By Alex Frazier
Meet…Greg Hill
Greg Hill’s love of soccer nearly ended his career.
When he came out for preseason practice in his junior year, he was hampered by back pain. It turned out he had two stress fractures on the L5 vertebrae, caused by overuse.
“It was created because I only played soccer,” he said, “and at the level I’ve been playing it was creating stress in some areas of my back.”
He suffered with it for a while and then elected to have surgery.
On Nov. 28, 2007, a surgeon repaired the damage with hooks and a pair of 55-millimeter screws.
Needless to say, his junior year was down the tubes.
Perhaps the hardest thing he’s had to do was sit on the sidelines and watch his teammates play, especially when it came to playoff time. Last year the No. 13 Ghosts upset North Penn and Downingtown West to finish second in the district. They won one state game before losing in the second round to Red Land.
“It was a shame I wasted a season,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I could have helped my team get further in states or win district finals.”
His doctor told Hill he would be able to play again, but he would have to be patient. He waited until late March to start practicing with his Ukrainian National club team.
“It was hard,” he said. “I watched so many games. I couldn’t handle watching anymore soccer games especially going through districts.”
He was, understandably, somewhat apprehensive when he started practicing again.
“It was really awkward,” he said. “It felt good to be playing again, but it was like learning the game all over. I didn’t know how to handle it at first. Everyone else was scared. They would be cautious hitting me. They were watching out for me.”
After playing in a couple of state cup games, he felt like he was “back in the swing of things.”
When he came back to play his final season for Abington, he not only had to deal with his back, but also with a position shift.
Hill had always been an offensive player, either midfield or forward. But coach Randy Garber asked him to play sweeper, which he had never played before.
“That was a very frustrating process,” he said. “I was on the edge about that, really kind of mad. I didn’t want to pick up a new position. Coach Garber encouraged me to try it out and had a lot of confidence in me. I gave it a shot. I had to do it for my team.”
Ironically, after moving back to sweeper, Hill still led the team in goals with 13, all coming on restarts.
“Every possibility we had, we brought him forward,” said Garber. “It took him a while to get used to, but once he got used to the position and accepted the position, he became that much more dangerous coming out rather than playing in the midfield or playing up top.”
“It was very unexpected from me because I played sweeper all year,” he said. “I definitely came back stronger and a lot harder this year.”
Which astounded his coach.
“I honestly didn’t think he would play at the varsity level,” said Garber. “I had no idea he would be as big an impact this year as he was. Not only was he an impact player, but he was physical along with it.”
Other coaches around the league also took notice, as he was selected to the first team SOL National Conference.
Ironically, this year, which was one of Hill’s best, the Ghosts bowed out in a first-round upset by Hatboro-Horsham.
“We had a really unlucky showing,” said Hill. “I put one away early in the game, but we had a tough time scoring the rest of the game.”
Hill started playing soccer for Hunter and now is with the Ukrainian Nationals U-18 team. He also played some lacrosse and baseball, but soccer is now his only sport.
“It’s my favorite sport,” he said.
Hill definitely wants to play in college. He has applied early decision to Lehigh, where he wants to major in business. That is his only choice at present.
“It’s a good distance from home, and academically, it’s a great school,” said Hill. “I think it’s somewhere I’ll fit in.”
He has not received any recruiting calls, even from Lehigh. If he gets accepted, he will contact the coach.
Meanwhile, he will be playing in several college showcases, one at FC Delco next week, and another in Baltimore in late November. He’s hoping to attract some interest at one of those.
“He’s a great all-around kid, very competitive, works hard,” said Garber. “He’ll be an asset to any program he decides to play in. It will be interesting to see in which direction he decides to go. Academically he’s very intelligent.
“We’re going to miss him. There are big shoes to fill there.”
Good bye, Peter – Pennsbury coach Peter Hughes announced to his team following the quarterfinal loss to Neshaminy that he would be resigning as head coach.
It certainly wasn’t the way he would have scripted his final game. For the third year in a row his Falcons tripped in the District One quarterfinals. What made this year even harder was that they lost to archrival Neshaminy, which, by the way, had beaten them twice in the regular season.
“It’s a healthy rivalry,” said Hughes. “They always play hard against us. We played as hard as we could. We just kind of switched off a little bit in the second half.”
The Redskins may have had a bit more incentive since Pennsbury knocked them out of the conference title last year in the last game of the season, giving it to North Penn.
Despite the difficult loss, Pennsbury still had something to be proud of. The Falcons won this year’s National Conference, their second title under Hughes.
“I have been thinking about the system and how strange it is that we were seeded fourth and then had to play again to prove that we’re four,” he said. “The kids and the coaches are a little disappointed. The bottom line is that we should have won. It’s hard to swallow after we had proven ourselves over 18 games, not to represent the league in states.”
Hughes’ decision to step down wasn’t a product of the season-ending loss by any means. He had made it known to the Pennsbury athletic director as far back as last March that it would be his last, but he didn’t tell his players until the final game.
“I wanted to give him plenty of notice,” said Hughes. “It was not a knee-jerk decision. I waited until after the Neshaminy game because I didn’t want it to be about me. I wanted them to stay focused on their own motivations.”
Hughes had been coaching at Pennsbury for eight years, five of them as head coach. He leaves with a varsity record of 64-31-9.
He has coached on both sides of the ocean. Raised in Liverpool England, Hughes played soccer in college and then for a semi-pro team in the Northern Premier League until his knees gave out at age 25.
In 1982, even before he quit playing, he earned his FIFA coaching license, knowing that when his playing days were up, he wanted to remain a part of the game.
An industrial designer in the packaging industry, Hughes immigrated to this country to work for a company in Virginia. He has moved around a lot from Virginia to Boston to Philadelphia and in between, but one thing has remained constant—coaching. Wherever he’s gone, he has found a club or school to continue his abiding interest.
“Every place we’ve been, my wife and I have put down roots and job one is go find a soccer club and introduce myself,” he said. “I’ve made a lot of friends through the years.”
In this area, he coached at Yardley Morrisville and an ODP team in New Jersey as well as at many clinics and camps.
At this point, business commitments are taking precedence over coaching. He is the vice president of sales and marketing for a small design company in Philadelphia.
“I have to wear many hats,” he said. “The owner of the company has started to take a back seat over the past year or so and consequently I have been afforded more and more responsibility. It just became a lot more difficult juggling both things, giving both things 100 percent. I knew that was coming.”
But Hughes admits he won’t be able to stay away all together.
“I’m obviously going to miss it,” he said. “It’s probably going to hit me in the summer next year when I’m thinking, ‘Wow, I don’t have to prepare for the preseason,’ but by then I’ll probably be so tied up with business issues I won’t notice.
“But I promised the underclassmen I’d come back and support them. I’ve already talked to my boss about taking some time off.”
Hughes said he also wanted to remain active in a leadership program at Pennsbury.
“The athletic director still wants me to remain on the coaching committee that I was on,” he said.
District playoffs – Four Class AAA teams qualified for states with two of them from the Suburban One League.
Unfortunately both lost.
In the championship game, No. 2 seed Downingtown West nipped a surging No. 12 Neshaminy 1-0 in overtime.
“They’re a very good team,” said coach Rich Reice. “Their goalie came up big several times and my kid (Alex Smith) made some real big saves, too. He had to come up bigger than their guy did.”
Reice was particularly pleased with the defensive effort, although the Whippets’ game winner came on a botched clear.
“They have three guys that are just explosive,” said Reice. “They’re probably the best three players as a group that go forward of any team we’ve played this year. We didn’t let them get behind us. We kept them in front of us, and made them take some long distance shots. I thought we did a nice job of it.”
In the consolation game, No. 1 Lower Merion defeated No. 3 Central Bucks East 1-0.
“We hit the bar in the first five minutes and they made a great save, and one skidded at the bar,” said East coach Mike Gorni. “They hit the post a couple of times later and scored a goal 20 minutes into the second half and that was it. It was an identical game. Both teams had nine shots; both keepers had six saves.”
According to Gorni, neither team took the game particularly seriously, the goal being to get to states without any serious injuries. Some starters saw no action; neither team played its regular formation.
In one way the fourth-place team has an advantage because it goes into the western half of the state bracket and hence doesn’t have to meet any District One teams until the finals.
•••
Three of four semifinalists returned to the Final Four this year, and two of them were from the Suburban One League. Central Bucks East is back by virtue of a 1-0 win over Strath Haven in the quarterfinals and Neshaminy is the newcomer, replacing Abington, which was upset by Hatboro-Horsham, 2-1, in overtime in the first round.
Neshaminy continued its dominance over neighboring rival Pennsbury, winning for the third time this year, 2-1, in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, the Redskins shocked No. 1 Lower Merion coming back to tie the game in the second half 1-1 on a Dan Foley goal. After a scoreless overtime, Neshaminy won the shootout 3-1.
In the other semifinal, Downingtown West nipped Central Bucks East as the Whippets scored an early goal and held on for the 1-0 win.
State preview – The PIAA Class AAA State Tournament begins on Tuesday.
Two District One teams will compete against District 12 in the opening round. In past years, this was a gimme game.
Not any more.
Not with the addition of the Catholic League.
Neshaminy will take on District 12 champ North Catholic at Northeast’s Charles Martin Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m.
In the most recent Southeastern Pennsylvania Coaches Poll North Catholic is ranked No. 4, while Neshaminy is No. 6.
“Whoever comes out of the Catholic League tends to be a pretty good team, a physical team,” said Reice. “The Suburban One League is pretty physical. It’s not like we’re going to be intimidated by that.
“We have to re-group again. We’re starting off 0-0 right now. When you lose in overtime, it’s kind of a shock. Hopefully Monday we’ll come out and feel good about ourselves.”
Central Buck East, which finished fourth, will have to travel for its first state game. The Patriots will be taking on District Three champion Exeter, a 2-1 overtime winner over Manheim Township. The game will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Hersheypark Stadium.
“They’re going to be a good team,” said Gorni, “but I don’t think they’re going to be any better than the teams we’ve seen either. We’re certainly going in with some good respect for them, but we’re also confident of our own abilities.’
Southeastern Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association Poll
(Through Sunday)
1. Lower Merion. . . 16-1-1
2. Downingtown West. . . 20-1-0
3. Central Bucks East. . . 16-2-1
4. North Catholic. . . 14-1-3
5. Holy Ghost Prep. . . 16-2-2
6. Neshaminy. . . 12-5-2
7. Father Judge. . . 15-3-1
8. Strath Haven. . . 15-2-2
9. Pennsbury. . . 14-5-1
10. Archbishop Wood. . . 18-1-1
11. Haverford School. . . 10-1-2
12. Germantown Academy. . . 12-3-2
13. West Chester Henderson. . . 13-5-0
14. Council Rock North. . . 13-6-2
15. St. Joseph's Prep. . . 13-5-0
16. Upper Darby. . . 14-3-3
17. Octorara . . . 16-3-1
18. Abington. . . 13-5-1
19. La Salle. . . 11-7-0
20. Shipley. . . 14-2-0
Others receiving votes: Bartram, Radnor, Pennridge, Owen J. Roberts, Washington, Hatboro-Horsham, William Tennent, Upper Dublin, Lansdale Catholic, Conestoga, Christopher Dock, Delco Christian.
NSCAA/adidas® Region III National Rankings
(Oct. 28)
1. St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J.) 17 - 1 - 0
2. Lower Merion (Ardmore, Pa.) 16 - 1 - 1
3. Rancocas Valley (Mt. Holly, N.J.) 15 - 0 - 1
4. Downingtown West (Downingtown, Pa.) 20 - 1 - 0
5. The Pingry School (Martinsville, N.J.) 12 - 0 - 1
6. Paramus Catholic (Paramus, N.J.) 14 - 1 - 0
7. Ramapo (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) 11 - 0 - 2
8. Central Bucks East (Doylestown, Pa.) 16 - 2 - 1
9. Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) 13 - 2 - 0
10. Manheim Township (Lancaster, Pa.) 20 - 3 - 2
11. Mount Lebanon (Pittsburgh, Pa.) 19 - 1 - 0
12. Harrison (N.J.) 16 - 1 - 0
13 North Catholic (Philadelphia, Pa.) 13 - 1 - 3
14 Columbia (Maplewood, N.J.) 14 - 2 - 1
15 Father Judge (Philadelphia, Pa.) 15 - 3 - 1
- Log in to post comments
0
