Springfield Twp & Lower Moreland were winners in SOL boys’ soccer action. CR North/CR South battled to a tie. CR North/CR South photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos:
SOL Patriot Division
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 2, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 2 (2 OTs)
Emotions run high when the neighboring rivals meet, and it was another classic battle on Tuesday night, but even a 100 minutes of soccer could not determine a winner in this one.
“It was a typical local derby where you have two teams kicking the shins off each other,” Rock South coach Alan Nicholl said. “There’s a lot of emotion on the field as you would expect. It was nice the game got moved to 7 p.m. under the lights. It got a good turnout, and that’s reflected in the players’ effort and their emotion on the field.”
The Golden Hawks got into the scoring column midway through the opening half, thanks to an unassisted goal by Declan Haines from inside the box. Corey Brennan answered 10 minutes later with a goal for the Indians off a long throw-in, and the two teams went into halftime deadlocked.
“It was an evenly played half,” Nicholl said. “The momentum bounced around a bit.”
Frankie Rafferty put the Golden Hawks on top 2-1 with an unassisted goal 10 minutes into the second half.
“We kind of felt at the 20-minute mark, down to the 10-minute mark, down to the five-minute mark there were a lot of changes being made,” Nicholl said. “You could tell (Rock North coach) Joe (Stackhouse) threw the kitchen sink at us, which is to be expected. It was a lot of long balls into the box, and we were doing a lot of defending late in the game.”
With time winding down, James Reynolds connected for the equalizer – also on a long throw-in, setting the stage for overtime.
“It was a typical end to the game as they were scrambling to try and stay in it,” Nicholl said. “Then the overtime started, and I was actually concerned, if I’m being honest. I felt giving up a goal with only two minutes left that they’d enter the overtime with a little bit of momentum.
“I said to the kids after regulation, ‘Be really careful here. We’ve been the better side the past 40 minutes. Don’t let that one goal with two minutes to go shift the momentum. Go back out there, regain control, keep your focus and regain that momentum.’
“For 20 straight minutes in the overtime, we kicked them up and down the field and did everything but find the back of the net. We could have scored multiple goals in the overtime. I thought North clung on for dear life in the overtime. I’d say they were very happy to see the final whistle blown.”
The Golden Hawks’ coach credited the efforts of several of his players.
“Frankie Rafferty is always a handful – anytime he’s around the ball, he’s dangerous,” Nicholl said. “They knew it, but he still gets his goal. It’s such a great effort. He draws an awful lot of attention, and that opens up more space.
“I thought defensively we looked very organized. Their long throw-in is just lethal. They just throw everything into the sticks. I know we gave up two goals on it, and if I’m being honest, I thought it was the only place that North looked dangerous even though I thought they worked very, very hard between the 18s. Ari Pollack is a terrific player. They’re a very, very hardworking team, and they do make you work for it.”
The Hawks’ defense, according to Nicholl, withstood a lot of long balls into the box.
“At the end of the day, I thought it was a great statement by our defense,” the Hawks’ coach said. “My goalkeeper (Evan Zawodniak) was very organized. When you play against a
team that works as hard as North does – they’re a scrappy, hardworking, physical team, I was very pleased with how our defense responded to that level of physicality and the emotion that goes into a game.
“You kind of tether on that line of being too emotional where you get scrappy and you get off of your game because you’re not focused, but yet you still have to be emotional to manage the physicality in the game, so I was very pleased with the way our defense and goalkeeper played to keep their composure.
“I was also very, very pleased with the midfield. We kind of shifted to a three-man center midfield, and it was seamless. We had the lead, and we were kind of holding on late in the game. We were trying to build a little bit more possession as they were throwing an awful lot at us. I didn’t want to get into playing long balls. I think the midfield worked tirelessly today. Mike Burns, in particular, just worked really, really hard. Garrett Cohen is another one I thought put in a great shift today, left it all on the field. You could tell – the boys were very disappointed. They thought we dropped points today, and I thought we did too.”
Council Rock South (3-0-1, 2-0-1 SOL) will travel to Neshaminy on Wednesday, and Council Rock North (4-0-1, 3-0-1) will be on the road at Neshaminy on Friday.
Council Rock South 1-1-0-0 2
Council Rock North 1-1-0-0 2
SOL Freedom Division
LOWER MORELAND 7, UPPER MORELAND 1
(Game info will be added when it is received.)
Non-league
SPRINGFIELD TWP 6, ACADEMY PARK 1
The Spartans made the trek to Sharon Hill worth their while, rolling to the decisive win.
Scoring one goal each were Riley Martin, Nick Hanushchak, Nick Marino, Harry Bates, Adam DiBattista and Shaun Bleeker.
Ben Hubley had a pair of assists while Roman Corcoran, Kayden Sowell, Nate Gazzara and Riley Martin each had one helper.
Academy Park’s lone goal was scored by Lawrence Buigbo.
Springfield Township (4-0, 2-0 SOL) will travel to Upper Moreland on Wednesday.
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