To view game action photos of the North Penn/Great Valley game, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
By Alex Frazier
What a great night for the Suburban One League. Of nine teams playing in the first round Tuesday, seven of them are moving on to Thursday’s second round.
Six of the games were upsets, the biggest perhaps being C.B. West’s 2-0 win over Conestoga and Cheltenham’s 1-0 win over PAC-10 champ Boyertown.
Council Rock South’s game against Upper Darby was postponed until Wednesday. Below is a summary of the games played.
William Tennent 3, Downingtown East 2 – In a mild upset, the No. 17 Panthers nipped No. 16 Downingtown East.
Tennent came out pressuring the East backs and nearly scored.
On an overlap play, Dan Eckhardt fed Justin Massaro who scored with 9:48 left in the first half.
Just 30 seconds into the second half, Downingtown scored on a miscommunication between the sweeper and keeper.
That gave the Cougars momentum, but the Panthers withstood until Tim McCabe buried a direct kick from 25 yards out to give the Panthers the lead. Dan Eckhardt scored an insurance goal when he flicked a bouncing ball into the net following a corner kick.
Downingtown scored off a corner with eight minutes left, but Tennent held on for the win.
Calvin Young had five saves in goal.
The Panthers will take on No. 1 seed Pennsbury (for the third time this year) Thursday at 3 p.m. at Macclesfield
Central Bucks East 3, Spring-Ford 0 – The No. 25 Rams were no match for eighth ranked East. After playing sparingly all year due to injury, Cole Feindt scored the game winner for the Patriots. Ryan Apt and Steve Mannato tacked on insurance goals.
The Rams managed just one shot against Shane Donovan.
Neshaminy 2, Wissahickon 1 – A lackluster first half produced a scoreless game after 40 minutes. The No. 24 Redskins Jared Campbell scored 10 minutes into the second half.
The No. 8 Trojans came right back to tie the score on a goal by Stefan Dasbach and started taking control. But with nine minutes left Rick Domico chipped a ball past Erik Riefenstahl and ran around the Wissahickon keeper to net the game winner.
Mike Klimowicz made seven saves for Neshaminy.
“Wissahickon’s a good team,” said Neshaminy coach Rich Reice. “It was good to get out of there with a win.”
The Redskins will play C.B. East at War Memorial Field at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Cheltenham 1, Boyertown 0 – The No. 20 Panthers upset No. 13 Boyertown for their first playoff win in years.
The game was played on the turf at Owen J. Roberts.
“It was a great win for our program,” said coach Nick Zegestowsky.
Dmitry Zherdev scored the game winner. He took a cross from the right and went one on one with the Bear keeper, hitting the ball inside the near post with the outside of his right foot.
Goalie Danny Marsden, who started the season on the jayvee, stopped six shots to preserve the shutout.
“He’s made a big difference,” said Zegestowsky.
The Panthers play at No. 4 Unionville Thursday.
Central Bucks West 2, Conestoga 0 – The No. 21 Bucks pulled off a major upset over No. 12 Conestoga. According to coach Steve Detweiler, it was the first playoff win at least since Central Bucks South split off and possibly dating back to 1999.
“To be the 21st seed and knock off the 12th seed is a big accomplishment,” said Detweiler.
Will Wister headed a ball in off a corner kick in the fourth minute of play. The Bucks scored again early in the second half with Sam Wild connecting on a direct kick from 22 yards out.
Keeper Ray Downs made four great saves to ensure the shutout.
“He played well all night,” said Detweiler.
The Bucks had been inconsistent during the season due to a spate of injuries. Although they are still not 100 percent, they are getting a good effort from the reserves who gained experience during the regular season.
The Bucks will go on the road again Thursday night to play No. 5 Strath Haven.
Great Valley 1, North Penn 0 – Despite outshooting the Patriots two to one, No. 15 North Penn couldn’t get one in the net. The Knights dominated No. 18 Great Valley for the entire second half. The Patriots’ keeper came up with a huge backward leaping save when he dove for a loose ball in front of the goal and then scored in overtime to eliminate North Penn.
Sean Murphy made four saves in goal for the Knights.
“It was a tough loss,” said North Penn coach Paul Duddy, “but all in all, it was a good season.”
Council Rock South v. Upper Darby – Postponed until Wednesday.
Pennridge 2, West Chester Henderson 0 – The No. 19 Rams scored two goals in the first half and held on to knock off 14th seeded West Chester Henderson.
Pennridge pressured Henderson’s outside backs and Dan Caya scored in the 31st minute from a pass by Kevin Bailey. Five minutes later Caya struck a laser on an indirect kick that the Henderson goalie knocked down but couldn’t hold onto as Joey Larwa finished it.
“It was one of our finer games,” said Pennridge coach Peter Valimont, “right when we needed it.”
The Rams will take on No. 3 Council Rock North Thursday. The Indians defeated Pennridge 2-1 early in the season when Pennridge was without its starting keeper. The Rams had a 1-0 lead with 18 minutes left before giving up two goals.
Souderton 1, Interboro 0 –AJ Androkites scored in the second half to give the No. 6 Indians the win over No. 27 Interboro. Dave Giannini posted his 13th shutout of the year.
The Indians will host West Chester Rustin on Thursday at 7 p.m.
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