Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action Tuesday.
SOL Patriot
Council Rock South 2, Council Rock North 1
Although both teams were coming off a game the day before, the Indians and Golden Hawks found the energy for a spirited rivalry match.
“It was a good game,” South coach Alan Nicholl said. “It was a typical North-South game. It was hard, it was physical, it was emotional. It had all those components that were in play, for sure.
“Particularly so late in the season, it was a beautiful night under the lights. You could definitely tell that everyone was charged up. It wasn’t the prettiest of football. Both teams played yesterday, and to put up the kind of spirit you saw on the field tonight was great. There was still great energy. The kids were definitely up for it, that’s for sure.”
Xavier Guerrero staked the Indians to a lead midway through the first half when his got a second chance effort to go following a free kick.
“It was a bad goal to give up actually,” Nicholl said. “We spend a lot of time talking about set pieces, staying organized, playing through the first, second and third balls. We kind of let that one get away from us – just a lack of concentration.
“To be fair, North is a big, strong physical team. They sent a lot of long balls into our box tonight. I told the kids at halftime, ‘We have to stop giving up cheap fouls, free kicks because they send the army.’ I thought we cleaned it up a little better in the second half. We were probably unlucky to tie it up on a couple of occasions.”
The Hawks kept battling into the second half and with about 15 minutes to play, found the equalizer.
“The goal came off a ball that was served into the box, it took a rebound to Lex Lenoir, and Lex put it back across, and Jake Brossman finished it to tie it up for us,” Nicholl said. “In typical North-South fashion, it was a frantic finish – a lot of energy, two teams having a good go at each other.”
Aside from the one mistake on North’s first half goal, the Golden Hawks defense buckled down against a physical and determined Indians side.
“My goalkeeper was outstanding,” Nicholl said of Andrew Roberto. “He’s just playing out of his mind. North sent a lot of big balls, big players, a lot of high energy, high intensity. It puts a lot of pressure on a goalkeeper to make sure that his hands are in the right place, his feet are in the right place, his communication is there.
“I thought he really commanded his box tonight exceptionally, exceptionally well, particularly later on when things started to get hectic and it was very much back and forth. There were a good four or five saves tonight that Andrew really would have impressed the crowd with. He’s very, very focused. He’s taking his senior season seriously, and it’s surely showing in his play.”
CR South’s postseason hopes would have been dashed with a loss, so they dug down in overtime and found a way to give themselves a chance.
“Conner Weinberg served a terrific ball into the six, and Andrew Rosenfeld finished it from close range,” Nicholl said. “It was tight quarters, it was inside the six on a corner kick. Conner Weinberg has a brilliant left foot. It’s special. He’s so consistent. We’ve been working on getting on the end of his services because they are so good, and it was just a heads up play for Andrew.
“He’s not a particularly big player, but he put himself in the right spot, he read the ball. At the end of the day, there are 14-15 players in the box, and it hits him. There’s something to be said about that. I was happy for him. He’s a senior captain, and there was an awful lot riding on tonight. If we’re going to have a shot of getting in the playoffs, we needed tonight. I was really happy for a senior group to see another day maybe.”
While the Hawks’ future will depend on Wednesday’s results and the final power rankings tally, all they were concerned about on Tuesday was celebrating their hard-earned win in a special rivalry game.
“They seemed to really enjoy it after the game,” Nicholl said. “They were lapping it up and really just enjoying taking a little ring of honor with the cup over their heads. It was nice to see. There’s a lot of work to make it this far into the season in spite of COVID, so it is nice to see young kids enjoy some of the fruits of their labor – to be able to hold a trophy in front of their parents, in front of the fans, in front of the school and enjoy the moment. It was nice to see.”
Council Rock North (2-7, 2-5 SOL) will host Bensalem Wednesday. Council Rock North (5-5-1, 3-4-1) will await its fate when the district seedings are announced.
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0 1 1 – 2
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 1 0 0 – 1
Goals: CRS – Jake Brossman, Andrew Rosenfeld
Non-league
Upper Moreland 3, Bensalem 2
A nightmare start turned into a much-needed win for a Golden Bears team looking to sew up playoff positioning.
“It was huge,” UM coach Justin Allegra said. “At home this year, we only lost one game, and that was the Tennent game, which we had every opportunity to win. I told the guys, ‘Guys, we are one of the best teams. We deserve to get this first seed, and we deserve teams to come to us to play on our home field.’
“I gave them the pep talk and I kind of felt good about it. Then I look at the clock, and we’re losing 2-0 10 minutes into the game. We don’t do that at home.”
The Owls shocked the Bears out of the gate, scoring three minutes into the game and adding the second in the eighth minute.
Upper Moreland gave itself a lifeline in the final seconds of the first half. A long throw-in from Josh Henderson found the head of Logan Taylor. The ball snuck over the keeper’s hands and under the bar with 1.8 left before halftime.
“We had so many golden opportunities – we had three wide open nets and we missed,” Allegra said. “The goal right before halftime was huge. We had the momentum after we went down 2-0.
“They were clogging up the midfield, and we couldn’t get our shots off. Everything was being blocked. They were doing a great job. We had numerous free kicks right outside the box and didn’t put them on net or they were getting blocked. We had our chances. It was only a couple of seconds left – just throw it up there.
“Josh Henderson has been doing our throws all year, and we’ve been scoring on a lot of them. He threw it up and Logan flicked it, and the way he flicked it was over the goalie’s head and right under the bar. I looked at the clock and it said zero.”
Taylor was emboldened by the goal and 15 minutes into the second half he ripped a shot from 30 yards out that hit the upper 90 to tie the score.
Thanks to keeper Aaron Snyder, who saved a PK to prevent the Owls from a two-goal lead in the second half, the Bears were in position to go for a late winner.
“Our goalie kept us in it – he’s been great all year,” Allegra said of Snyder. “We just continued to hammer them, and with three minutes to go, Jack Cattie had a nice cross over the goalie. Mike Kane goes to hit it. He hits it – it hits both posts, hits the first post, hits the second post, comes back out and Max Gerlach hit it in with three-and-a-half minutes to go – he’s on a tear. He had three goals against New Hope. He’s been pretty much there all year.”
Travis Slear also earned props for his play and versatility.
“Travis Slear, who was our top forward, now needs to be moved back to defense because we just had a player go down,” Allegra said. “He’s kind of like our Swiss Army Knife – he can play any position, and he stepped up in a big way today.”
Upper Moreland, now 7-2 (6-2 SOL), occupied the top spot in the District I 3A rankings at the end of the day.
UPPER MORELAND 1 2 – 3
BENSALEM 2 0 – 2
Goals: UM – Logan Taylor 2, Max Gerlach
Souderton 3, Archbishop John Carroll 0
Souderton’s offense was productive as the Indians picked up a nonleague win. Nolan Hughes, who had a strong first half, put the Indians on the board six minutes in when he converted on a pass from Dillon Barbieri.
“It’s been the one thing we talk about as a group – if we put the ball in the net, we obviously have a pretty good line and really solid goalkeeper to rely on so that we can get results,” Souderton coach Matt Benner said. “It was nice to get a goal within the first 10 minutes and set the tone.”
Hughes added an assist to his line in the 38th minute when he fed top scorer TJ Hibsman for a 2-0 lead.
“Nolan Hughes really had a good game today,” Benner said. “Nolan’s a player that works at his game so much all the time. He worked himself into a starting role this year as a sophomore, and he did a lot of really good things on the ball today – good skill, made some good final passes, scored the first goal, assisted on another with a really, really nice pass to TJ Hibsman right before halftime that gave us a lot of energy going into the break. If I had to pick out one player of the day, I think Nolan Hughes was really good today.”
Hibsman and Barbieri both played set-up on Souderton’s second half goal, a 45th minute tally from Ty Quintos.
Aidan McClure and Chris McKenna shared the shutout in goal.
“It was a game where it was nice we were able to play a lot of guys at different positions,” Benner said. “We had a couple guys that were out for this game, so we were able to get a lot of guys on the field and mix up the lineup a little bit.
“Towards the end of the game, it was nice to have guys of the future moving forward playing with the seniors. It was just nice to get some good playing time for a lot of different guys, to look at some different things, and for the boys to enjoy winning the game.”
Souderton, which is now 4-4-3 on the season, sat in the No. 13 spot in the District 4A rankings Tuesday night. Wednesday is the final day for results to count for the district playoff.
“I’m just to the point where I’m like – you know what, my kids worked hard, we play in a super competitive league, we had a couple of good wins that we’re really proud of, we had some losses or ties we felt should have gone another way, but I’m not going to beat myself up scoreboard watching until the wee hours,” Benner said.
SOUDERTON 2 1 – 3
ARCHBISHOP CARROLL 0 0 – 0
Goals: S – Nolan Hughes, Dillon Barbieri, Ty Quintos
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