Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action Friday. CR North/Neshaminy photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back to see our photo galleries…CLICK HERE.
SOL National
Council Rock North 2, Neshaminy 1
It's still early, but it's getting later by the day.
That's why Council Rock North's 2-1 win over Neshaminy, in a matchup of two unbeaten SOL National Conference sides, was so important for both sides.
“We’re not the team we were last year, but we put ourselves in the same hole,” said CR North coach Joe Stackhouse, whose team was 0-2 to open the season last year but went on to win the conference crown.
The Indians also started 0-2 this season, dropping games to Archbishop Wood and Abington.
“I’m not ducking anybody, I’d rather get us prepared," Stackhouse said. "If we take our lumps, we take our lumps, but let’s get ready (for the conference schedule)."
The Indians took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Justin Pagliugh (Zach Saifer assist) before the Redskins tied things up right before the half when Jack Hughes scored on a header off a feed from Ramir Cofield.
The Indians had a chance to take the lead early in the second half but missed on a penalty kick at the 50th minute. However, with 15 minutes left in regulation, Zain Saidi scored on a through ball from T.J. Grube.
Council Rock North was led on defense by Ryan Sirota, Spencer Berman and Jeremy Smithline.
The Indians moved to 3-0 in the SOL National while Neshaminy dipped to 3-1.
“We’re not deep, but we keep inserting the younger kids 10 to 15 minutes a game, and they’re giving us a good 10 to 15 minutes," Stackhouse said.
"This is playing out, in some ways, the way we thought it would.
Neshaminy is very young, I think they only had three seniors on the field."
Council Rock North (3-0, 3-2 SOL) will host Harry S Truman Saturday at 10 a.m., and Neshaminy (3-1) will host Central Bucks South in a non-league game Saturday at 10 a.m.
Neshaminy 1-0 – 1
Council Rock North 1-1 – 2
Pennsbury 4, William Tennent 2
Pennsbury truly got its kicks in this one.
Penalty kicks, that is.
The Falcons converted three, yes, three, PKs to post a victory over the visiting Panthers.
Four goals with three coming after fouls. Evan Reichard, Randy Dickersbach, and Javier Sosa connected on the PKs for Pennsbury. Dickersbach (from Matt Tennant) had the Falcons' first goal.
“The second and the fourth ones (penalty kicks) were extremely well earned by both my guys," Pennsbury coach Tom Stoddart said.
"On the second one, Evan (Reichard), my young forward, just did a great job. He got position on the guy, and the guy had to reach out and grab him.”
The fourth – by Sosa – loomed large as it came within a minute after the Panthers had scored to make it a 3-2 game with 11 minutes remaining in regulation.
"It was on a flat out breakaway, he got taken down,” Stoddart said. “Javier read a pass and jumped on a pass and really created that whole thing himself and then was able to finish it off on a PK. That was a huge moment for us. Otherwise, it probably would have been a nail biter down the stretch."
Colin Hires and Jack Forbes had the goals for the Panthers.
“They actually played really well, I really liked the way they played,” Stoddart said of the Panthers. “They kind of outplayed us, at least soccer-wise, a good bit of the game. We were able to put ourselves in some dangerous situations, and we got some calls that went our way and buried our opportunities on penalty kicks.
“In general, we put together a couple of good training sessions. I just don’t know that it’s coming out in our games yet, but we’re extremely, extremely young. I think we’re going to be able to hit our stride, but I don’t think we hit it yet.”
Stoddart lauded the effort of his defense.
“Peter Beidler was solid in the back,” the Falcons’ coach said. “I thought our defenders did a better job in the second half of taking away some space and making life a little more difficult for them.
“We were down a guy who’s been sick all week. The other four guys play regularly, but I’ve shuffled their positions around trying to figure out what works. We’re still tinkering around with it, but I thought it definitely looked better in the second half than the first.
“Tennent has a lot of energy, so they put a lot of pressure on your defenders. When we were in possession of the ball, I thought they did a really good job of really disrupting us in the first half, but we did a better job in the second half handling that."
Pennsbury (3-2, 2-1 SOL) will host Council Rock South on Monday, and William Tennent (0-3) will host Neshaminy on Monday.
William Tennent 1-1 – 2
Pennsbury 3-1 – 4
SOL Continental
Pennridge 2, Central Bucks South 1 (OT)
What a difference a year has made for Pennridge.
In 2017, the Rams were just 2-10 in the SOL Continental and won only six total games.
"We really had a roller-coaster year last year," Pennridge coach Pete Valimont said. “We're senior heavy this year and I just called all of the senior starters and thanked them for all they've done for the program."
What those players did was aid Pennridge in a 2-1 overtime win over Central Bucks South, moving the Rams to 2-1 in the SOL Continental and giving the Titans their first SOL Continental defeat in four tries.
"We're 5-1 overall and I believe that's my best start in my 11 years as the head coach," Valimont said. "If you told me before the season that we'd be 5-1 at this point I would have been ecstatic.
"CB South was undefeated, and they dominated the first half and just took it to us."
The Titans led 1-0 at halftime before Pennridge senior captain Matt Stevenson scored off the second-half tap to knot the game at 1-1.
"The ball hit off the crossbar, and the ref said it came down and was in," Valimont said. "We'll take it."
In the overtime, Pennridge senior Aidan Link found Jack Taplett with a slick pass and Taplett netted the game-winner from 25 yards away.
Seniors Ryan Mayhew and Matt Sheldon combined to earn the win in goal for the Rams.
"One of our main goals for this season is to make the (district) playoffs," Valimont said. "And we really want to have a home district game because that hasn't happened since 2010."
Pennridge (5-1, 2-1 SOL) will travel to Souderton for a 7 p.m. game Monday, and Central Bucks South (3-1) will be on the road at Neshaminy for a non-league game Saturday at 10 a.m.
Central Bucks South 1-0-0 1
Pennridge 0-1-1 2
North Penn 6, Quakertown 1
North Penn jumped out to a commanding 5-0 lead by halftime en route to a win over Quakertown. Six different players contributed goals.
Opening the scoring for the Knights was Carter Houlihan (Luke McMahon assisst), and then it was Aidan Jerome turning a Jarred Huzar assist into a goal. Ryan Stewart (Jerome assist) made it 3-0, and Brett Kratz found the back of the net with a Huzar assist. John Norman connected on an unassisted goal for the 5-0 advantage, and Dominik Federal closed out the scoring with a penalty kick in the second half.
Brendan Kishbaugh accounted for the Panthers’ goal, converting a penalty kick in the second half to break up the Knights’ shutout bid.
North Penn (4-0, 2-0 SOL) will travel to Wilson for a non-league game Saturday, and Quakertown (1-4, 0-3) will host West Chester Henderson in a non-league game Saturday.
Quakertown 0-1 – 1
North Penn 5-1 6
SOL American
Upper Dublin 5, Upper Moreland 3
Jordan Kahny netted a hat trick to help power Upper Dublin past Upper Moreland. The result moved both teams to 1-2-1 in the SOL American.
Kahny connected for a pair of first-half goals (John Visher had the assist on the first and Giovanni Astorino the second).
"It was a back-and-forth game in the first half," UD coach Andy Meehan said. "They were organized and were able to answer just about everything we did in the first half.”
An own goal to open the second half accounted for UD’s third goal.
"In the second half we gained the momentum once they had an own goal,” Meehan said. “After that, Jordan continued to shine and hit a well-placed free kick (to complete the hat trick)."
The Golden Bears made it a 4-3 game, but Josiah Kutai finished off the scoring for the Flying Cardinals with a goal in the final minute.
"They were able to get within one goal with 10 minutes remaining, but Josiah Kutai was able to capitalize on a mistake and put one in to seal the game," Meehan said. "We still haven't reached our potential yet, but I was happy with the effort that we put in.”
The Cardinals’ coach acknowledged the strong performances of Colin Asper, Chris Kenney, Matt Yoon, and Giovanni Astorino.
"Once we get everybody working together, and on the same page, we will be a dangerous team moving forward,” Meehan said.
Upper Dublin (2-3-1, 1-2-1 SOL) will host Plymouth Whitemarsh on Monday, and Upper Moreland (2-2-2, 1-2-1) will host Springfield Township on Monday.
Hatboro-Horsham 2, Springfield Township 1
Hatboro-Horsham picked up a goal right before the half and netted a goal in the 76th minute by Caleb Hudson that turned out to be the game-winner to post a win over Springfield Township.
The victory gave the Hatters their first SOL American triumph.
"We definitely were the better team in the first half," H-H coach Kyle McGrath said."We’ve obviously been struggling to score goals this year, but I was super proud of the guys’ intensity and effort tonight in the first half, for sure. We got on top of them finally 1-0 going into halftime.
"I was like, ‘We just need to play at this pace and this intensity level, and we’re going to be in good shape.’ We did in the second half, and we were able to score the second goal before they got on the board, which was huge obviously because they came right back at us after we scored the second goal to score themselves."
Ryan McMorris gave H-H the lead in the 31st minute before teammate Hudson scored with just four minutes remaining to make it 2-0.
The Spartans got on the board a minute later when Jack Meder, off a dish from Sam Steele, scored to account for the final margin.
Julian Brown had seven saves in goal for Springfield.
“Obviously, as defending league champions, everyone is giving us their best shot, and we have to figure some things out, but I think tonight was a big step in the right direction for us,” McGrath said.
The coach was pleased with the effort of several of his players.
“Brad Bornstein has been playing center back for us, but we moved him into the midfield, and he did a good job for us in there,” McGrath said. “J.D. Malinder is a guy who we’ve really needed to lean on this year with some of the guys we lost to graduation.
“My back four, other than giving up the goal we gave up on a corner kick, was very solid. We didn’t give up a lot of opportunities. The second half Springfield pressured us. A credit to them, when we scored, they didn’t give up, they kept coming at us, and we were able to withstand some pressure.
"My goalkeeper, Zack Kim, did a good job. I’m just super proud of the effort from the guys to be able to get the victory."
Hatboro-Horsham (2-3-1, 1-2-1 SOL) will host Archbishop Wood in a non-league contest Saturday at 7 p.m., and Springfield Township (1-2-2, 0-2-2) will travel to Upper Moreland on Monday.
Springfield Township 0-1 – 1
Hatboro-Horsham 1-1 – 2
Wissahickon 3, Cheltenham 1
Wissahickon used a balanced attack to net a 3-1 win over Cheltenham.
David Goldstein had the first goal for Wissahickon with just two minutes left in the first half before teammate Eddie Fortescue pushed the advantage to 2-0 early in the second stanza.
Findlay Peet brought the Panthers within a goal at the 58th minute only to see Christian Vorchheimer ice the game with a tally with six minutes remaining in regulation.
Fortescue and Kevin Aquillar notched assists for the Trojans.
Wissahickon (2-0-2 SOL) will host Abington on Monday, and Cheltenham (2-2-1, 1-2-1) will host Hatboro-Horsham on Monday.
Wissahickon 1-2 – 3
Cheltenham 0-1 – 1
Abington 2, Plymouth Whitemarsh 1
Abington remained unbeaten in the SOL American with a 2-1 triumph over host Plymouth Whitemarsh.
Sean Touey, who had a hat trick in the Ghosts’ win over Upper Dublin on Wednesday, had a goal against the Colonials as did teammate Nevin Baer.
Abington (6-0-0, 4-0-0 SOL) will be on the road at Wissahickon on Monday, and Plymouth Whitemarsh (1-2-2, 1-1-2) will travel to Penncrset for a non-league game on Saturday.
Abington 2-0 – 2
Plymouth Whitemarsh 1
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