Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action Tuesday. Upper Moreland/Lower Moreland photos courtesy of Kathy Leister Photography. Check back for a gallery of game photos.
SOL Patriot Division
BENSALEM 3, PENNSBURY 2 (OT)
The Owls celebrated Senior Night by winning a thriller, edging the visiting Falcons when – with under two minutes remaining in the first overtime – Omar Padilla scored the game-winner.
“In overtime, there weren’t a ton of chances, but Brian Gibson got the ball outside and made a nice hesitation move to beat his defender and he slid the ball across to Omar Padilla for the finish and the game winner,” Bensalem coach Rob Brown said. “It was a great way to end Senior Night and kind of ironic that only juniors scored but all of the assists came from seniors.
“It was a good game, and I’m really just happy these kids had the opportunity to play the sport they all love so much. I know this league is tough and our schedule doesn’t get any easier this season. We just look to the next one on Friday at Upper Moreland.”
According to Brown, the Owls found ways to come together during a unique offseason.
“I know this was a weird offseason and summer break, but our kids continued to stay involved with Nike run challenges with our phones, weekly zoom calls and more,” the Owls’ coach said. “Just because we weren’t with the kids didn’t mean my assistants and I didn’t continue to work with them. This senior class in particular has worked hard, and I am happy to see their hard work start the season off with a win. Pennsbury will be tough at their place and we look forward to the season.”
Prior to the game, the Owls honored their senior class and then got off to a slow start when the game began.
“We gave up a really early goal in the first few minutes on some miscommunication by the defense,” Brown said. “The Falcons were able to continue some early pressure and it led to another goal and put the Owls in an early hole. The teams fought pretty even the rest of the half.”
The Owls were able to pull within one goal with less than five minutes remaining in the half after a restart by Nikita Schaefer, who headed home Hunter Shay’s kick.
“Going down early was something we did a lot last season and I had hoped we wouldn’t do again this year,” Brown said. “At halftime, we calmed the boys down and gave some instruction, and we were able to get the equalizer on a loose ball that popped out to Ronaldo Montero, who hit the ball on the volley and caught the keeper out of goal. Brian Gibson was awarded the assist on the play and really gave a lot of life to the Owls. The rest of the game went back and forth, and Harsh Shah made some key stops in goal for the Owls to keep it 2-2 as the time expired.”
Bensalem (1-0) will travel to Upper Moreland for a non-league game Friday, and Pennsbury (0-1) will host archrival Neshaminy on Thursday.
Pennsbury 2-0-0 2
Bensalem 1-1-1 3
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0, NESHAMINY 0 (OT)
The Golden Hawks and Redskins never could find the back of the net and were forced to settle for a scoreless tie.
“Both teams lacked a finishing touch,” South coach Alan Nicholl said. “A limited preseason and no scrimmages definitely showed.”
Council Rock South (0-0-1) will host Council Rock North on Thursday, and Neshaminy (0-0-1) will be on the road at Pennsbury Thursday.
Council Rock South 0-0-0-0 0
Neshaminy 0-0-0-0 0
SOL Colonial Division
NORTH PENN 1, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 0
Ten months have elapsed since the Knights won their program’s first ever state title with a 2-0 win over CB West, and thanks to a shortened season, the two teams found themselves squared off in Tuesday’s season opener.
It was another classic, and the Knights won in dramatic fashion, using a goal late in the second half by Jovani Gonzalez – a transfer from Wissahickon – to eke out the win.
“It was good to see Jovani Gonzalez get the game-winner for us today – that was awesome,” NP coach Chris DePeppe said. “It was great for him – imagine starting a new school with all of this going on. He comes off the bench and scores a great goal for us in a big game.”
The game-winner was set up by a crossing pass from Nate Kim on the right wing that Josh Jones – on the far post – headed back across goal to Gonzalez, who headed it home.
“Josh Jones is a superstar for us,” DePeppe said of the preseason All-American. “He took a knock, but he stayed in the game, which I knew he would. He was probably 60-70 percent for the second half, so he couldn’t really get up and win the headers, but he did get on the end of one for an assist.”
Knight goalie Sawyer Meade delivered a clutch save in the game’s closing minutes, and the Knights’ 1-0 lead stood the rest of the way.
“We learned a lot about ourselves today,” DePeppe said. “We know what CB West does, and they do it very well. We try to prepare for it, but they still kind of get you off your game.
“It was good to see some guys that I had question marks about really stand up to that because defensively you have to be pretty stout.”
DePeppe made a point to take the pressure off his defending state championship squad before they even took the field.
“I told the guys before the game – ‘Don’t expect it to look great right off the bat. Fight through the rough spots, it’s a work in progress,” the Knights’ coach said. “We said from the start – the only silver lining about the pandemic is there won’t be any pressure because even if you should win something there’s going to be 50 schools saying – ‘No one was playing,’ so take the pressure off.’ We want the guys to just enjoy it.”
The Knights’ coach credited the strong play of his defense in the shutout win.
“Our back line was really good,” DePeppe said. “Hunter Stites and Ryan Mindick, our center backs, are both juniors. The way Central Bucks West plays you’re always going to be under pressure with long balls, and they really handled it well.
“In front of them, Roman Ilvoski, a senior captain, was very, very good for us today. He did a lot of good things for us and helped us possess. Our two outside backs, Achilles (Triantafyllos) and Kevin Murphy, played really well.
“It was good to see us battle through. Without having scrimmages, you really don’t know. You have intrasquad scrimmages, but you don’t go at it the same. It’s not the same intensity. We know CB West will bring that every time. They’re going to be good this year – they’ll have another good season, I’m sure.”
North Penn (1-0) will host Pennridge on Thursday, and Central Bucks West (0-1) will travel to Central Bucks South Thursday for a 7 p.m. game.
Central Bucks West 0-0 0
North Penn 0-1 1
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 1, PENNRIDGE 0
The visiting Patriots won a hard-fought battle at Pennridge, using a Brandon Epstein goal in the second half to notch the conference win.
“Always credit to coach Pete (Valimont) and the Pennridge guys,” East coach Josh Isaacsohn said. “They came out firing. We both had some close calls in the first half.
“I think they probably had a little better of the play in the first half, and we regrouped at halftime.
“We haven’t had very much time on our turf, and I think the speed of the game got to us a little bit. Come the second half, we completely cleaned it up and started possessing through the midfield, which this team this year is very strong with. Once we started doing that, we started getting more opportunities on goal.”
Eight minutes into the second half, Epstein turned an Ethan Green pass into a goal that turned out to be the game-winner.
“It was really just solid defensive play that went through the midfield, got dropped back to the defender again, and he put it in,” Isaacsohn said of Epstein’s goal. “We kind of caught their goalie a little bit out of position.
“Brandon’s a sophomore, but he’s actually a captain and just such a wise young player that he realized the situation, and he pounced and took advantage of it.”
Isaacsohn had high praise for his team’s defensive effort in the shutout win.
“My goalie – Kyle Dunigan- was phenomenal,” the Patriots’ coach said. “We have an outside midfielder – Pranaz Kuppuswamy – who played a phenomenal second half. His defensive play led to a lot of offensive chances for us. He played a great game.
“Basically, right up our spine – Graiden Carter, Michael Ferrante, Brandon Epstein and our four backs – Ethan Green, Josh Daniels, Hayden Reid and Jacob BingZaremba. Solid defense really led to everything going well offensively.”.jpg)
Central Bucks East (1-0) will host Souderton on Thursday, and Pennridge (0-1) will be on the road at North Penn.
Central Bucks East 0-1 1
Pennridge 0-0 0
(Club teammates on Vereinigung Erzgebirge, CB East’s Cameron Weber and Pennridge’s Ben Scary waged a friendly battle in the midfield of Tuesday night’s game. Submitted Photo)
SOUDERTON 2, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 1
Ask Matt Benner what he liked most about his team’s season-opening win, and he has an immediate answer.
“Just the fight of the whole team,” said the Indians’ coach, whose team trailed the visiting Titans 1-0 at halftime. “I was really happy with how we responded the second half.
“We weren’t too upset at halftime because we knew that we were capable of playing better, so we tried to keep it simple, make a few changes and just come with a little more work rate and a little better overall performance in the second half.”
A goal by Ethan Cunningham sent the visiting Titans into halftime with a 1-0 lead. Four minutes into the second half, the Indians knotted the score on a South own goal that was set up with Ty Quintois assist.
“We came out, we started to press them a little bit, we started to get chances,” Benner said. “We didn’t want to stop after that first goal. We wanted to keep putting pressure on them, and I thought we did a good job of that. I thought we played much better the second half than the first.”
Tyson Bui connected on the game-winner in the 66th minute.
“It was a misclearance by their goalie, and Tyson had very good presence of mind to just pop his head up and curl in a left-footed shot from 30 out,” Benner said.
The Indians’ coach lauded the play of his back line comprised of Tyler Bovell, Dylan Barbieri, Thomas Smith and Ethan Lacher.
“They’re used to playing together and one of the strengths of our team,” Benner said. “They played a lot of minutes together last year on the varsity team, and they’ve been playing together for a while, so we feel real confident in those four. Our goalie Aiden McClure – we have a lot of confidence in him. He’s grown tremendously, and he’s ready to push us ahead.
“I also think we made some changes at halftime that allowed our midfield to have a little bit more time on the ball. Our two central midfielders – Brody Emery and Ty Quintois – did a real nice job in the second half.”
The Indians are coming off an eight-win season after notching just three wins the year before, but they were far from satisfied with last year’s showing.
“We don’t consider last year a success,” Benner said. “I know we won more games than we had the previous year, but we were quite disappointed with how last year finished.
“We thought we were a playoff team, and we thought we underachieved last year, and we’ve been really pushing each other and setting the bar high. We believe that we’re a good team, and we want to try and win as many games as we can this year.
“We know how hard our league is, and we know that every game is going to be really, really difficult. We want to continue to push and earn everything that we can. Today wasn’t the prettiest win, but a win is a win, and we know that in our league you take everything you can get.”
Souderton (1-0) will travel to Central Bucks East on Thursday, and Central Bucks South (0-1) will host Central Bucks West Thursday (7 p.m.).
Central Bucks South 1-0 1
Souderton 0-2 2
SOL Liberty Division
WISSAHICKON 1, HATBORO-HORSHAM 0
The Trojans notched an electrifying win when forward Jake Slackman found the back of the net with a 25-yard strike with 1.1 seconds on the scoreboard clock.
It was an ending Wissahickon coach Stuart Malcolm and his coaching staff certainly didn’t see coming.
“We looked at the clock when it got to 45 seconds and 30 seconds and said, ‘Okay, let’s regroup, let’s get ready for overtime and see what changes we think we can make to maybe give us a push,’” Malcolm said. “In the last 15-20 minutes, we did get ahold of the ball a little bit better and did get into their final third better than we had done for most of the game.
“When the opportunity came and Jake picked up the ball – he’s a big strong kid, and he managed to shake off a couple of guys. The defender from Hatboro came across and tried to block his shot, and when he hit his shot, it just kind of ricocheted up and just out of the reach of the keeper and hit the back of the net.”
The wind, according to Malcolm, was more of a factor than anticipated in the contest.
“We thought we would be able to get the ball down and play it reasonably well if we had the wind with us,” the Trojans’ coach said. “They did a nice job the first half defending against us.
“We created one or two things but not anything clear cut. The best chance actually came from them. They had a breakaway in the first half, and our keeper – Hunter Graese – made a great save.
“When they had the ball in the second half, our defense did a nice job. When you looked at the score sheet, you didn’t have that many chances for either side. It was more of a defensive oriented game. We tried to get the ball on the ground and knock it around, but it was very difficult to find that final pass that would create more opportunities.”
The Trojans’ coach went on to credit the efforts of several players.
“Hunter Graese worked his way through and earned the starting job this year,” Malcolm said of his senior keeper. “He was nice and steady, and if he needed to come up with a big save, he did it, so credit to him.
“The whole back line – fullbacks Quinn Fonash and Julian Menis and central defenders Idan Jaffe and Jack Schmidt – did a real nice job on their forwards and gave us a platform to not be as concerned with what was going on in the back. They had to work hard for the chances they got. The defenders worked pretty well.
“We’re going to change a few things up to get a few more clear cut chances, but other than Jake putting the ball in the net and the defense playing well, the rest of the guys did a nice job.”
Defense was the name of the game on both sides, and the only difference in this one was Slackman’s last-second heroics.
“It could have gone either way,” Malcolm said. “We’ve had some good tough games, but unfortunately, we’ve come on the other side of those 1-0 games where we played well and just gave up a goal right at the end of the game.
“So it was nice for the guys to be on the end of that and come away with a 1-0 win. It was exciting for our players, but obviously, it was heartbreaking for the Hatboro team.”
Wissahickon (1-0) will host Abington on Thursday at 7 p.m., and Hatboro-Horsham (0-1) will be on the road at Plymouth Whitemarsh Thursday.
Wisahickon 0-1 1
Hatboro-Horsham 0-0 0
ABINGTON 3, UPPER DUBLIN 1
Don’t be fooled by the final score.
Listening to Abington coach Randy Garber tell it, Tuesday night’s opener could have gone either way.
“They’re a very good team, and they’re going to be very, very tough on turf because they’re fast,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “Us being on grass – it could have been and probably was the difference.
“The 3-1 score and the separation really doesn’t tell that we were (two goals) better than them. It’s just that we got two quick goals the second half, came out a little bit on fire, and they came out flat.”
Early on, it looked as though goals were going to come easily for both sides. Liam Hartman scored with a Gavin O’Neill assist in the opening minute, and three minutes later, the Flying Cardinals evened the score on a goal by Sean Seabrook assisted by junior Zach Berman.
“They came down the field and scored as good a goal as we scored,” Garber said of the Cardinals’ quick answer. “It was 1-1 after four minutes, and then it went back and forth the whole entire first half. Either team could have put a ball in the back of the net, but both defenses did a heck of a job keeping the ball out of the goal.”
The Ghosts won it with a pair of goals in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. Arsene Bado scored the go-ahead goal with assists from Bryce Lexow and Thomas Santangelo.
“I said to them at halftime – ‘The first five minutes (of the second half) is going to be the key to this game. Whoever comes out and scores the first goal is going to have control of the game,’” Garber said. “Arsene worked hard – the ball came loose, and he put the ball in the back of the net.”
Minutes later, Steven Fajardo scored an unassisted goal to give the Ghosts a 3-1 lead that held until the final whistle.
“Kevin Kretschman, our sophomore goalkeeper, played outstanding – he did a terrific job in goal,” Garber said. “On defense, Alex Woll did an excellent job, I have to give Oscar Hoffman, a freshman playing in the midfield, credit because he marked their top player. He did a superb job
“Our two captains, Gavin O’Neill and Bryce Lexow, in the midfield – they’re both seniors. They controlled the midfield and played extremely hard.”
On the other side of the field, the Flying Cardinals were never able to find the net after scoring an early goal.
“We just had too many mistakes that Abington took advantage of,” UD coach Andy Meehan said. “They have a lot of speed up top that can cause trouble if you let them. I have a lot of confidence in my players that we will figure it out.”
In what has been a familiar theme, the Ghosts were happy to be back on the field.
“I wasn’t sure that we were going to be playing a first game,” Garber said. “We’re just happy that we’re playing. It’s a 10-game schedule – you play everybody in your league, there are no scrimmages. We had three weeks of practice, and we’re tired of playing each other. To play different faces, I think both teams enjoyed it.”
Abington (1-0) will travel to Wissahickon for a 7 p.m. game Thursday, and Upper Dublin (0-1) will host Quakertown on Thursday (7 p.m.)
Upper Dublin 1-0 1
Abington 1-2 3
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 4, QUAKERTOWN 1
The Colonials opened their season with a big win over the Panthers.
Brendan Corpus and Willy Schildt each scored a pair of goals to ignite the Colonials’ attack. Both had a first-half goal to propel PW to a 2-0 halftime lead with Schildt scoring the game’s first goal. Schildt also closed out the scoring as each player added a second goal after the intermission.
“PW had a lot of opportunities throughout, but the Quakertown goalie was always up to the task and played excellent,” PW coach Richard Kessler said. “Henry Couchara also played excellent for PW.”
Kyle Harwick scored for the Panthers, using an assist from freshman Carter Tull.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (1-0) will host Hatboro-Horsham Thursday, and Quakertown (0-1) will be on the road at Upper Dublin for a 7 p.m. contest.
Quakertown 0-1 1
Plymouth Whitemarsh 2-2 4
SOL Freedom Division
UPPER MORELAND 3, LOWER MORELAND 1
Nine seniors were in the starting lineup when the Bears took the field for Tuesday’s Senior Day contest. Although the Golden Bears fell behind early, they controlled play the rest of the way and scored three unanswered goals to notch the win.
“It was great to finally play a game after three weeks of practice,” UM coach Justin Allegra said. “The boys responded well, they played well, they played hard.
“It was a tough game. There were a couple of (yellow) cards for both teams. The guys played solid and fought through it.”
The Lions took an early 1-0 lead off a failed clearance on a corner kick. Mateo Infante got that goal back when he converted a penalty kick, knotting the score 1-1 in the 18th minute.
That tie held until the 66th minute when Travis Slear scored off a corner service from Infante. Six minutes later, Infante – who had a hand in all three goals – put the finishing touches on the big win when he scored with an assist from Jack Cattie, who made his way behind the defense to set up Infante.
“After half, we came out and were literally peppering them with shots,” said Allegra, whose team held a 15-4 advantage in shots for the game. “We had a couple kids not come out this year because parents were not allowing them to play.
“I only have 15 kids on the roster, so I have a very, very small lineup. We’re senior heavy.”
The Golden Bears’ coach acknowledged the performances of several players.
“Our defense – Greg Wiley, who’s a senior, played on the outside, and I actually started a sophomore, Tyler Holman, on the defense, and those two guys stepped up,” Allegra said. “I was kind of leery about my outside defenders, and they shut them down. They played really well.”
Upper Moreland (1-0) will host Bensalem in a non-league game on Friday at 3:30 p.m. Lower Moreland (0-1) will host former BAL foe New Hope-Solebury on Thursday.
Lower Moreland 1-0 1
Upper Moreland 1-2 3
SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 2, NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 2 (OT)
The Spartans and Lions battled to a draw in New Hope-Solebury’s first game in the SOL. Scoring for the Spartans were Evan Bunting (Riley Martin assist) and Martin (Matt Leibfreid assist).
For the visiting Lions, Declan Curran and Juston Kruse each scored.
Springfield Township (0-0-1) will host William Tennent on Thursday, and New Hope-Solebury will be on the road at Lower Moreland Thursday.
Non-league
WILLIAM TENNENT 2, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 0
Nick D’Andrea doesn’t know when Tennent last defeated Rock North in boys’ soccer, but the fourth-year Panthers’ coach knows it hasn’t been in his tenure. The Panthers broke that trend, scoring a pair of first-half goals and earning a shutout in Tuesday’s non-league opener.
“They’ve beaten us pretty good the last couple of years, so it was a good win,” D’Andrea said. “I’m so happy that we’re playing, I’m happy that the kids are outside running around, and everyone is doing everything they can to make sure they’re safe. The kids are safe, they’re having a ball, and that’s the important thing.”
On the other side of the field, Rock North coach Joe Stackhouse – who coached D’Andrea when he played for the under 23s – had high praise for the Panthers.
“Tennent is a good club – high work rate, intense, very disciplined and focused. They will be in the (district) tournament if we have one,” the Indians’ coach said and then added a personal note to D’Andrea. “It was a great win today, and I’m looking forward to a rematch at your place.”
The Panthers got on the board on a great shot by junior midfielder Paul Nedeoglo with an assist from Carlton Walters. They led 2-0 when Christian Huslin turned a Henry Guzman pass into a goal.
“The second goal came out of a few fortunate bounces,” D’Andrea said. “CR North had a lot of chances, including one in the first minute of the game and several in the second half.
“They are an excellent squad that produced quality chances and are well coached by Joe Stackhouse. We were fortunate to get a positive result today.”
Not to be overlooked was the standout effort of the Panthers’ defense and junior goalie Pat Corley.
“Pat Corley played all 80 minutes, and he did a heck of a job – he’s been on varsity since he was a freshman,” D’Andrea said. “He played tremendous – he made big saves, he played really smart in the back with his feet. He did a good job.
“In front of him, our defense did a nice job. Our center backs, Aidan Markowski and Ben Weir, played just outstanding soccer. They had their hands full because the attack from Council Rock North was pretty potent, especially in the second half.”
The Panthers coach went on to credit the play of his entire squad.
“I thought we played well as a team,” D’Andrea said. “Our midfielders play well. Paul Nedeoglo had a good game.
“It was a good team effort. We ended up playing 19 players, which was really helpful. We had no scrimmages, a very shortened training camp, and I wasn’t sure of their fitness. We went 19 guys deep, and we played pretty well. It was a good way to start the season.”
William Tennent (1-0) will travel to Springfield Township Thursday for its SOL opener, Council Rock North (0-1) will take on neighboring rival Council Rock South on Thursday.
William Tennent 2-0 2
Council Rock North 0-0 0
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