All four SOL soccer team fell in Tuesday’s opening round of the PIAA Class AAA Tournament. To view photos of the Pennsbury/La Salle game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
(3-3) Wilson 4, (1-1) Abington 1
The Ghosts’ playoff run that included five upset victories in a row and the first district championship in school history came to an end on Tuesday night when they lost to the Bulldogs in the first round of the state tournament at Coatesville. The Bulldogs found the net first and scored in the first 15 minutes. Ten minutes later, a ball was bouncing around the 18-yard line as Wilson’s keeper and Danny Sheppard both approached it.
Subsequently, Sheppard was able to put the ball in the open net to knot the game 1-1. The Bulldogs would score once more in the first half on a reset to send their team into the break with a 2-1 lead.
The Ghosts knew it was all on the line during the second half and pushed to net the equalizer, But as they pushed on offense, Wilson was able to get behind Abington’s defense and score two more goals for insurance.
“They were a very good team and had a lot of the possession,” coach Randy Garber said.
According to the veteran coach, the Ghosts had their chances - one shot ricocheted off the post and another was called back for off-sides.
“It was just one of those nights where the ball didn’t go in the back of the net for us,” Garber said of his squad, which had scored at least a pair of goals in each of its district playoff games.
Garber commended Wilson on tremendous play, especially by their midfielders and two strong forwards.
“It was a good balanced team and they were well coached,” he said.
Although the Ghosts’ season came to an abrupt end, Garber and his players were certainly not disappointed with the outcome.
“Any time you win a District One banner for your school, it’s a pretty impressive achievement,” the Ghosts’ coach said. Impressive is an understatement as the 19th-seeded Ghosts, who finished fourth in their conference after winning their final league game against Bensalem, cruised though the district tournament to finish as the top seed and advanced to the state tournament.
“We surprised a lot of teams,” Garber said. “They are very happy with the way their season went, (although) they wanted to continue playing.”
For the Ghosts, it was not only the last game of their season, but for the senior-led team, the end of high school soccer for many of them. Abington finished its season 15-7-2.
2-1 Delaware 1, 1-2 Central Bucks East 0
One shot.
That’s all it took to bring a postseason of great promise to a sudden end for the Patriots.
“It was one of those games that happen in soccer,” coach Mike Gorni said. “We played very well between the 18 and 18, and it’s probably the only sport where you could have this kind of thing happen. We outshot them 22-3. It wasn’t even close.”
East held an equally lopsided 14-2 advantage in corner kicks, but none of that mattered.
“They had one shot in the first half,” Gorni said. “They have a very good player – Christian Henry, and he hit it direct from 30-35 yards out. It was a legitimate, good shot from a good player.
“That being said, that’s the only dangerous shot they had the whole game. They had two other loopers in the second half, and we bombed them. We probably had 30 throw-ins, balls in the box, everything bouncing around, and at the end of the day, the only thing we didn’t do was finish, and the most important thing to do tonight was finish.
“If we finished our opportunities, we probably win the game by four or five goals pretty easily. Their coach actually came up to me after the game and said, ‘I know what this could have been.’ It’s going to be a difficult one for us to get over. It’s just a very tough loss because we dominated massively, but we didn’t finish. That’s happened to us a number of times this year where we’ve just had a difficult time finishing the ball, and at the end of the day, we’re responsible for that. It’s a disappointing loss, but I think they’ll know in a week that we had a great year and did very, very well, but for the moment, we’re not going to be able to realize that.”
Henry’s goal came in the 22nd minute of Tuesday’s game. The Patriots had 48 minutes to get it back but never could convert.
“It goes to show the importance of being able to finish the ball,” Gorni said. “Oddly enough, we made the most of our attempts against some very good teams.
“In a game like tonight, you need a little bit more concentration, and we just didn’t do that, and that’s the frustrating part.
“The kids know it and we know it. You watch the game, and you realize without much of an effort, you could have won the game going away, and you didn’t.
“Scoring is a vital part of the game, and you can blame everybody else, but the bottom line is when you don’t do it, you only have yourself to blame. Scoring is the most difficult thing to do in a game, and this just goes to prove it. There’s a lot of heartache right now.”
Gorni bids farewell to five seniors.
“We have a very good nucleus back, a young cast coming back,” he said. “But it will be difficult. We have to replace a terrific goalkeeper in Jacob Nesteruk, who just had a really good season.
“Obviously, Ben Marks will be very, very difficult to replace, and our other seniors did a very good job. You graduate seniors, and other people have to step in at some point.”
The Patriots closed out the year with a 16-5-2 record.
(11-1) Stroudsburg 1, (1-3) Souderton 0
The Indians’ game plan heading into Tuesday night’s state opener worked to perfection except for one not-so-minor detail – they couldn’t finish.
“We had thought we were going to be able to get at them with long throws,” coach Tom Quintois said. “We had Tyler MacDougall, who was fantastic in the air – he flipped everything where it was supposed to be flipped. He pretty much dominated the game in the air, and we didn’t finish.
“It’s really disappointing because although that’s a very good team we played, we had a chance to score some goals tonight, and we didn’t do it.”
Neither team got on the scoreboard until 14:10 remained in regulation when Stroudsburg scored the game winner.
“That team worked real hard,” Quintois said. “I felt we had the better chances and opportunities. However, they finished and we didn’t.
“It’s a shame because we did what we wanted to do, but we didn’t capitalize. I can’t explain why we didn’t score tonight.”
Quintois bids farewell to a senior class with a long history.
“I have known these kids and been coaching them since they were 11 years old,” he said of his 10 seniors. “These are kids that are very, very important to me, very dear to me.
“They’re great kids, they’re great students, they’re great citizens in this building. They do a bunch of good things. They deserved a better finish tonight. I’m disappointed for them. That being said, I’m very proud of them.
“As sophomores, they went out and beat Council Rock North in penalty kicks, and as seniors, they knocked off some really good teams and qualified for the state tournament.”
Seniors who provided the nucleus of this year’s squad were MacDougall, Tyler Afflerbach, Ryan Molyneaux, Jeff Wolf, Trey Ziegler, Greg Czekner, Wilson Gonzalez, Matt Hayden Evan Kerr and Elija Pizzo.
“A lot of people talk about Aff, Ryan and Jeff, and they don’t realize how good Elija Pizzo is and Tyler MacDougall,” Quintois said. “These are guys that every night came and brought it and worked really hard. They’re just character kids and kids we’re going to miss dearly.”
Souderton closed its season with a 17-6-1 record.
“The bottom line is you have to capitalize and you have to seize the moment,” Quintois said. “It didn’t happen for us tonight. We’re all disappointed.
“Stroudsburg is a good team. People say, ‘You got a good draw.’ Good draw, really? They have five kids on that team that are really good players. It really came down to a break. They got it and they scored, and we didn’t. That’s what happens when two good teams get together and play.”
(12-1) La Salle 2, (1-4) Pennsbury 0
Sometimes you just need to tip your hat to your opponent, and that’s exactly what coach Tom Stoddart did after his team fell to the District XII champion Explorers in Tuesday's opening round state playoff game.
“They were better than us,” the Falcons’ coach said matter-of-factly.
The Falcons battled the Explorers to a 0-0 halftime tie, this despite the Explorers’ dominance.
“They were all over us,” Stoddart said. “But just like we did against North Penn and Great Valley, we kept everything in front of us, and we gave ourselves a chance and we gave our goalkeeper a chance. Our keeper (Spencer McCullough) made some big saves when he had to.
“We were okay coming out of the half. We had a little bit of possession, we started to move the ball forward. We just messed up on one fundamental thing on a restart. Instead of trying to quick recycle, we tried to get too cute with it, and they caught us on a counterattack and really just took the wind out of our sails giving up that first goal, especially on the counterattack. It would have been one thing if they got it in the run of play because they had the run of play, but the counterattack – they got in behind us and got the goal. Somehow they got a second goal right behind that. From there it was uphill.”
Despite the disappointing ending, Stoddart had no complaints about a postseason run that saw the Falcons – seeded 15th in District One – finish fourth in the district and earn a state playoff berth.
“We were a little up and down at times,” the Falcons’ coach said. “The talent indicates and our schedule indicates – if we make it through our schedule and get ourselves into the playoffs, we should have enough talent to compete for the state tournament ever year.
“I told the boys tonight, ‘Tonight’s not a big game, it’s a big opportunity.’ The success was already there. There’s no such thing as failure at this point in the season. Your season is already validated, you’ve already done what you needed to do. Now can you take advantage of the opportunities that are right in front of you in a state tournament like this.”
Stoddart bids farewell to 10 seniors.
“It was the first group we’ve had through all four years, whether they’ve been involved in the freshman program or came right to the jayvee program,” he said. “It’s nice to see the program come to full term like that.
“They were good kids, they gave everything they could right up to the end. They really didn’t quit. There were definitely parts of our season where they could have said, ‘We lost three games in a row,’ but they stayed on message the whole year. That’s nice when you get that from a senior team. As far as talent goes, in the end, it’s the teams that have more maturity that are usually going to be the teams that advance to the playoffs.”
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