Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action Thursday.
American Conference
Wissahickon 3, Upper Moreland 2
Wissahickon prepped for the upcoming PIAA District One Class 4A tournament by topping Upper Moreland in a hard-fought affair.
The Trojans are seeded 16th in the latest Class 4A power rankings, and the Golden Bears are No. 7 in the 3A power rankings.
Wissahickon had the only goal of the first half as John Santucci knocked one home to give the Trojans the edge just three minutes before the break and a lead they would never relinquish.
Jovanni Gonzalez and Eddie Fortescue netted second-half tallies for Wissahickon.
The Golden Bears received goals from Travis Slear and Mateo Infante.
Wissahickon (10-5-2, 9-3-2 SOL) will travel to Radnor for a non-league game Friday. Upper Moreland closed out its regular season with a 7-8-3 record (5-8-1 SOL).
Upper Moreland 0-1 – 1
Wissahickon 1-2 – 3
Abington 4, Cheltenham 1
Abington completed its domination of the conference by topping Cheltenham in the final regular-season game for both sides.
With the win, the Ghosts finished up conference play with a 13-1 mark (17-1 overall) with their only loss coming against Wissahickon over a month ago.
Abington, behind goals from Sean Touey, Nevin Baer and Jack Failing, took a 3-1 lead to intermission. Matt Montes found the back of the net for the Panthers.
Jaeden Joyce then capped the scoring with the only goal of the second half.
The Ghosts enter the upcoming PIAA District One Class 4A tournament in fine shape as they are ranked No. 4 in the district.The top eight teams in the final rankings will receive a first-round bye.
The Panthers finished their conference season with a 6-7-1 mark (7-9-1 overall).
Cheltenham 1-0 – 1
Abington 3-1 – 4
Hatboro-Horsham 2, Plymouth Whitemarsh 0
Hatboro-Horsham had a pretty good idea that it was going to qualify for the upcoming PIAA District One Class 4A tournament (the Hatters entered play ranked 19th), but it removed any doubt with a win over Plymouth Whitemarsh in the final regular season game for both sides.
“I thought regardless of how tonight went we were going to get in,” Hatboro-Horsham coach Kyle McGrath said. “But the win obviously kind of solidifies us. Once you’re in anything can happen."
Things remained scoreless in this one until midway through the second half when Matt Harmon (off a feed from Andrew Hurrell) gave the Hatters all the offense they would need.
“It was off a restart, and PW’s goalie made a really good save,” McGrath said. “We headed the ball off the crossbar, there was a scramble in the box, and the ball fell to Matty and he was able to finish it."
And speaking of finishing, Ryan Cole (off an assist from Harmon) finished the scoring for the evening 15 minutes later.
“Matty played a great ball in (on a corner kick),” McGrath said. “Andrew Hurrell was back post, and he won the initial head ball and headed it down across the box and Ryan just tapped it in.”
The Colonials finished with a 5-7-2 conference mark (5-9-3 overall).
“Credit to PW, it was their Senior Night tonight, so those are always tricky,” McGrath said. “They’re a good team, and maybe they’ve had some results that haven’t gone their way, but they’re tough to break down, and they play a challenging system to play against. Their goalkeeper was very good tonight and robbed us twice in the first half.
“I just told my boys at halftime, we kind of treated tonight as a play-in game for districts because we’re kind of teetering right now. I challenged them at halftime to go out and win a 40-minute game, and they were able to do that.”
The Hatters’ coach went on to credit the efforts of several players.
“Matty (Harmon) was great,” McGrath said. “We moved him around to some different midfield spots. He’s a guy who’s been in a lot and created a lot of opportunities this year and has been a bit unlucky, so for him to score and get an assist was awesome.
“Tyler Boehm in the center midfield was great as well, just super composed and calm and really steadied things for us in the midfield.”
Hatboro-Horsham closed out its regular season with a 10-7-1 record (8-5-1 SOL).
Hatboro-Horsham 0-2 – 2
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0-0 – 0
Upper Dublin 2, Springfield Township 0
Upper Dublin blanked Springfield Township in the regular-season finale for both teams.
“Springfield was up for the this game and it showed,” Upper Dublin coach Andy Meehan said.“They had spirit all game long.”
Neither side could find the net in the first half, and the Cardinals didn’t take the lead until just over 16 minutes remained in regulation when junior Jordan Kahny (off a feed from sophomore Luke Rappaport) made it 1-0.
Sophomore Sean Seabook knocked in the insurance tally for the Cardinals.
“The second goal was scored off a good hustle play from Sean Seabrook,” Meehan said.
Senior Matt Ross notched the shutout in goal for Upper Dublin.
“Matt just played a phenomenal game,” Meehan said. “He made incredible save after incredible save to keep us in the game.”
The Cardinals finished with a 4-9-1 conference record (6-10-1 overall) while the Spartans ended up at 1-11-2 (4-11-3 overall).
Upper Dublin 0-2 – 2
Springfield Township 0-0 – 0
Continental Conference
North Penn 4, Pennridge 1
North Penn geared up for the PIAA District One Class 4A tournament by topping Pennridge to earn a share of the conference title with Central Bucks West.
The conference crown was the third straight for the Knights.
“It’s our third in a row even though it’s shared,” North Penn coach Paul Duddy said. “But for a number of our seniors, that’s three in a row. Even for the young guys, it was good, it was a goal."
The Knight took a 2-0 lead to halftime on goals from Josh Jones – set up by an Aidan Jerome corner kick – and Chris Caputo (from Mike Chaffee).
“Besides playing pretty good defensively, Chris Caputo had the second goal, which turned out to be the game-winner,” Duddy said. “Josh Jones, our other central defender, had our first goal on a corner kick head ball.”
The Rams cut the deficit in half in the first minute of the second half before Ryan Stewart scored off a set piece to give the Knights a two-goal advantage.
“Pennridge scored 40-45 seconds into the second half, and we literally talked about it at halftime, and it still happened,” Duddy said.“Ryan Stewart scored a great goal on a free kick.”
Dom Gedek (from Jones) scored a goal to put things away for the Knights.
“Our team played well tonight,” Duddy said. “Some players that don’t necessarily score goals – a couple stepped up tonight, which was great to see.
“Everybody thinks of Aidan Jerome as being a very good attacking player, but he played some great defense for us tonight. He was matched up a lot of times against a couple of their better players.
“I thought Ryan Stewart played great tonight. He was matched up against their number six, Matt Stevenson, and he’s a handful for anybody. He’s just a really good player, he’s good all over the field. Aidan matched up with him too, and I thought both Ryan and Aidan did a really good job.”
The Knights (16-1, 11-1 SOL) entered the day as the No. 3 seed for districts but moved up to second with the win. The Rams (12-4-2, 6-4-2) held down the No. 8 seed entering Thursday’s game but fell to No. 10.
North Penn 2-2 – 4
Pennridge 0-1 – 1
Central Bucks West 4, Central Bucks South 0
Central Bucks West capped its regular season in terrific fashion by blanking rival Central Bucks South. The win also earned the Bucks a share of the conference title along with North Penn. Both the Bucks and Knights ended up 11-1 in conference action.
It’s the first conference crown for the Bucks in at least two decades.
“I think it’s great, but we talked about it, we have goals, this is probably one of our goals but not the most important one or even the second most important,” West coach Stefan Szygiel said. “If it happened along the way, we’ll be really happy about it.
“We brought the boys in afterwards, and everyone was just like, ‘hey, this is pretty cool.’ Now, let’s move on. This is the best time of year, and we want to keep going.”
The Bucks will definitely be doing that as they hold down the No. 5 seed in the PIAA District One Class 4A power rankings.
In Thursday’s conference finale, West grabbed a 3-0 lead by halftime on goals from Jimi Leder (from Jack Galt), Reed Sturza (from Leder) and Bailey Moyer (from Colin Burn).
Sturza capped the scoring (off an assist from Carson Snyder) with the only goal of the second half.
West goalkeeper Dylan Smith made three saves to notch his 13th shutout of the season.
“Tonight was a lot of fun,” Szygiel said. “I think South played great, they were dangerous and had chances. We had to defend a lot, and we worked hard. I think the boys are focused. We’re just trying to get through these 18-game seasons.
“Look, you’ve got teams out there not playing 18 games, and we are and a lot of teams are. I know it’s been a rough year for weather. We got all of our games rescheduled, we did what we’re supposed to do and we still have one non-leaguer to go before districts.”
West (15-2, 11-1 SOL) will travel to Pleasant Valley for a non-league game on Saturday at 11 a.m. Central Bucks South (9-8, 5-7) closed out its season with a 9-8 record (5-7 SOL).
Central Bucks West 3-1 – 4
Central Bucks South 0-0 – 0
Souderton 2, Quakertown 0
Souderton ended its season on a high note with a shutout victory over Quakertown.
The Indians, who finished with a 3-9 mark in conference play, took the lead for good after a scoreless first half when Conor Kellough converted a penalty kick eight minutes into the second half.
Kyle Russell added an insurance tally two minutes later off a feed from T.J. Hibsman.
Goalkeeper Mitchell Race turned away eight shots to record the shutout for the Indians.
Quakertown finished its season with a 2-16 record overall (0-12 SOL). Souderton closed out its season with a 3-13-2 mark.
Souderton 0-2 – 2
Quakertown 0-0 – 0
National Conference
Neshaminy 1, Pennsbury 0
Neshaminy picked up a huge win over archrival Pennsbury in the final regular-season game for both sides.
“Pennsbury dominated the first half and we were very fortunate to go to the intermission tied at 0-0,” Neshaminy coach Tom Foley said. “It was basically a playoff game, so we urged the kids at the half to pick up the intensity.
“To their credit, we slowly created more chances and started winning more battles. Ramir Cofield led the charge by becoming more involved and getting chances.”
Cofield’s determination paid off midway through the second half when he corralled a loose ball in the box and knocked it in to provide the margin of difference.
“Ramir was rewarded in the 65th minute when he hammered home a loose ball and scored,” Foley said. “(From there), we handled Pennsbury’s increased pressure after the goal with only a couple of dicey moments.
“The back line of Mike Albarran, Alex Daeche, Lou Samli and, in particular, Ian Siwinski, did a great job keeping a dangerous Pennsbury team off the scoreboard.”
Neshaminy, which entered the day No. 26 in the latest PIAA District One Class 4A tournament rankings, moved into the 24-team field at No. 22.
The Falcons, who entered play 22rd in the district rankings, dropped to 26th. The Falcons finished their conference season with a 7-4-1 mark (10-7-1 overall). Neshaminy (10-7, 8-4 SOL) will close out its regular season with a non-league game at Downingtown West on Saturday.
Pennsbury 0-0 – 0
Neshaminy 0-1 – 1
Council Rock North 3, Council Rock South 1
Council Rock North, which had clinched the conference crown over a week ago, capped its regular season with a victory over archrival Council Rock South.
With the win, the Indians finished a sterling 11-0-1 in conference while the Golden Hawks ended up 5-7 in conference play.
The Golden Hawks, playing on their Senior Night, grabbed a 1-0 lead on a goal from Pat Zawodniak (off a feed from Sean Armstrong).
From there, though, the Indians rallied to net the game’s final three goals as Justin Paglughi, Zach Saifer and Jake Kuckowski found the net. Ed Long and Zain Saidi had assists for the Indians.
Council Rock North (13-4-1 overall) is ranked No. 15 in the district tournament rankings. CR South closed out its season with a 7-11 record.
Council Rock North 1-2 – 3
Council Rock South 1-0 – 1
Non-league
Central Bucks East 2, Bensalem 1
Central Bucks East closed out its season strong – the Patriots were 4-0-1 in their final five games after winning just once in their first 13 games.
In Thursday’s season finale, which underscored the young team’s growth, the Patriots received scoring from some of their promising underclassmen.
Sophomore Luka Berkovic (off a feed from senior Bill Rossman) gave East a 1-0 lead in the first half before freshman Mason Stein (on an assist from Jacob Jackson) finished off the scoring in the second half.
“Give credit to East,” Bensalem coach Lew Mladjen said. “They worked hard and their two goals came from long runs.”
Freshman goalie Casey Prajzner made two saves in the win while sophomore goalkeeper Kyle Dunigan turned away four shots in a combined effort.
Brian Gibson had the goal for Bensalem.
The Owls (7-10, 5-7 SOL) finish off their season Friday when they host neighboring Holy Ghost Prep in a non-league game. Central Bucks East closed out its season with a 5-11, 2 record (4-7-1 SOL).
Bensalem 0-1 – 1
Central Bucks East 1-1 – 2
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