into Wednesday’s regular-season finale.
“It was a really exciting game, a really good environment,” said Owls coach Kevin Bock, whose team honored its 11 seniors on Senior Night Monday. “I thought we had a ton of opportunities in the first half. Their goalie played outstanding. He had a really good game, made quite a few really good saves.”
The Owls finally broke through with a Christian Lee goal, off an assist from Tejas Sasan.
“It was back and forth after that,” Bock said. “We had a lot of shots, they hit the crossbar on one, we hit the crossbar on one. It ended 1-0, but it was a pretty exciting game.”
Bock credited the strong showing of Matt Wheaton.
“He had a really good game,” the Owls’ coach said. a ton of shots but was just kind of unlucky.”
Keeper Zach Letchner recorded the shutout in goal.
Bensalem (5-8-2, 5-8-2 SOL) has a nonleague game Tuesday at home against Holy Ghost Prep.
Truman (1-15, 1-14 SOL) plays its league finale Wednesday at CR South.
Truman 0 0 – 0
Bensalem 0 1 – 1
SOL Colonial Division
Central Bucks East 2, Souderton 1
CB East wrapped up the SOL Colonial Division last week. After Monday’s win over Souderton, the Patriots are one game away from an unbeaten league season as well as a high seed for the upcoming District One Class 4A Tournament.
Monday, they jumped up 2-0 and held on for the win over the Indians.
“Credit to Frank (Demas) and the Souderton guys,” said CB East coach Josh Isaacsohn. “They really came out hard. You could tell what their game plan was. They knocked it around and tried to go long. They did a nice organized job, and they worked really hard.
“We got a good amount of guys in. All around we probably could have been a little bit better. This was another game where we maybe weren’t at our best, but these guys on this team just seem to find a way to win, and I’m extremely proud of them.”
Daniel Frye gave the Patriots the 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute, off the assist from Jeremy Salazar.
“Jeremy did a great job running the ball down before it went out of bounds, got a cross in and Dan Frye finished it,” Isaacsohn said.
The Patriots took that 1-0 lead into halftime.
“The second half was even for about the first 20 minutes,” Isaacsohn said. “A little bit their way, a little bit our way. Eventually, a couple of favorable bounces, and Joey Roth just had a beautiful play where he took the ball almost from midfield. He ran down and ended up burying the ball just kind of one-on-one with the goalie and had a really nice finish with 11 1/2 left.”
Souderton’s Zach Vaszily scored with five minutes to go to get it a little closer, but the Patriots were able to put the game away.
“It was kind of an unfortunate bounce, but they had a couple of nice passes, slotted the ball through and finished it, so credit to them for that,” Isaacsohn said.
“I thought we had a great number of corner kicks that we probably should have buried a couple more. I think we were in double-digit corner kicks. It’s something as the playoffs approach – we need to fine tune a little bit, but again, credit to Souderton.”
Vaszily scored Souderton’s goal off an assist from Liam Shaw.
“Every Souderton player put in a great shift tonight,” said Indians coach Fred Demas. “East is, I think, the strongest team in our league, and we played them really well tonight. We battled for every ball and were dangerous on transition”
“They had more of the first half play, but we came out hard that second half created some good chances. East is a great team and well coached. I’m sure they will go far.”
CB East (15-1, 15-0 SOL) wraps up its league schedule Wednesday at home against North Penn. It currently sits in the No. 5 position in the District One power rankings for the upcoming 28-team district playoffs.
Souderton (6-9-1, 5-9-1 SOL) hosts CB West in its final league game on Wednesday. Unofficially, the Indians are clinging to the No. 28 spot on the district playoff bubble.
Souderton 0 1 – 1
CB East 1 1 – 2
Central Bucks South 1, North Penn 1 (2 OT)
CB South trailed for most of the night but scored with five minutes remaining to tie it up, and that’s where the final score stood as the Colonial Division rivals were forced to settle for the 1-1 tie on Monday night.
“It was a very ugly but exciting game of soccer,” said Titans coach Kyle Pettican. “Game started off normal, but when North Penn managed to get one halfway through the first half, they went defensive. A lot of the time from then on it became a very direct and physical game.
“I give North Penn a lot of credit in how they defend. They defend as a unit, everyone behind the ball, and it’s basically a wall inside the box.”
North Penn got things started with a goal by junior Shafiq Henaidy, assisted by Bruno Brnardic.
“Ian Balisalisa made the play happen when he stripped the ball at midfield and led the break,” said Knights coach Chris DePeppe. “We connected three quick passes and got around the left corner and Shafiq finished a low cross.”
North Penn maintained its lead until South’s late goal by Anthony Bice.
“After constant balls in the box, we finally knocked one in from Anthony Bice with five minutes to go,” Pettican said. “We went to overtime, where both teams had their chances, but nothing came of it.
“North Penn had one nice hit from about 25 out, but Patrick VanLuvanee said ‘no’ with a fantastic acrobatic save.”
CB South (12-3-1, 10-3-1 SOL) has its final league game Wednesday at Pennridge. The Titans sit at No. 13 in the district power rankings.
North Penn (7-5-4, 6-4-4 SOL) plays at CB East Wednesday. The Knights are No. 21 in the power rankings.
CB South 0 1 0 0 – 1
North Penn 1 0 0 0 – 1
Central Bucks West 3, Pennridge 1
Despite a slow start, CB West turned it on and snapped a three-game losing streak with a solid win at home on Monday.
“First, a lot of credit has to go to Pennridge and the job that Aaron (Rapsinski is) doing,” said Bucks coach John Adair.”He’s got those kids competing for the full 80 minutes and always believing that they can get a result.
“For us, it was a tale of two completely different halves. After a couple of results that didn’t go our way, I think we tried too hard to win the game in the first ten minutes rather than focusing on establishing some control and settling into the game. The first 15-20 minutes were probably as bad as we’ve played and 
didn’t resemble the brand of soccer we play.
“It did gradually get better and for that I have to credit our bench. We’ve got at least two guys in every position that can play minutes with little to no drop off. Chris Hannon, Michael Rafalowski, and Brandon Terry came in during the first half, and while we weren’t able to find the goal, they helped us get back on the front foot.”
Jason Lee broke the scoreless tie for the Bucks early in the second half, and the team turned it on from there.
“From the opening whistle of the second half, we were up for it,” Adair said. “Jason Lee got on the end of another set piece for the second game in a row. We’ve always believed in his talent, and I thought the second half was as good as he’s been all season.”
Joey Dowd followed with back-to-back goals for the Bucks.
“Joey Dowd is always a handful for opposing defenders, but the improvement in his game that he probably doesn’t get enough credit for is his ability to link up play and pick a pass,” Adair said. “Even when he hasn’t scored, his all-around game is so improved from when we first started working with him and he’s been a huge player for us.
“And while the goal scorers tend to get all of the recognition, the strength of our team is in midfield. With guys like Harrison Brownlow, Cole Barrett, and Michael Panno, we feel like we can use the ball to create chances against anyone. Those guys are so, so good for us game in and game out.
“It may have not been the complete performance we were hoping for, but I’m really proud of the response of our guys tonight and already looking forward to Wednesday night.”
CB West (9-8, 9-6 SOL) plays at Souderton in its final SOL game on Wednesday night. It currently sits unofficially at No. 22 in the district power rankings.
Pennridge (5-11-1, 4-10-1 SOL) hosts CB South on Wednesday.
Pennridge 0 1 – 1
CB West 0 3 – 3
SOL Liberty Division
Abington 4, Wissahickon 1
It was Senior Night and Abington celebrated its 12 seniors in style, clinching at least a share of the Liberty Division title with the convincing win over Abington Monday.
“We have one more game against Quakertown on Wednesday, and if we beat them, this senior group has won four championships,” said Galloping Ghosts coach Randy Garber. “It’s just a great bunch of guys. They’ve won it since they were freshmen, and that’s pretty special.
“Our league, when you meet teams like Upper Dublin and Springfield, you’re playing good teams.”
Abington jumped ahead with two goals in the first half.
Oscar Hoffman scored off a Braeden Brownholtz assist 20 minutes into the game.
Brady Hartman made it 2-0, with an assist from Braeden Delgado.
Delgado scored an unassisted goal 10 minutes into the second half, and then Bryan O’Neill scored with an assist from Hartman to make it a 4-0 game before the Trojans scored a late goal.
“Oscar Hoffman ever since he came back from his shoulder injury is scoring goals left and right up top,” Garber said. “Jose Rosario-Martinez playing in the back, it was another great outing by him as far as the defense goes. He did a nice job.
“(Braeden) Brownholtz in the middle of the park did a nice job, and Braeden Delgado is scoring goals as well. Our seniors are pretty much the foundation of our team, but we have a good underclass group of guys that work extremely hard and do a nice job.”
Abington (15-2, 14-1 SOL) plays at Quakertown Wednesday afternoon. The Ghosts sit at No. 6 in the District One Class 4A power ratings.
Wissahickon (6-11, 5-10 SOL) plays at Plymouth Whitemarsh in its final league game Wednesday.
Wissahickon 0 1 – 1
Abington 2 2 – 4
Upper Dublin 2, Plymouth Whitemarsh 0
Yuvraj Lidder and Reilly McLaughlin each scored a goal to spot the Cardinals a 2-0 halftime lead as UD followed up on its big win over Abington last week with another shutout win Monday.
The Flying Cardinals honored their 11 seniors on Senior Night.
“It was a great team effort and a great team win today,” said Cardinals coach Noah Johnson. “It’s definitely something special always when you get to end Senior Night with a win.
“For me, the win would go to the seniors. I appreciate everything they do for our program, not only showing up and doing what they’re supposed to do but also making sure that the younger guys are doing all the right things as well, so not only being all-star athletes on the field and all-star athletes in the classroom but making sure that the guys around them are also growing on and off the field as well.
“Thank you so much, seniors, I love you, and I really appreciate everything you guys have done and continue to keep doing for us. It’s going to be another emotional year for me because I was lucky enough and blessed enough to be a part of these guys’ lives for the past three years I’ve been coaching. A lot of them I’ve known since they were in sixth and seventh grade. I’m definitely going to miss these guys when they leave.
“I hope that this year we can do something big, not only for the school but for the group of guys I started my career with. I hope they continue to keep growing on and off the field. I wish them the best of luck in their next adventures in life, whatever they decide to do.”
Brady Hillman and Campbell Heckler had assists for UD as well with Hillman assisting on Lidder’s goal and Heckler providing the helper on McLaughlin’s score.
Johnson lauded the strong showings of a pair of seniors.
“The biggest moments of the game would be for Carlos Cortez,” the UD coach said. “He had an awesome game, and Mason Gorman, as well, had an awesome game.”
UD (14-2, 13-2 SOL) plays at Hatboro-Horsham Wednesday in its league finale. It holds the No. 8 spot in the District One power rankings.
PW (7-10, 7-8 SOL) sits just outside the 28-team district playoff bubble in the No. 29 spot. It hosts Wissahickon in an important game on Wednesday.
PW 0 0 – 0
UD 2 0 – 2
Hatboro-Horsham 3, Quakertown 2
The Hatters celebrated Senior Night with a hard-fought win over the visiting Panthers.
“We started all of our seniors, which sometimes is obviously tricky, but they did great,” Hatters’ coach Kyle McGrath said. “They all played well while they were in there. Any time you can get a win on Senior Night is a good thing.”
Twice, Quakertown built leads, only to see the Hatters battle back.
Five minutes after the Panthers’ first goal, Anthony Pumilia scored for the Hatters.
“Anthony Pumilia stole the ball as they were trying to play out of the back and was able to beat the goalkeeper near the post to tie the game five minutes after they scored,” McGrath said.
In the 43rd minute, Quakertown retook the lead off a restart, but it then took H-H only 25 seconds to answer with a goal of its own.
“We were able to come back down pretty much after we tapped off,” McGrath said. “Logan Clayton played a ball in to Logan Gisondi, who cut back and was able to slot the ball past the goalkeeper to tie the game pretty quickly.”
Gisondi’s second goal, just four minutes later, proved to be the game winner.
“A ball came in to Anthony Pumilia from Aidan Morrison, and Ant was able to slip the ball over top of the defender, and Logan got on the end of it to finish it past the goalkeeper to give us the lead,” McGrath said.
“Both teams had chances the rest of the game. Their goalkeeper made some good saves, our goalkeeper made some good saves. It was a pretty good back and forth game overall.”
The Hatters’ coach lauded the efforts of several seniors.
“Anthony (Pumilia) was able to have a goal and an assist tonight, and that’s big,” McGrath said. “Isaac Kakiko, another senior captain, wasn’t on the scoresheet, but he did a very good job defending their best player, Carter Tull, keeping him over the scoresheet.”
H-H (7-9, 6-9 SOL) hosts Upper Dublin in its league finale on Wednesday.
Quakertown (6-10, 5-9 SOL) hosts Abington on Wednesday.
Quakertown 1 1 – 2
H-H 1 2 – 3
SOL Freedom Division
Cheltenham 3, Upper Moreland 1
Squarely on the district playoff bubble, Cheltenham needs a big final week to secure its postseason fate, and the Panthers started it off well with a strong second half and a big win over Upper Moreland.
“The boys played very well in the first half,” said Panthers coach Bill Tonkin. “Reminded me a lot of the game last week with Tennent. We had a bunch of chances, and we just couldn’t finish. The game should have been over at the half. UM’s goalie made a few good saves, but we should have finished better.
“I told the boys at halftime that their playoff chances rely on this half. They needed to win it to have any chance and they responded.”
Noah Jutzi scored Cheltenham’s first goal.
“About 15 minutes into the second half, we got a quick throw-in down the offensive third,” Tonkin said. “Chamar Blanchard beat a man on the end line and played a ball across and Noah Jutzi beat the defender to the ball and slid it in the corner for the 1-0 lead.”
About 10 minutes later, Blanchard pressured a back pass to the keeper.
“He played it right out to Keegan Peet, who controlled it, beat a defender and went in on goal and slotted it in the far corner,” Tonkin said.
Beck Toledo scored off a cross from Freedy Kelman for the final goal for Cheltenham, which held off the Golden Bears down the stretch.
“I’m proud of the boys today,” Tonkin said. “We have been having trouble holding one-goal leads, and today we not only held it, but increased it late in the game.
“The playoffs are still in reach. We still have some work to do though.”
Cheltenham (9-7, 7-7 SOL) hosts division champ Springfield on Wednesday.
UM (2-14, 1-14 SOL) hosts New Hope-Solebury Wednesday.
Cheltenham 0 3 – 3
UM 0 1 – 1
Springfield Twp 2, Lower Moreland 0
Nick Hanushchak and Ryan Lewis scored goals as Springfield celebrated Senior Night with the shutout win over its biggest division rival, Lower Moreland.
The nine Spartans seniors – Riley Martin, Nick Marino, Jack McKittrick, Lewis, Bryan Garbarini, Dan Bailey, Ivan Luna, Ezra Parks and Tim Schugsta – were all part of last year’s division and District One title squad that advanced to the state playoffs in addition to what the Spartans already accomplished this season.
“This group of seniors was a big part of the run we’ve been on the last two years,” said coach Dan Meder. “Even the role players, the guys you don’t hear about every week, train with intensity and make us better every day. When they do get an opportunity, they give everything they have. This group has really been about doing what the team needs to do to win.”
Hanushchak scored in the first half to send the Spartans into halftime with a 1-0 lead. Lewis – a senior who typically doesn’t find his name in the scoring column – found the net with four minutes remaining.
“Ryan Lewis had an opportunity and scored a goal,” Meder said. “It was amazing. The place went crazy, the team went crazy, the fans went crazy, it was great.”
Riley Martin had an assist in the win.
“It’s always a close game with Lower Moreland,” Meder said. “I was happy we kept them out of the goal. The last time we played them, we had to keep coming from behind. We were down 1-0, we had to tie it up. Then we were down 2-1, and we had to come back again. We luckily got a third goal and won that game.
“These guys didn’t let them in this time and took advantage of some of their opportunities. It’s always a great game when we play Lower Moreland.”
Springfield (16-1, 14-1 SOL) plays at Cheltenham in its league finale on Wednesday. It still holds the No. 1 spot in the District One Class 3A power rankings.
LM (11-6, 9-6 SOL), which sits at No. 4 in the 3A power ratings, plays at William Tennent Thursday.
LM 0 0 – 0
Springfield 1 1 – 2
William Tennent 5, New Hope-Solebury 3
Connor Hanratty scored three goals and Tennent took command early in the second half to take care of New Hope on Monday night.
“Connor Hanratty scored WT’s quickest goal ever in six seconds,” said Panthers coach Angelo Albanese. “He got the tap off the kickoff and chipped the keeper from midfield.
“Dominic Grassey played a terrific defensive game helping Ryan Black, Bryce de Fonteney, Mason Adelson, Kacper Grasela, Alex De Prinzio and goalie Zach Zinnis hold on to pull out a tough win.”
Up 2-1 at half, Tennent scored three straight to start the second half to extend that lead to 5-1.
Patrick Gillespie had one goal and three assists for the Panthers. Sean Black also scored a goal.
Tennent (9-8, 8-7 SOL) has a huge league game at home Thursday against Lower Moreland. It is currently in the No. 24 position in the district power rankings.
New Hope (0-15, 0-15 SOL) plays at Upper Moreland on Wednesday.
Tennent 2 3 – 5
NH-S 1 2 – 3
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