FSL BOYS SOCCER NEWSLETTER
VOLUME XXV NO. 4 OCTOBER 29, 2007
PLAYOFF PAIRINGS SET: RAIN DELAYS FIRST ROUND
Friends Select finished the regular season with a league record of 5-3, including a win over previously undefeated Germantown, and made the playoffs for the first time since 1992. This marks the first time that the Falcons have recorded a regular-season record of better than .500. They will visit second place Shipley in one semifinal, while Germantown will host Westtown in the other semifinal. These games were originally scheduled for Saturday, October 27th, but were pushed back to Tuesday, October 30th by the weekend rainstorm. The championship game will be played on Thursday, November 1st at the field of the higher ranked remaining team.
Select closed out their regular season with three straight wins to move into championship contention. On Tuesday 10/16 they handed visiting Germantown their first league loss, 3-2, scoring the game-winner with 2 minutes left. They then blanked George 2-0 on Friday, 10/19 and ended with a 2-1 win over Abington on 10/23. Westtown also came on strong at the end of the season with wins over Friends' Central (4-0 on 10/16) and Abington (4-2 on 10/19) before tying Germantown (3-3 on 10/23). The point from that tie was just enough to push Westtown into 4th place with a 4-2-2 record, just ahead of Friends' Central and George School, each at 4-3-1. Meanwhile Shipley won their final four games to place second. They topped ANC 5-0 on 10/16, Friends' Central 6-2 on 10/19, George 3-0 on 10/23 and Moorestown 5-1 on 10/24. The gators and the Tigers each ended with 6-1-1 records, but GFS claimed first place with their 3-0 win over Shipley on 9/25.
Other games from the end of the season had Abington and Moorestown tied at 2-2 on 10/16. ANC blanked Moorestown 3-0 on 10/19. Friends' Central ended their season on 10/23 with a 1-0 win over ANC.
With Friends' Central missing the playoffs they ended a streak of 4 consecutive appearances. Germantown holds the current longest streak, as this will be their 7th consecutive year in the playoffs. Westtown joins the final four for the first time since 2004 and only the second time since 1998. Shipley has now qualified for the playoffs in each of their three seasons in the league. George School holds the all-time record, qualifying for 20 consecutive years from 1985-2004. Here are the rankings for playoff qualification in the 27 years of the league.
George School 21 times Germantown Friends 21 times Westtown School 17 times Friends' Central 16 times Abington Friends 12 times Academy of the New Church 8 times Friends Select 5 times Moorestown Friends 5 times Shipley 3 times
FSL BOYS SOCCER NEWSLETTER
VOLUME XXV NO. 3 OCTOBER 15, 2007
Tigers on a 10 Game Winning Streak Overall, Move to 6-0 in FSL Play
On Tuesday, October 9th in very windy conditions host Germantown maintained their unblemished league record with a 3-0 win over Moorestown. The Tigers opened the scoring in the 20th minute on a 20-yard blast from senior Jesse Gemberling-Johnson which the keeper could just get his fingertips on. In the 55th minute Gemberling-Johnson found sophomore Manolo Sanchez with pass at the top of the box. Sanchez maneuvered past two defenders and slipped the ball past the keeper. With two minutes remaining senior Tom West passed the ball to Sanchez who slotted the ball between two defenders right to Gemberling-Johnson who chipped the keeper for the final tally. Junior Zach Fernberger and senior Zach Porges shared the shutout.
Also on the 9th Abington made the short trip to ANC and took home a 1-0 win. Junior Christopher Hennigan won a 6th minute challenge in the box and knocked home a low shot for the only score of the game. Abington had the better of the play in the first half, while ANC came on strong in the second stanza, only to be thwarted by some key saves from 'roos sophomore keeper Nathaniel Simon (6 saves).
The third league contest on the 9th had George School hosting Westtown and coming away with a 2-0 win. The Cougars scored both goals in the first half. In the 20th minute a Cougar corner kick bounced around in front of the goal, was deflected a few times before junior Kyle Scott drove it home over and through the crowd. With 5 minutes left in the half sophomore Seumas Trull recovered a loose ball and laid it off to senior Justin Wiggins whose volley from 35 yards went over the keeper and dipped under the crossbar. In the second half Westtown had two excellent chances to score, but both were turned away on spectacular saves by sophomore keeper Jas Chojnowski. He was credited with four saves overall for the shutout.
Also on the 9th Shipley topped Friends Select 2-1. No details were available at press time.
On Thursday, October 11th host Westtown scored three goals in each half and blanked ANC 6-0. Junior Robert Schmidt scored twice in the second half, while 1st half scorers were sophomore Jake Schorr, junior Sam McCauley and senior Cody Abbott. Senior Andrew Spence closed out the scoring in the 53rd minute. Sophomore keepers Erich Sirinek and Ian McCoyd shared the shutout in goal.
On Friday, October 12th Germantown continued its winning ways with a 3-0 home victory over George School. The Cougars, like the Tigers, were undefeated in league play coming into this game. Gemberling-Johnson opened the scoring in the 30th minute, taking a pass from junior Jack Koehler and then beating two defenders in the box with fancy footwork and feints, before beating the keeper from close range. The Cougars were very dangerous through much of the first half, but could not score. In the 53rd minute Sanchez fed Gemberling -Johnson on the left side where he made a very strong cross that the keeper could not hold onto and sophomore Jason Symonette pounced on the loose ball and knocked it home. With two minutes remaining Symonette passed to Sanchez who beat a pair of defenders and then the keeper for the final goal of the day. Porges and Fernberger again shared the shutout.
Also on the 12th Friends' Central blanked Abington 1-0. (no details available) and Shipley at Moorestown was postponed until 10/24.
FSL SCORING LEADERS THROUGH 10/12 (incomplete)
Manolo Sanchez Germantown Jason Symonette Germantown Ben Gemberling-Johnson Germantown Tom West Germantown Joe Filippone Moorestown Zach Winthrop Select Sam Min George Seumas Trull George Kyle Scott George FSL BOYS SOCCER NEWSLETTER
VOLUME XXV NO. 2 OCTOBER 8, 2007
Tigers Move to 4-0
On Tuesday, October 2nd four games were played, and two of them were scoreless draws. This is most unusual in that in the previous five years of league play there were a total of only three 0-0 games. On 10/11/05 George and Westtown played without scoring. Prior to that we need to go back to the 2002 season when ANC and Westtown drew at zero on 9/20 and then ANC and GFS did the same on 10/11. The scoreless games this year were Friends' Central at George and Westtown at Shipley. In the first game Phoenix keeper Mike Pasek and Cougars' keeper Jas Chojnowski were each credited with four saves. In the second contest Westtown's Erich Serinek made 10 saves while his Gator counterpart, Matt Piltch stopped 4 shots.
In other games played on the 2nd, Germantown traveled to Bryn Athyn and took home a 5-1 win. The Tigers jumped out early, scoring in the 7th, 12th and 14th minutes. Sophomore Manolo Sanchez scored first on a great individual effort after taking on a long punt by keeper Zach Fernberger. Senior Matt Berson tallied next with assists from classmate Ben Gemberling-Johnson and 10th grader Sam Mercuris. Senior Tom West closed out the first half scoring with an assist from Sanchez. Junior Jack Koehler tallied in the 60th minute with assists from senior Henry Miller and West. In the 67th minute Lion junior Kenny Ross scored with an assist from classmate Chris Hyatt. This was the first goal allowed by the Tigers in 7 games (league and non-league) and during this shutout stretch they scored 35 goals. On the tap after Ross' goal the Tigers came back with their final tally, scored by Berson and assisted by West.
Also on the 2nd host Moorestown topped Friends Select 2-1. The Falcons got on the board first with an unassisted goal in the 30th minute by junior Zach Winthrop. As time expired in the first half, Falcon keeper Ben Roach deflected a shot off the cross bar to preserve the lead. In the second half both teams had chances, but only freshman Joe Filippone of the Foxes was able to find the net, scoring in the 59th minute to tie the game, and then notching the game-winner with just over two minutes remaining in regulation. Mike Stobbe and Kyle Koste assisted on the first goal, while the second was a solo effort.
On Thursday, October 4 Germantown blanked host Friends' Central 3-0. All three Tiger goals came as a result of free kicks. The first came in the 27th minute when Sanchez passed to senior Berge Koksuz who lofted a long cross to onrushing sophomore Jason Symonette who headed the ball perfectly past the Phoenix keeper. One minute into the second half West took a free kick, passing it to Sanchez who curved a shot around the wall only to have it smack off the crossbar, but right to an alert Symonette who knocked in the rebound. The Tigers closed out the scoring in the 45th minute when Gemberbling-Johnson's free kick found Abdus-Salaam Muwwakkil who headed the ball past the keeper. Senior Zach Porges recorded the shutout with 4 saves.
Also on the 4th, host Friends Select topped Westtown 2-1, using two goals by senior Nolan Borgman with the gamewinner coming in the 67th minute.
On Friday the 5th two games also yielded 3-0 results, both to the visiting teams. George School won at Moorestown, while Shipley was victorious at Abington. George School scored in the 2nd, 27th and 40th minutes with senior Sam Min, sophomore Seumas Trull and junior Kyle Scott getting the goals. Senior Liam Collins had two assists, while Scott, senior Tommy Kwon and senior Ben Cohen each had one. Chojnowski had two saves, one spectacular, to maintain the shutout. In the Shipley-Abington contest, Jeff Gordon opened the scoring for the Gators in the 20th minute with a head ball goal off a rebound. Dan Mayernick also scored off a rebound in the second half, while Kon Kuznetsov tallied on a breakaway. Piltch again had the shutout in goal.
FSL SCORING LEADERS THROUGH 10/5 (incomplete)
Manolo Sanchez Germantown Jason Symonette Germantown Tom West Germantown Joe Filippone Moorestown Zach Winthrop Select Sam Min George Caith McKee Westtown Matt Berson Germantown Nolan Borgman Select Seumas Trull George FSL BOYS SOCCER NEWSLETTER
VOLUME XXV NO. 1 OCTOBER 1, 2007
Phoenix, Tigers and Cougars Open at 2-0
Germantown opened the league season with a 4-0 home field win over Abington on Thursday, 9/20. Sophomore Jason Symonette tallied twice, opening the scoring in the 25th minute on a solo effort and then netting the 3rd goal in the 51st minute with assists from seniors Tom West and Ben Gemberling-Johnson. Sophomore Manolo Sanchez scored unassisted in the 37th minute and then he and West assisted on senior Berge Koksuz's 77th minute goal to close out the scoring. Senior Zach Porges posted the shutout for the Tigers.On Tuesday, 9/25 The Tigers hosted Shipley in a rematch of last year's championship contest and this time turned the result around with a 3-0 win over the Gators. In the 6th minute of the game GFS was awarded a corner kick and the low driving cross was deflected into the net by a Shipley defender. Sanchez, who took the corner, was credited with the goal. In the 49th minute West sent a long bouncing ball to Sanchez who beat 3 defenders and the keeper for his second goal of the day. The hosts put the game on ice with a spectacular goal in the 68th minute. Symonette took a ball at full speed into the left corner and hit a perfect cross over the keeper to a leaping Sanchez who completed his hat trick with a spot on header. Porges again was in goal for the shutout.
Also on the 25th host Friends Select and ANC went into overtime for the fourth consecutive year before the home team escaped with a 2-1 win. The Falcons opened the scoring in the 10th minute when senior Zach Bove received a cross and knocked the ball home. That score held until the 64th minute when Lions' junior Kenny Ross scored on a solo effort after beating a number of defenders in the box. Junior Zach Winthrop tallied the game-winner 4 minutes into overtime on a shot from wide left. The hosts dominated the first half, while the visitors stormed back during the second stanza and were denied a win in regulation only by some spectacular saves from the Falcons' junior keeper, Ben Roach who ended with 14 saves on the day.
Again on the 25th Friends' Central visited Moorestown and used goals by four different players in a 4-0 win. Dan Adelson, Henry Lobb, Pir Granoff and Matt Bernstein found the back of the net for the Phoenix. These game stats are incomplete.
The final contest on the 25th also went into OT before visiting George School took home a 2-1 win. The Cougars opened the scoring in the 29th minute when senior Sam Min ran onto a long pass from junior Josh Margolis and hit a looping shot from the corner of the 18 over the 'roos' keeper. This score held through the 74th minute when Abington junior David Contosta scored on a rocket shot from the top of the D. 'Roos' sophomore keeper Nathaniel Simon stopped a 1 on 1 early into OT, but could not get to a looping head ball by senior Parker Baum off a cross from junior Alex Reese to clinch the win, although not before the hosts applied serious pressure as time expired.
On Friday, 9/28 three games were played with George topping ANC 2-0, Friends' Central blanking Select 1-0 and Westtown downing Moorestown 3-1. The Cougars opened the scoring against the Lions with a 16th minute goal from sophomore Seumas Trull, with assists from seniors Liam Collins and Min. In the 20th minute the hosts benefited from an ANC own goal off a corner kick. Sophomore Jas Chojnowski made 4 saves in posting the shutout. Friends' Central used a goal from Ryan Levan assisted by Ken Ludwig to top the visiting Falcons. Caith McKee scored twice and Niko Schmidt once in Westtown's win over Moorestown. Both of these game reports are incomplete.
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