Check out the results for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action Friday.
American Conference
WISSAHICKON 3, UPPER DUBLIN 2
The Trojans did what no team had done before them this season, handing the Flying Cardinals their first loss of the season.
“It was a team performance,” Wissahickon coach Stuart Malcolm said. “To beat a team doing as well as Upper Dublin’s been doing this year, they’re obviously doing some things right, so we just had to make sure that we did what we had to do on the field. For the most part, we did that. We reduced their opportunities and managed to finish three. Three was enough today, so we’ll take it.”
The Trojans took a lead five minutes into the contest on a goal by Eddie Fortescue – who led the way with a pair of goals – and never looked back.
“The first five minutes we came out really well and denied the ball really well,” Malcolm said. “I was really pleased with what we did.
“After we got the goal, we actually pressed and had a couple of opportunities to make it 2-0 at that point. We talked about it at the end of the game – we show our youth at times when we just don’t keep the same level of play and understand what we should be doing on the field for a whole half. Our defense did a nice job, but it became a more backward and forward type game than it had been in the first 15-20 minutes.”
The two teams exchanged goals in the final five minutes of the first half, and the Trojans took a 2-1 lead into halftime.
“On the backwards and forwards, we managed to get a nice through ball for Joe Maiale to make it 2-0,” Malcolm said. “We were trying to get to the half at 2-0.
“There was a miscommunication in the back, and it kind of exposed the post, and all credit, they finished.”
The Trojans went on top 3-1 on Fortescue’s second goal. Tom McHale assisted on all three Wissahickon goals.
“We created some good opportunities, and we managed to get the third goal, which was important,” Malcolm said. “It was backwards and forwards again, but we had at least one or two good opportunities – one, a shot in close and then a penalty kick – to make it 4-1, but we missed that.
“Obviously, that gets the other team fired up a bit. We weathered things for a few minutes, but they knocked a good ball in. It made it interesting for the last 11 minutes. There weren’t too many opportunities for either team, but it was a bit more frantic than I would have liked.”
Malcolm credited his back line of Matt Om, Jacob Kaffey, Gabe Kessler and Pat McCarry.
“We haven’t given up too many goals, but we’re also not giving up too many opportunities either,” the Trojans coach said. “We’re just making it difficult for teams to get the opportunities.
“Tom McHale plays all the time up front, and he’s pretty isolated at times – he had three assists on the day. He didn’t put the ball in the net, but he contributed a lot.”
Upper Dublin received single goals from Josh Saitsky and Anthony Wisdo. Jose Polomeque assisted on both goals.
Wissahickon (7-4-2, 5-3-1 SOL) will host Hatboro-Horsham on Monday, and Upper Dublin (11-1-1, 8-1-1 SOL) will host Plymouth Whitemarsh on Monday.
Upper Dublin 1-1 2
Wissahickon 2-1 3
HATBORO-HORSHAM 3, QUAKERTOWN 1
The Hatters find themselves alone atop the conference standings, thanks to their win over the visiting Panthers and Upper Dublin’s first loss at the hands of Wissahickon.
The Hatters took a 2-0 lead into halftime, but the Panthers didn’t go down without a battle.
“Quakertown played well in the second half and made it challenging for us today,” Hatters’ coach Kyle McGrath said.
Nick Hatzenbeller, Ryan Cole and Joe Larouche each contributed single goals for the Hatters, and contributing one assist each were Cole, Larouche and Danny Bateman.
Hatboro-Horsham (11-1-2, 8-0-2 SOL) will travel to Wissahickon on Monday for a key conference battle. Quakertown (3-9, 2-7) will be on the road at Cheltenham.
Quakertown 0-1 1
Hatboro-Horsham 2-1 3
UPPER MORELAND 1, CHELTENHAM 0
The Golden Bears won their second league game in three outings on Friday. Alex Gerlach scored midway through the second half, using assists from Ben Johnson and Ryan Cannon.
Brennan Coleman recorded the shutout in goal.
“It was a great team effort,” UM coach Dan Mannella said.
Upper Moreland (5-6-1, 3-6-1 SOL) will host Lower Moreland in a non-league contest on Saturday (10 a.m.). Cheltenham (2-10, 2-8) will host Quakertown on Monday.
Cheltenham 0-0 0
Upper Moreland 0-1 1
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 5, SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 2
The visiting Colonials opened up a 3-1 halftime lead on their way to the win. Rich Veon led the Colonials with two goals and one assist. Also contributing goals were Alex Lefkowitz, Jacobe Sandcroft (Veon assist), Zach Finkelman and Max Baker (Brandon Cohen assist).
Trevor McCaffrey scored both goals for the Spartans – one with a Jacob Friedman assist.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (5-7, 5-5 SOL) will be on the road at Upper Dublin on Monday, and Springfield (4-8-1, 3-6-1) will host Upper Moreland.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 3-2 5
Springfield 1-1 2
Continental Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 3, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 2
The Titans took a modest two-game winning streak into Friday’s battle against the visiting Bucks, and they extended it to three with a hard-fought win over a West squad that two days earlier knocked North Penn out of first place in the conference standings.
“That had me nervous,” admitted coach Don Brady. “How do you extinguish that kind of fire?
“We were coming off two wins, so we wanted to build on that. We play really well through the thirds of the field, but we can just never dominate in the final third. We get a shot here or there. I keep trying to compare ourselves to like a North Penn or a Conestoga or Neshaminy where there’s always a second and a third player there just to knock the ball home. Finally today we kind of had that, which is something we’ve trying to achieve for most of the season.”
Dom Moncheck (Kyle Bethel assist) put the Titans on the board in the 30th minute, but two minutes later, the Bucks scored the equalizer when Marcos Urffer turned a Dominick Bianchini pass into a goal. That 1-1 tie stood until halftime.
In the 48th minute, Gianni Goss found the net with an assist from Jake Helwig to put the Titans on top by one, and the Titans led 3-1 when Helwig scored using a Goss assist in the 62nd minute. The Bucks pulled to with in one, thanks to a goal from Sean Burke (Bianchini assist), but the Titans protected their lead, holding on for the big win.
“Statistically with the goals and assists, Colin Fagan wasn’t in the picture, but he did a lot of work to get the ball in the box to make some crosses and also on corners kicks, and so did Colin Green and Jake Helwig,” Brady said. “That’s our triangle in the middle of the midfield.
“Gianni Goss worked real hard, and he had a goal and an assist.”
A big question mark entering the season was who would take pressure off of Fagan, who had 15 goals last season.
“If you only have to mark Colin Fagan, it makes it easy, but if other people around him start finishing, then it makes it a little more difficult and maybe gives Colin a few openings,” Brady said. “We’ve been playing really well most of the season. We lost 1-nil to Conestoga, we lost 2-1 to North Penn, we lost 2-1 in double overtime to Pennsbury.
“The one thing that’s been missing for us is being able to score multiple goals against these really good teams. That’s been sort of our Achilles heel this season.”
Dylan Smith recorded five saves in goal for the Bucks.
Central Bucks South (7-6-1, 5-3-1 SOL) will travel to William Tennent on Monday, and Central Bucks West (6-5-2, 4-3-2) will be on the road at Central Bucks East on Monday.
Central Bucks South 1-2 3
Central Bucks West 1-1 2
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 3, PENNRIDGE 0
Junior Ross Burton scored a pair of goals to lead a Patriot squad that is finding its offensive stride.
“Ross had a very good game,” coach Jeremiah White said. “He’s continually improving on his positioning, and his positioning – staying around the goal area – was why he was able to get two goals today.”
It was Burton putting the Patriots on the scoreboard with a goal 10 minutes into the game, and they took that 1-0 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Sebastian Krysztofowicz scored on a free kick, and Burton found the net for his second goal to close out the scoring.
“Kyle Kittleson was very, very good today at left back,” White said. “I just think we had a pretty good group effort.
“We got all of our seniors in, and we played some of our promising guys for next year. We got them some time. Everyone looked pretty strong.”
White went on to laud the consistent contributions of senior Joey Bowen this season.
“He plays the midfield for us and withdrawn striker, and he did exactly what I asked him to do today,” White said. “He’s a guy that has exceeded all of my expectations.
“He’s been such a valuable asset. Sometimes I don’t start him – obviously, everyone wants to play, but it’s ‘Whatever you need, coach.’ He’s been such a pleasure to work with.”
Central Bucks East (8-3-2, 7-1-1 SOL) will host Central Bucks West on Monday, and Pennridge (5-7-1, 0-7-1) will travel to Souderton Monday for a 7 p.m. game.
Pennridge 0-0 0
Central Bucks East 1-2 3
NORTH PENN 3, WILLIAM TENNENT 2
With 20 minutes remaining, Luke McMahon (Carter Houlihan assist) scored a goal that turned out to be the game winner, breaking a 2-2 tie and giving the visiting Knights a lead they would not lose.
The game was a back and forth affair from the outset with the Panthers taking a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute on a direct kick from the 25. Eight minutes later McMahon – who had a pair of goals – connected on the equalizer. The Knights took a 2-1 lead on a header from Houlihan with an Aidan Jerome assist. Again, the Panthers rallied to knot the score, but the Knights had the final word in this one.
North Penn (9-3, 7-2 SOL) will host Council Rock South on Monday in a non-league contest, and William Tennent (3-5-1, 2-5-1) will host Central Bucks South.
National Conference
NESHAMINY 3, ABINGTON 1
Abington – winners in six of its last seven games – was one of the hottest teams in the SOL entering Friday’s showdown against Neshaminy. The Redskins cooled down the red hot Ghosts in a tightly-contested battle.
“We’re thrilled,” Redskins coach Tom Foley said. “They’re coming off a big win against Pennsbury, and they’ve been very, very good.
“We just played hard. When we win balls in the midfield, we’re a difficult team to beat. When we don’t, they kind of can shove the ball back down our throats, and that’s when they’re dangerous when we don’t win those 50-50 balls or those second balls.”
The Redskins had their chances to get on the scoreboard in the first half but didn’t cash in until Chris Amaro found the net with .5 seconds remaining on a mad scramble from a corner kick. That lead was short lived.
Thirty seconds into the second half, the Ghosts knotted the score on a goal by Sean Touey.
“Nevin Baer picked off a Neshaminy pass, immediately passed to Sean Touey who beat a defender and went 1v1 with the keeper, then tucked it in to tie the game,” Foley said.
Jack McCourt converted a “slick pass” from Dan Grindrod to give the Redskins a lead they would not lose in the 63rd minute. Five minutes later, McCourt scored his second goal when Vince Hosephros alertly threw the ball in quickly to McCourt, who broke in free on the keeper and rifled it into the net for a goal and the 3-1 final.
“We played well,” Foley said. “We clogged up the middle.
“Their strength is up the middle, and we made sure (Sean) Touey was covered for the most part toward the end of the game. When we were up 3-1, we kind of double teamed him so they lost that target. You have that luxury when you’re up by two goals.”
Foley credited the strong play of several players in what he said was a team win.
“Jack McCourt had a good game today,” the ‘Skins coach said. “Dan Grindrod has been real steady in the midfield, and he assisted on Jack’s first goal on a real nice pass.
“Vince Hosephros has played really well up top, and Dylan McDonald has always been really strong. We’ve moved him all over the place, and we moved him into the back and he steadies everything for us.
“It’s been a group effort. We’ve had a couple guys who didn’t play very much who went in and did a nice job. It was a good team win for us.”
Neshaminy (10-3, 6-2 SOL) continues a tough stretch with a non-league game against Downingtown West on Saturday at 12 noon. Next on the schedule are Pennsbury and Council Rock North.
“(These) four games are against teams with a combined winning percentage of .807, so it was a great start to a difficult stretch,” Foley said.
Abington (9-4, 5-4) will host Council Rock North on Monday.
Abington 0-1 1
Neshaminy 1-2 3
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 2, BENSALEM 0
Justin Scharf scored an unassisted goal 23 minutes into the first half, and that turned out to be the game winner. The Indians took a 1-0 lead into halftime, and in the 17th minute, Ryan Pave scored with an assist from Nikita Ilin.
Anthony Caruso recorded six saves en route to his seventh shutout, and coach Joe Stackhouse credited one of his defenders.
“Eric Levine played exceptional defensively,” the North coach said.
Council Rock North (10-1-1, 8-1 SOL) will travel to La Salle on Saturday for a non-league game at 12 noon, and Bensalem (2-8-1, 1-7-1) will be on the road at Norristown on Monday for a non-league tilt.
Council Rock North 1-1 2
Bensalem 0-0 0
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 3, HARRY S TRUMAN 0
The Golden Hawks took a 1-0 lead into halftime and added two more goals in the second half.
Scoring goals for the Hawks were Conor Sweeney, Ethan Benedict and Kevin Bowers while Pat Wilczynski, Dan Maggio and Colby Brown each added an assist.
Council Rock South (5-7-1, 2-6-1 SOL) will travel to North Penn for a non-league contest on Monday, and Harry S Truman (2-9, 0-8) will be on the road at Chichester for a non-league game Monday.
Council Rock South 1-2 3
Harry S Truman 0-0 0
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