Top-seeded Abington came back from a one-goal 1st half deficit on Tuesday, October 29th to outlast Germantown 2-1 for the FSL championship in a game played on an increasingly muddy pitch through a steady cold rain which began as sleet.  The 'roos scored in the 23rd and 69th minutes to offset a Tiger tally in the 20th minute. The game was tightly contested and the result was up for grabs right to the final whistle.  Abington, which had won the regular-season contest 2-0, reached the final with a 4-1 semifinal win over George School.  Germantown topped Academy of the New Church 3-2 in triple overtime to find its way to the final game for the first time since 1997.  Abington missed the playoffs last year, but had made it to the finals in 1999 and 2000, losing to George School both years.

       Abington wasted no time in setting the excitement level of the game when a 1st minute shot caromed off the cross bar.  Germantown answered with a 3rd minute direct kick which yielded a corner kick.  Tiger senior Phil Edelstein cracked a 10th minute header just over the cross bar as action surged from end to end.  Abington had 3 corner kicks in the next five minutes while Germantown freshman Mbizo Mzamane had a 20 yarder go just wide to the near side.  In the 20th minute Tiger junior midfielder Nate Geller picked up the rebound of a direct kick from classmate Max Samuel and drilled a 25 yard shot with the outside of his right into the far-side netting.  Another Tiger shot went just wide in the 22nd minute and on the counter-attack by the hosts a foul was called in the center of the field about 5 yards outside the 18-yard box.  Senior midfielder Chris Hood drilled a perfect shot around the wall which kissed the inside of the left post and bounced across the goal line in the 23rd minute.  Hood had a nearly identical opportunity 11 minutes later, but could not repeat the magic.  The half ended at 1-1.

     A 45th minute shot by Abington junior Josh Simon went wide while Tiger junior keeper Andy Soprano was out of the goal and struggling through the mud to get back in position.  The teams traded good opportunities in the 54th and 55th minutes and then Soprano was called on to make a great save on a breakaway in the 57th minute.  Hood put a shot wide in the 61st minute before being disqualified with his second yellow card of the match a minute later.  The action remained furious as the hosts shot wide in the 65th minute, while the visitors had two excellent opportunities in the 66th minute.  Simon netted the game-winner after a scramble in front of the goal in the 69th minute.  Abington had a good chance for an insurance goal in the 73rd minute and mounted another threat four minutes later, after having a second player sent off for two yellow cards.  Both ejections were deemed "soft-red" offenses allowing the 'roos to maintain 11 players on the field.  Finally, in the 79th minute, Abington's junior keeper Ben Roller was called on to make the save of the game on a shot by Tiger senior scoring threat Carson Pickens.  It looked as if overtime was in the picture, but Roller denied the goal and a final Tiger shot in the 80th minute went harmlessly wide.  Key to shutting down the Tigers' high-scoring duo of Pickens and Mzamane was the 'roo defense anchored by senior sweeper Stewart Rodes.  Numerous through balls, crosses and lead passes were calmly and surely knocked out of danger by Rodes and his cohorts.

     A crowd of 100+ soggy spectators was treated to a most exciting contest which in the end saw the hosts garner only their second ever boys' soccer title.  Abington's first title came in 1984, a year after Germantown had won its first championship.  The Tigers also won back-to-back titles in 1996 and '97.

     Senior Chris Hood  of Abington was named by the league coaches as the top player in the league, thus earning all-state recognition.  He was joined by classmate and teammate Stewart Rodes and Germantown Friends senior Carson Pickens in being named to the all-Southeast Pennsylvania team.  As a result they will play in the City-Suburban all-star game at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 24th at the UGH complex.   Also at the same site and date at 10:30 a.m. the FSL all-league team will play against an all-star team from the Del-Val league.  The coaches recognized the following players as all-league and honorable mention.

    Abington Friends, the top seed, beat #4 George School 4-1 at Abington in one semifinal contest on Saturday, October 26th. Host Germantown needed 3 overtime periods before defeating the Academy of the New Church 3-2 also on the 26th. The two winners will meet on Tuesday, October 29th at Abington in the championship game.

     Abington senior Josh Simon proved to be too much for the Cougars netting all four of his team's goals. He opened with a hard shot through the keeper's hands in the 25th minute with an assist from classmate Chris Hood. This duo teamed up again in the 30th minute, only to see George pull close a minute later when junior Erik Lowell scored with an assist from his defense. Simon made the halftime score 3-1 in the 38th minute when he knocked in the rebound of senior Brian Spiewak's shot. Simon finished off the scoring in the 64th minute with the assist coming from senior Adam Kornblau.

     Tiger freshman Mbizo Mzamane tallied twice, including the game-winner in the final minute of the first of two 5-minute sudden victory periods after the teams had tied 2-2 in regulation play and had played through two 10-minute full overtime periods without adding to the score. Mzamane opened the scoring in the 25th minute (having hit the post 6 minutes earlier) on a 20-yarder with assists from seniors Nick Jackal and Sam Kolbert-Hyle. The Tigers held the 1-0 lead at halftime. Play was even early in the second half, but the Lions knotted the score in the 53rd minute when sophomore Dylan Odhner scored on a left-footed shot off the rebound of a free kick taken by classmate Johan Steiner. In the 64th minute Lions' keeper senior Gordon Latta was forced to make a great save on a blast from Mzamane. Less than a minute after that ANC was called for a push in the area and Tiger senior Carson Pickens converted the penalty kick for a 2-1 advantage. Pickens nearly scored again two minutes later when his header got past Latta only to bounce off the far post. Latta made another great save on Mzamane in the 73rd minute. As the Tigers went into defensive mode in an attempt to run out the clock, a miscommunication in the back line allowed junior Blake Holmes to net the tying goal with under 1:30 to go in regulation time. A Lion header went wide with just 30 seconds remaining. GFS had the better chances in the first two overtime periods, but solid defense and goal keeping kept the score at 2-2. In the sudden-victory OT Tiger junior keeper Andy Soprano was forced to make a good save one minute in, followed less than a minute later by a Pickens shot which went just wide. With about 30 seconds remaining Pickens put a ball across which hit off a Lion defender and rebounded to Mzamane who cranked a volley into the far side netting to send the host team and spectators into a frenzy.

     The 104 minutes played on Saturday made the two teams very familiar with each other, especially since they had gone 100 scoreless minutes on Wednesday, October 23rd in a rescheduled game from October 11th. Soprano and senior Nathan McQueen had the double shutout. GFS needed a win or a tie to clinch second place and home-field advantage in the semifinal rematch. In another rescheduled game on the 23rd Westtown beat Friends Select 2-0. After a scoreless first half seniors Justin Genazano and Andrew Renzi scored in the 62nd and 66th minutes. Assists came from junior Javier Song and sophomore Max Abbott. Junior Max Theoni made two saves for the shutout. The final make-up on the 23rd saw George clinch 4th place with a 2-0 road win over Friends' Central. After another scoreless first half, the Cougars opened the scoring in the 42nd minute when Lowell scored off the rebound of a shot by sophomore Mike Bernardini. Senior Patrick Flannery-Reilly netted an 80th minute penalty kick after a trip in the box. Sophomore keeper Sam Berenstain made 6 saves (including one spectacular one) for the shutout. The fourth game rained out on the 11th was made up on Tuesday, October 22nd. Abington visited Moorestown where the two teams had a goal fest with the 'roos winning 8-4. This game was far from scoreless in the first half as the visitors jumped out to a 6-2 halftime lead before Moorestown closed to 6-4 and then Abington rebounded for the final two tallies. Hood had four goals and an assist and sophomore Shawn Baron had 2 goals and an assist. Simon and fellow senior David Hoyle each had a goal and an assist, while senior Max Kleinman and freshman Robert Armstrong each chipped in with an assist. For Moorestown juniors Chris Mauro, Andrew Kielt, Mark Pelligrini and Will Stouffer each had a goal, while senior Mike Stutz contributed an assist.

     In a regularly scheduled game on the 22nd visiting Germantown beat George School 4-1. The Tigers held a 1-0 lead at the half thanks to a goal from senior Phil Edelstein with an assist from junior Ted Boughter-Dornfeld. Junior Greg Lane made the score 2-0 with an assist from Edelstein. Pickens added a goal with an assist from Mzamane, before junior Jamey Stevens brought the Cougars to within 3-1. Pickens and Mzamane teamed up for a spectacular two-on-one goal in the closing minutes.

     In games played on Friday, October 18th, host Abington moved into first place with a 2-0 win over Germantown. Simon scored in the 13th minute with an assist from Hood and Baron netted an unassisted insurance goal in the 77th minute. Junior Ben Roller had 6 saves for the shutout. Also on the 18th visiting Moorestown topped Friends Select 2-1. Pelligrini had both goals for the Foxes. The final contest on the 18th saw host Westtown top Friends' Central 2-1.

     On Monday, October 14th ANC visited George School and took home a 2-0 win. A scoreless first half saw the Lions absolutely dominate the first five minutes before the hosts began to balance out the play. It was not until the 60th minute when the first score came on a 35 yard direct kick taken by Steiner which caught the keeper off his line. Senior Dan Hultgren finished a through ball from junior Ben Mansbach for an insurance goal in the 71st minute. Latta needed to make only 3 saves to gain the shutout.

     The four league games on Friday, October 11th were rained out and rescheduled for 10/22 and 10/23.

     Host Germantown scored once in each overtime of a hard fought October 8th contest to beat Friends' Central 4-2. The Tigers twice took one goal leads in regulation, only to have the Phoenix knot the score each time. Pickens opened the scoring 4 minutes into the contest with an assist from Mzamane. Junior Kevin Block tied the score just 90 seconds later. Pickens again scored in the 52nd minute only to have the visitors retie the score in the closing minutes of regulation. Four minutes into the first overtime Lane scored the game-winner with an assist from senior Andrew Jacobs. Junior Nate Geller added an insurance goal with a perfectly taken direct kick in the 8th minute of the second overtime. Also on the 8th George School topped visiting Friends Select 3-2, with 3 goals coming in the final three minutes of the contest. Lowell opened the scoring in the 9th minute for the Cougars with a goal off a throw from Bernardini. Falcon sophomore John Noonan evened things up with an unassisted 28th minute tally. The score remained 1-1 until the 77th minute when George School junior Eugene McDermott knocked in a goal at the far post after a corner kick by Flannery-Reilly and a flick on by McDermott's sophomore brother Jay. One minute later senior Chris MacDonald chested in a ball with an assist from Stevens. This goal proved crucial as Select scored in the 80th minute when junior Ho-Hyun Keum knocked in the rebound of a direct kick taken by Noonan. The third game on the 8th was a 1-0 hard, clean win for ANC over visiting Moorestown. Hultgren tallied an unassisted goal in the 55th minute to give the hosts all they needed. McQueen and Latta shared the shutout for the winners with 6 saves between them. The final game on the 8th saw Abington get a hat trick from Simon and a pair of goals from Hood in a 5-1 victory over Westtown. Assists came from Hood, Baron, Kornblau, Jerry Got and Ben Roller. Westtown's lone tally came from Robert LaManna with an assist from Nick Yarnall.  

     On Friday, October 4th visiting Friends' Central blanked Friends Select 7-0.  No details were available at press time.  Two games were played on Thursday, October 3rd, with host Abington beating ANC 2-0 and visiting Westtown downing Moorestown 2-1.  The Abington-ANC contest was scoreless through 75 minutes before an errant ANC clearance went in for an own-goal.  The 'roos tallied an insurance goal in the 79th minute when sophomore Kyle Roller scored off an assist from senior David Hoyle.  Roller's brother Ben (junior) made 3 saves for the shutout, while senior Gordon Latta made 7 saves for the Lions.   Westtown senior Tris McDonnell tallied in the 8th minute with an assist from classmate Justin Genzanno and then scored the game-winner in the 70th minute (assist from sophomore Robert LaManna) to wrap up the win at Moorestown, whose goal came in the 23rd minute from junior Jon Wolf with an assist from senior Mike Stutz.

     On Tuesday, October 1st host Abington was tied by Friends' Central on a 65th minute goal by Chris Campbell.  The 'roos had opened the scoring in the 25th minute on a goal by senior Chris Hood with an assist from classmate David Hoyle.  Both teams had a number of excellent scoring chances with the Abington needing to clear a ball off the goal line and Phoenix freshman keeper Zachary Weimar making several fine saves.  In a real barn-burner, host George School withstood a furious Moorestown comeback and then scored a goal in stoppage time to nail down a 4-3 win.  The foxes opened the scoring in the 10th minute on an unassisted effort by junior Peter Siemons.  Cougar sophomore Alex Artaki evened the score in the 40th minute when he dribbled past the keeper after a through ball from junior Erik Lowell.  Senior Palmer Dalgleish put the hosts ahead 2-1 in the 62nd minute with an assist from classmate Graham Enos.  Junior Jamey Stevens made it 3-1 in the 72nd minute when he finished a ball at the far post which had been crossed by Artaki and flicked on by sophomore Mike Bernardini.  At this point Moorestown came crashing back on the scene with a goal in the 73rd minute by junior Mark Pellegrini of a corner kick by sophomore Max Friedman.  Two minutes later junior Jon Wolf knotted the score with an unassisted effort.  This set the stage for an 80th + minute head ball goal by senior Stefan Verleysan with an assist from classmate Kevin Chung.  In a defensive struggle, visiting ANC needed overtime to defeat Friends Select 2-1.  The Lions opened the scoring in the 31st minute on a goal by senior Dan Hultgren with assists from classmate Heath Pendleton and junior Blake Holmes.  Seven minutes later Falcon sophomore John Noonan flicked a header past the ANC keeper off a free kick from freshman John Oakey.  Junior Chris David returned the favor in the 9th minute of overtime when he headed in a free kick from sophomore Johan Steiner.  The final game on the 1st saw Germantown top Westtown 4-0, with all of the scoring coming in the second half, including 3 goals between the 71st and 73rd minutes.  Senior Carson Pickens scored first in the 50th minute with an assist from classmate Alex Feldman.  Pickens found the net again 21 minutes later this time with an assist from junior Nate Geller.  A minute later Pickens had a head ball assist to a spectacular bicycle kick goal by freshman Mbizo Mzamane who scored again himself a minute later assisted by senior Sam Kolbert-Hyle.  Junior Andy Soprano made 7 saves for the shutout, while Westtown keeper junior Max Thoeni played very well in the first half to keep the game scoreless.

     On Friday, September 27th Germantown traveled to Moorestown and brought home a 4-1 win.  Tigers' senior Carson Pickens tallied a hat trick, scoring unassisted in the 9th minute and then again in the 13th minute off a feed from junior Nate Geller.  The score remained 2-0 until the 60th minute when senior Sam Kolbert-Hyle converted an assist from junior Max Samuel to put the visitors up 3-0.  Junior Peter Siemons brought the Foxes to within 3-1 on an unassisted effort in the 64th minute before Pickens closed out the scoring in the 68th minute with an assist from senior Alex Feldman.  Junior Andy Soprano made 6 saves for the winners, while freshman Kevin Console had 10 stops for the hosts.  Also on the 27th, visiting George School rode two first-half goals to a 2-0 win over Westtown.  In the 8th minute of the evenly played game Cougar sophomore Jay McDermott connected on a diving header with the assist coming from classmate Alex Artaki.  In the 38th minute senior Erik Lowell also scored on a header off a corner kick from junior Jamey Stevens.  Sophomore Sam Berenstain made 7 saves for the shutout, while junior Max Theoni had 6 saves for Westtown.  The third game on the 27th saw ANC blank host Friends' Central 1-0.  Senior Heath Pendleton knocked in a cross from junior Chris David in the 8th minute for the only tally of the game.  A minute later Phoenix freshman keeper Zachary Weimer stopped a penalty kick for one of his two saves in the game.  Lions' senior keeper Gordon Latta notched 5 saves for the shutout.  Weimer is the son of former George School player Steve Weimer and the grandson of former George School coach Russ Weimer.  The Phoenix had the better of the play in the second half, but could not knock the ball across the line. In the final game on the 27th host Abington pulled away to a 6-0 halftime lead on the way to a 7-1 win over Friends Select.  The 'roos got a hat trick from senior Adam Kornblau, 2 goals from classmate Chris Hood and single tallies from senior Brian Spiewak and junior Josh Simon, while 6 players each contributed an assist.  The Falcons goal came from senior Daniel Samai.

     On Friday, September 20th host Germantown Friends topped Friends Select 6-0.  After a first half which saw many GFS chances, but no goals, the Tigers were awarded a penalty kick in the 53rd minute on a trip.  Select keeper Jack Cotter (10th) made the initial save on the shot by Tiger freshman Mbizo Mzamane but Kolbert-Hyle knocked home the rebound for the first of his three goals.  Mzamane scored the next two goals in the 65th and 70th minutes.  Assists on the first goal went to junior Ted Boughter-Dornfield and Feldman, while Boughter-Dornfield and junior Phil Huff assisted on the second.  Kolbert-Hyle netted his second goal in the 73rd minute, assisted by Huff and then he assisted on senior Phil Edelstein's 79th minute goal, before closing out the scoring less than a minute from the end with an assist going to senior Michael Pepe-Mooney. Soprano garnered the shutout with 3 saves.  Also on the 20th host ANC and Westtown battled to a 0-0 draw.  ANC had a few more chances, but both Latta for the Lions (4 saves) and Theoni for Westtown (10 saves) kept the double shutout intact.  The third league tilt on the 20th saw visiting Abington top George School 2-1.  Abington opened the scoring in the 39th minute when Kornblau deflected in a George School clearance.  The 'roos went up 2-0 on a head ball goal in the 58th minute by Hood, assisted by Simon.  The hosts got on the board on a 73rd minute penalty kick by junior Jamey Stevens.  The final contest on the 20th was a 2-1 home-field win for Friends' Central over Moorestown.  Details of this game will be included in the next newsletter.