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By Alex Frazier
A slick field and intermittent rain was not conducive to goal production Wednesday evening.
Indeed, Council Rock South and Hatboro-Horsham spent 100 minutes trying to put the ball in the net and in the end had to settle for a 0-0 tie.
Neither coach was particularly upset about the non-league deadlock.
“I was very pleased,” said Rock South coach Alan Nicholl. “On a small football field for the defense not to give up a goal is tremendous.”
The players weren’t as willing to accept the scoreless tie.
“It’s never a good thing to get a tie,” said Rock South goalie Dan Murphy. “I’d rather have the win. At this point I’d like to take the win, but a tie against a really good team like this is great feat.”
Despite the conditions, both teams were equally matched—both blew good chances and both played good defense.
“I didn’t think Hatboro or Council Rock was the better team,” said Nicholl. “A draw was a fair result.”
Both goalkeepers were quite active, coming off the line to break up plays or collect through balls.
Early in the game, Council Rock South’s Tim James gave the Hatters fits. Three minutes into the game he stole the ball from a Hatter defender and fired a shot at Frank Pileggi, who came up with the save. Eight minutes later he fed Scott Dion sprinting up the right sideline. Dion’s shot sailed wide left of the goal. And with just over a minute left in the first half, Pileggi won a foot race against James to force a corner kick.
Hatboro-Horsham had one good chance with 13 minutes left, but Andrew Weyershauser’s header off a direct kick sailed wide of the mark.
With about 22 minutes left in the second half, Murphy came up big on one sequence when he deflected a shot from his right and then saved the rebound at his left. For Murphy, the slick conditions made him concentrate even more.
“During these games I actually get more focused because there’s so much more on the line,” he said. “If you don’t get behind the ball, it will skip right off. The ball came across and I was able to get to it. My defenders were screening off the other players so they couldn’t come in and hit me.”
“I was very happy with the goaltending given the conditions,” said Nicholl. “It’s a tough position to play in any game and in conditions like tonight it becomes a real bear to work through a game like this.
“Danny’s a senior; he’s a captain, a veteran player. I expect those kind of defensive performances from that caliber of a player. He showed his leadership ability.”
The young Hatters also showed poise on defense. They haven’t given up a goal in two games, and if you don’t give up goals you don’t lose games.
Rookie coach Kyle McGrath has focused on defense early, and it has shown. He has relied on his three seniors in the backfield—Pileggi, sweeper Ross Garabedian and right back Scott Horner.
“They’re leaders back there,” he said. “They get the younger guys in line and take control and they take pride in defending. Our goal every game is to get a shutout.”
McGrath knew coming into the season that finishing would be a concern. The Hatters would have had more scoring opportunities had they not been flagged for offsides quite a few times.
“That’s something we have to work on,” he said.
“It’s looking good for us but we just have to work on our finishing,” said Newsome. “In practice we haven’t worked on it a lot. It’s good we’re getting our opportunities, but we have to convert on what we’re doing.”
Three games in, Nicholl is happy with what he’s seen so far. He has a lot of depth on the bench and is running players in and out, experimenting with numerous options.
“We have a bunch of guys returning from last year,” said Murphy. “We have a lot of guys that were on the bench last year and watched a lot and they’re stepping up to the plate.
“We’re pretty solid all around. We don’t have any outstanding stars anywhere on the field, but every single place there’s a bunch of guys that can play well.”
Council Rock South (1-1-1) 0, Hatboro-Horsham (1-0-1) 0
Shots: Council Rock South 7, Hatboro-Horsham 11
Saves: Dan Murphy (CRS) 7, Frank Pileggi (HH) 2
Corners: Council Rock South 5, Hatboro-Horsham 3
Fouls: Council Rock South 11, Hatboro-Horsham 16
Yellow cards: Jon Rosenbaum (CRS), Sean Ebert (CRS), Ryan New (HH)
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