Blast From The Past 1954

Blast from the Past, 1954

The 1954 Aces, coached by Bob Hill and co-captained by Jack Robb & J. Piercy, were the winners of the very first official PA District One Boy's Soccer Championship , and also represented District One in the very first Inter-District playoff game against the District Three Champion. At the time, these 2 districts were the best in the state, so everyone considered this Inter-District playoff game the unofficial “State Championship”.

With most of the scoring coming from All-League forwards Bob Kessler (also chosen to the All-Scholastic Team, which was another name for All-State) & Tom Miller, and the defense boasting 2 more All-League selections in Dave Buten & Don Dougald, LM easily won the Suburban One League title with a 7-1-0 record. Haverford & Upper Darby were tied for 2nd place, with Abington 4th & Cheltenham 5th. The Aces regular season record was 10-2-3, with an early season loss to then powerhouse North Catholic 3-1, and an 1-0 upset defeat at the hands of Haverford High. The offense scored 32 goals, while the defense allowed just 16 (with 8 shutouts, including 5 in a row).

In the Distrcit One Championship game the Aces took down Bethlehem Liberty 3-1. Not knowing what to expect in the very first Inter-District playoff game, LM showed up with their usual 20-man squad, 2 coaches, and about 20-30 parents, students, & Aces fans. Their District Three opponent, North Lebanon, arrived with a band, cheerleaders, and over half the student body. It must have paid off as LM went down 4-1.

Strath Haven

My apologies to all. The Strath Haven game was played Monday (yesterday) instead of Tuesday due to the Jewish holiday. The game was close all the way with the LM defense continuing their fine play. Regulation ended in a 1-1 tie, with senior Russell Peck scoring the Aces' goal. It came in the 1st half off a corner kick from senior Anthony Haines. There was no scoring in the two 10-minute overtime periods so it is recorded as a tie.

This Thursday LM hosts Penncrest at 3:45 PM in another important Central League game.

In this week's Southeastern PA Soccer Coaches Association poll LM (5-1-1) moved up 5 places to #9, with Conestoga (6-0-0) at #4, and Marple Newtown climbing into the top 20 at #16. Father Judge, C.B. East, & Haverford School still remain the top 3 respectively.

Annual LM Soccer Alumni Soccer Game:

We have 15 players already signed up to play in this year's LM Soccer Alumni game on Saturday morning, October 17th, at 10 AM on Arnold Field. We need at least 10-12 more as we plan on splitting the players into 2 teams so they can play each other.

If you haven't emailed me yet (bubdavidson@comcast.net) that you plan on playing please do so soon so we can make the necessary arrangements, and continue to pass the word.

Blast from the past 1942

Blast from the Past, 1942

Every week, for the rest of the season, I'm going to be highlighting different Aces' teams & players from each decade who have earned "Blast From The Past" status for their accomplishments. I want to make this a weekly feature here on "Coach D's Blog" so current and future players can get a feel of the history behind this great program. This week our subject will be the 1942 squad, coached by LM Soccer Hall of Famer Robert Hill. This team started a string of 7 straight league titles for the Aces, prompting several players from this team to later proclaim, "We taught coach Hill how to win".

The team was led by captain Art Campbell and high-scorer Walt Lownes. Both of these players still share the LM record for scoring the most goals in a single game (6). Making up the backbone of the team were; goalkeeper Jeff Shorts, midfielder (then called halfback) Bob Narrigan, fowards Harry Olson & Frank Zinni, and defender (then called fullback) Bill Sapp.

The league they were in at that time was called the Suburban One League, and was comprised of the 4 biggest public schools in District One; LM, Abington, Upper Darby, and Haverford High. The Aces finished at the top with a 5-1 record (as they played each team twice), with the next closest team, Abington, at 2-2-2. LM's schedule that year looked like this, with the score of the game in ( ); Central (4-1), Haverford School (1-3), West Philadelphia (2-1), Abington (4-1), Episcopal (0-2), Upper Darby (2-0), Frankford (3-2), Haverford High (1-0), Hill School (0-4), Abington (5-3), Friends Select (1-0), Upper Darby (2-0), Haverford High (1-2), and Germantown (2-0). Their final record was 10-4, and there was no postseason, as the district playoffs did not begin until 1954.

On A Roll

The Aces traveled to Upper Darby this afternoon for another important Central League contest. Coming off 2 straight wins after their only loss this season against Conestoga, LM wasn't about to give anything back. An old quote that hung in the Aces locker room for many years says it all, "The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender".

Midway through the 1st half  LM senior Anthony Haines put a corner kick right on the money to sophmore Thomas Podrasky and he put the Aces ahead 1-0. As most games with the Royals are, it was very physical, producing 3 yellow cards, but LM would not back down. Senior Jake Newshaffer, subbing for injured Aces' goalkeeper Sebastian Jenkins (broken nose), had a great day in goal, making several key saves. LM controlled most of the play, both on the ground & in the air, using a very efficient ball control game while the Royals were content to play long ball but couldn't solve the vastly improving Aces' defense. Final score 1-0 (4th shutout in 6 games), taking LM to 5-1 overall & 2-1 in league play.

Next week has the Aces hosting Strath Haven on Monday and Penncrest on Thursday (both games 3:45 PM).

Errors is "Thriller at Arnold" post

My apologies to Max Knight-Surie & Quinn Vagnoni for mistakenly listing their class incorrectly in the "Thriller at Arnold" post. They are both seniors, not sophomores. 

LM Boy's Soccer FAST FACTS thru 2014

* LM’s 925 total high school soccer wins
   ranks in the top 3 all time in PA history

* LM has won 21 Surburban 1 League Titles.

* LM has won 11 Central League Titles.

* LM has won 7 District 1 Titles, with 6 Runner-up finishes.

* LM has won 1 State Title, with 2 Runner-up finishes.

* LM qualified for the District 1 Playoffs 13 consecutive years

            from 1984 thru 1996, and 37 years in all.

* LM qualified for the State Playoffs 5 consecutive years from

            1984 thru 1988, and 8 years in all.

* LM had a player voted to the high school All-America team

            8 consecutive years, and 13 years in all, including 2 in 2008.

                        1987 – Drew Misher      1994 – Jon Hanks

                        1988 – Chris Schreiner  2005 – Drew Cotler

                        1989 – Lou Spivak        2006 – Drew Cotler

                        1990 – John Howard     2007 – Greg Robbins           

                        1991 – Will Kohler       2008 – Nick Bibbs & 
                                                                    Dan DiLullo

                        1992 – Will Kohler       2013 – Francisco Palma

                        1993 – Jon Hanks

* LM Soccer began a Soccer Hall of Fame in 2006

            * 2006 inductees

Harold Helveston – coach (1924 – 1941)

Robert Robinson – coach (1967 – 1990)

Bob Davidson – player (1961 – 1963) / coach (1974 – 1995)

Jeffrey Rhodes – player (1962 – 1964)

Steve Davidson – player (1963 – 1965)

Drew Misher – player (1985 – 1987)

Jason DiLullo – player (1986 – 1988)

Will Kohler – player (1990 – 1992)

            * 2007 inductees

Robert Hill – coach (1942-1959, and in 1962 & 1965)

Tom Farr – player (1971-1973)

            * 2008 inductee

Jonathan Hanks – player (1991 - 1994)

            * 2009 inductees

Doug Brown – player (1973 – 1975)

John Wynn – player (1942 – 1944)

            * 2010 inductees

Chris Schreiner – player (1986 – 1988)

David Urban – player (1983 – 1985)

            * 2011 inductee

Walter (Bud) Lownes – player (1941 – 1943)

            * 2012 inductee

1987 State Championship Team

            * 2013 inductee

1968 League, District, & Inter-District Championship Team

            * 2014 Inductee

James Billington - player (1943 – 1945)

Thriller at Arnold

This afternoon LM hosted the Haverford Fords in a key Central League game. Already 0-1 in league play the Aces needed a win to stay in early contention. The game started out slow, with both teams in a defense-first mode. LM used a 6 man sub rotation to keep the players fresh in the high 80 degree conditions.

With very few scoring chances for either team through the 1st 20 minutes, the Fords would break the ice first. With 18 minutes left in the 1st half their #10 scored on a beautiful turnaround 18 yard bullet, giving Aces' junior goalkeeper Sebastian Jenkins no chance. Two minutes later, juiced by the early goal, the Fords tested Jenkins again but this time he came up with a big save. A few minutes later LM had their own good chance but shot wide from 15 yards out. Despite dominating most of the 1st half LM had trouble building forward, despite a strong performance by their senior center midfielder Max Knight-Surie who was making plays all over the field.

In the 2nd half Haverford came out even more defensive, so, being 1 goal down, coach Severini made a move to bolster his offense. He brought senior center back Quinn Vagnoni up into center midfield, immediately paying dividends. The Aces began getting great scoring opportunities and early in the half an LM corner kick beat the Ford keeper but was alertly saved by one of the post defenders. LM's biggest weapon in the 2nd half proved to be senior Jeremy Hillsberg long throw-ins. As the game clocked ticked down under 2 minutes one of those throws would find the foot of junior Alex Moureaud, who ripped one low left from 10 yards out and the game was tied 1-1, and would go into sudden-victory OT.

There was no score in the 1st 10 minute period, but with 6 minutes left in the 2nd Hillsberg lined up for still another long throw-in deep in the Ford end. This time the ball rebounded off a Haverford player and into the net for an own goal, and a hard fought 2-1 OT win for the Aces.

Next up LM travels to Upper Darby on Saturday for another key Central League game (10 AM start).