Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action Monday. CR South/Archbishop Wood photos courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of game photos.
Non-league
CHELTENHAM 1, ABINGTON 0
It was a night to remember for the Panthers.
They not only pulled off their program’s first win in memory over neighboring rival Abington – a perennial league and district power, they also raised close to $3,000 for a worthy cause. Monday’s game was Cheltenham’s Red Card Cancer Game with all the proceeds donated to the American Cancer Society.
“There was a great crowd,” Cheltenham coach Bill Tonkin said. “Shout out to the Cheltenham and Abington communities for showing up tonight. There was a fantastic crowd. It was a great night, a great atmosphere. Both teams played their hearts out. It was a true rivalry game. It was sloppy at times, it was messy, it was physical – everything rolled into one that you could ever imagine in a high school soccer game was in this game tonight.”
It’s the game they’ll be talking about at Cheltenham for a long time. Tonkin wasn’t sure when Cheltenham last defeated Abington, but it hasn’t been done in the last 15 years.
The Panthers scored the game’s only goal just over 32 minutes into the first half when Noah Jutzi headed Chamar Blanchard’s corner kick into the corner of the net. That began and ended the scoring for both teams.
Jeremiah Moncriffe earned the clean sheet in goal.
Scoring summary
First half
Chamar Blanchard (C) from Noah Jutzi 1-0 33rd minute
Second half
No score
Coach Bill Tonkin:
“I have to give the seniors credit. I have nine senior starters, and they all stepped up and played their hearts out tonight. This is what they’ve wanted. They wanted to play Abington, and they wanted to beat them, and they went out and pulled it off. This means we have a target now. People will come after us like we came after them the past couple of years. I told them after the game – this was goal one. Goal one of the season was to beat Abington. We checked that box off, but we have three or more goals to get through. This was just one check in the check list. Mission accomplished, and we move on to the next one.”
–The game: “We scored about 32 minutes into the first half on a corner kick from Noah Jutzi, and Chamar Blanchard with a header on the far post, tucked it in the corner. We held on for dear life at the end. They were throwing everything at us. They were sending long ball after long ball. We just held on – unlike last year where we gave it up right at the end (in a 3-2 loss). These kids were determined not to lose this game tonight. Abington hit the crossbar in the first half, so we had a little luck on our side too.”
–Props: “Everybody on the team played well. I only went 13 deep, so everybody had a part in this win. Emile and Xavi (Chanione) are brothers. They were fantastic tonight. Jeremiah Moncriffe was the goalie tonight, and he played very well. He didn’t have a lot of tough saves to make, but he made every save that he had to. Emile, Joel Martin, Ean Justice, Alban Perry – all of them played fantastic on the back line. Jordan Rodriguez played in the back for a little bit. Noah Jutzii and Zack Rosser had great games. I could name all 10 of them – Freedy Kelman, Oscar Chaney and Aldin Saljbic. All my seniors stepped up. “
Next up: Cheltenham (1-0) will travel to Plymouth Whitemarsh on Thursday (3:30 pm)
Abington (0-1) will host Spring-Ford in a non-league game Thursday (3:45 pm)
Abington 1-0 1
Cheltenham 0-0 0
WISSHICKON 3, WILLIAM TENNENT 2 (OT)
Justin Reynoso found the back of the net in the 89th minute, propelling the visiting Trojans to a come-from-behind non-league win over the Panthers. Charlie Fortescue assisted on the game-winner.
The Trojans took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Charlie Fortescue (Reynoso assist) in the 16th minute, but the Panthers evened the score on a goal by Chase Criss before half and then took a 2-1 lead early in the second half, thanks to a goal by Antonio Garcia. With six minutes remaining, Ryan Dowdy buried a penalty kick to knot the score 2-2, setting the stage for overtime.
Scoring summary:
First half
Charlie Fortescue (W) from Justin Reynoso 16th minute 1-0
Chase Criss (WT) 1-1
Second half
Antonio Garcia (WT) 2-1
Ryan Dowdy (W) penalty kick 74th minute 2-2
Overtime
Justin Reynoso (W) from Charlie Fortescue 89th minute 3-2
Michael Maltin (W) – 6 saves
Coach Stuart Malcolm:
“We played on Friday against Southern Lehigh. In that game (a 5-0 win), there were some good things. Obviously scoring five goals was good, getting a shutout was good, but Southern Lehigh was pretty unfortunate to not get at least one, if not two or three goals, so the score flattered us from that perspective. Today it was kind of interesting to see how we would do.”
–The game-winner: “It was late in the first period of extra time, and Charlie (Fortescue) sent the ball over, and Justin (Reynoso) managed to get a shot off into the corner, so we ended up getting the W.”
–The game: “We started off the game really well, but particularly down our lefthand side, they were starting to get some success. Eventually, I think it was the third attempt – they managed to score. From then, it became back and forth. We would have a couple of half chances, they would have a couple of half chances, so it got a little bit scrappy.
“In the second half, the play really didn’t change all that much. We probably should have scored one before they scored. I was looking at the game thinking – ‘I’m not sure how this is going to finish up.’ I didn’t really get a feel for it either way, whether we were going to win or they were going to win. When they scored their second goal, we had to make adjustments to try and get something going in the final third. We worked the ball reasonably well a few times but just didn’t have the final ball.
“Fortunately, we just kept pushing, and eventually, one of our players was brought down in the box, and Ryan Dowdy put the penalty kick away and took us to overtime. You think about momentum, but it settled down into the same kind of routine. To be honest, they had a really good chance probably two or three minutes before we scored on a shot about seven or eight yards out, and if he connected the way he wanted to connect, we would have probably been looking at a 3-2 loss. Fortunately for us, it must have bounced a little bit higher than he thought, so he caught the underneath of the ball and didn’t really get much power on it, and our keeper was able to make the save. A couple minutes later, the ball got crossed, bounced through a couple of players to our player on the back post, and he was able to finish it, so we got the W. We’ll take it. We have a tough game against Springfield on Wednesday, so we’ll see how that goes.”
Next up: Wissahickon (2-0) will host Springfield Twp (3:30 pm)
William Tennent (0-2) @ Council Rock North Wednesday (6 pm)
Wissahickon 1-1-1 3
William Tennent 1-1-0 2
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 1, ARCHBISHOP WOOD 0
The Golden Hawks broke a scoreless halftime tie 10 minutes into the second half when George Simon turned a pass from Reed Vandermark into a goal. Neither team scored the rest of the way, and the Hawks eked out the hard-fought win in Monday’s season opener.
Goalie Andrew Freeman earned the clean sheet.
Scoring Summary
First half
No score
Second half
George Simon (CRS) from Reed Vandermark 50th minute 1-0
Coach Alan Nicholl:
“I always say the hardest win of the year is the first one. It’s one of the more important ones because it gets you moving in the right direction – it gets the team belief, and it keeps the energy and spirit up after a pretty rigorous preseason.
“I was very, very happy getting the win, and to be able to get out of there with a clean sheet was really important too just for overall team belief, particularly this early in the season. Twenty-three years in, I’ve had plenty of seasons where I waited a week or two to get my first win, so I’m very happy to get that one under our belt.
“We went very deep on our bench today. It was very hot, the sun was high. It was an absolute scorcher. The referees were good enough to give us a water break at the 20-minute mark of each half, which was the right thing to do, so kudos to them for acknowledging it was important.
“Hugh Kelly has been at Archbishop Wood forever, and I just thoroughly, thoroughly enjoy coaching against him. He and his assistant Tony do such a nice job, and it’s pleasant to coach against them.”
–The game-winner: “Reed Vandermark picked up the ball at midfield, and he found George (Simon) making a run behind the defense. It was a good
run, a great aggressive move by George to get the goal – a great finish.”
–The game: “I thought we were pretty sloppy with the ball, and I thought we were pretty fortunate to take the three points. It was an evenly played game and certainly gives us plenty to work on moving forward.”
–Props: “My keeper, Andrew Freeman – I gave him the game ball at the end of the game. He played really well. He didn’t have any particularly difficult saves to make, but I thought his decision making, his communication, his distribution were excellent. To get his confidence this early in the season was really important.
“Our back line of Owen Lubieski, Diego Soto, Farid Ganiyev and Tim Grabowski was organized and disciplined, and in the center of the park, I thought Anthony Abreu was a workhorse today. It was hot, and we ran him in multiple positions. He earned his paycheck today, for sure. He’s probably the hardest working man on the field and really helped drive our momentum through the game today. I thought he was terrific.”
Next up: Council Rock South (1-0) @ Archbishop Ryan Wednesday (7 pm)
Archbishop Wood 0-0 0
Council Rock South 0-1 1
NORTH PENN 3, LANSDALE CATHOLIC 0
The Knights picked up their first win of the young season with a shutout road win over their neighboring rival.
A goal by Demetri Ilovski sent the visiting Knights into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
In the second half, senior Bruno Brnardic set up a pair of goals – the first by Shafiq Henaidy and the second from Ryan Miller.
By the numbers:
First half
Demetri Ilovski (NP) 1-0
Second half
Shafiq Henaidy (NP) from Bruno Brnardic 2-0
Ryan Miller (NP) from Bruno Brnardic 3-0
Chris DePeppo:
–The game: “It was 1-0 at halftime on a goal by Demetri Ilovski after splitting two defenders at the top of the box. Demetri (“D” to us) is a senior captain, and I thought last year he was one of the top playmakers in the conference. And this season he has really improved as a goal scorer. He sets the tempo for us.
“Second half goals by Shafiq Henaidy (senior) and Ryan Miller (senior) were both assisted by Bruno Brnardic (senior captain) and he is giving us great effort and clean touches through midfield.”
–The 2024 Knights: “We have two sets of twins this year – Bruno and Nino Brnardic (who are the sons of Ed Brnardic, the new CB South coach) have been excellent. Add the Regan twins – juniors Fionn and Eoin – and senior captain Ian Balisalisa and junior left back Ryan Smith to that core group, and I think this team has the right parts to succeed.
“But it is senior Ahmaar Godhanian coming back to us after missing his junior year to focus on basketball (he was the Knights’ leading scorer), and locking down the center back spot, that really gives us the balance we needed. But we have two more tough matches this week still so let’s see if we can get on a roll.”
Next up: North Penn (1-1) @ Holy Ghost Prep (3:45 pm)
North Penn 1-2 3
Lansdale Catholic 0-0 0
UPPER DUBLIN 3, WEST CHESTER RUSTIN 1
The Flying Cardinals bounced back from a disappointing 1-0 loss to St. Joe’s Prep in Friday’s non-league opener to earn a road win at West Chester Rustin.
Midway through the first half, Corey Abramson turned a pass from Leo Kuznits into a goal that put the Cards on the scoreboard in the first half. Reilly McLaughlin added a goal late in the opening half to send the Cards into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
Rustin trimmed that lead in half with a goal five minutes into the second half, but seven minutes later Chase Rappaport got that goal back, giving the Cards their final margin of victory.
By the numbers:
First half
Corey Abramson (UD) from Leo Kuznits 1-0
Reilly McLaughlin (UD) 2-0
Second half
West Chester Rustin 2-1
Chase Rappaport (UD) 3-1
Coach Noah Johnson:
–Bounce-back win: “I think it was important – not so much for standings or anything like that. It was more important for us mentally because after the (1-0) loss to St. Joe’s. Not taking anything away from St. Joe’s whatsoever. It was just a shock. We felt we should have won that game. Today was more of a mental win for us where it was like ‘Okay, we’re traveling super far, it’s super hot outside. Our friends aren’t here, we never played this team before,’ so it was really important not only to break the losing streak but also just to find enough energy and have confidence in each other and in ourselves and start that culture back up – we’re a family, and we’re here to play. No matter who we’re playing against, we’re going to play. Whether we win or lose, it doesn’t matter as long as we’re playing Upper Dublin soccer.”
–Props: “My entire back line did a very good job. Leo Kuznits was definitely a big part of us winning. He plays outside back, and he did a very good job stepping into that role this season. Every year we always have somebody willing to risk it for the team and play that role. He did a really good job. Brady Hilman did a very good job. After having a very rough game against St. Joe’s, he did a very good job of turning it around. Reilly McLaughlin once again did an excellent job, and Kaleb Abebe also did a very good job.”
Next up: Germantown Academy @ Upper Dublin Thursday (4 pm)
Upper Dublin 2-1 3
West Chester Rustin 0-1 1
PHOENIXVILLE 3, HATBORO-HORSHAM 2
The Phantoms opened up a 2-0 halftime lead and upped that to 3-0 four minutes into the second half. The Hatters found their offense in the second half. Miller Kahmer (Logan Gisondi assist) broke up the Phantoms shutout bid with a goal in the 56th minute, and Logan Clayton’s unassisted goal in the 63rd minute made it a 3-2 game. That’s as close as the Hatters would get.
Scoring summary:
First half
Phoenixville 23rd minute 1-0
Phoenixville 29th minute 2-0
Second half
Phoenixville 44th minute 3-0
Miller Kahmar (HH) from Logan Gisondi 56th minute 3-1
Logan Clayton (HH) 63rd minute 3-2
Coach Kyle McGrath:
“We started the game poorly and got punished for it by conceding two goals in a six-minute span in the first half. Even with that, we created chances to get on the score sheet in the first half but were unable to capitalize on those opportunities including hitting the post. We stressed at halftime the next goal was important and, unfortunately, started slow again and gave up a goal just four minutes into the second half.
“The 3-0 lead turned out to be too much to come back from. We were able to make it a 3-2 game with over 15 minutes left on goals from Miller Kahmar and Logan Clayton, but we were just unable to find the equalizer. Several players got their first varsity minutes and hopefully we can build off the last 25 minutes of the game.
Next up: Hatboro-Horsham @ Pennridge (3:30 pm) Wednesday.
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