A Little Bit of Everything

This morning the Aces took on Downingtown West, with a spot in the District 1 Final Four, and PIAA State Playoffs on the line. The Whippets had some early field advantage, but could not generate much offense, other than off restarts. For the 2nd straight game, LM's first touch was a little off, but they made up for it with great hustle. They did have a few scoring chances, but couldn't capitalize, and the 1st half ended 0-0. Ten minutes into the 2nd half the Aces were awarded a penalty kick, but shot wide right. The momentum switched right over to Downingtown, and with less than 18 minutes remaining, the Whippets took a 1-0 lead, coming from a mis-played ball in the Aces box. For the next 17 minutes the LM players took it up a notch, getting numerous opportunities to tie the game, but couldn't solve the Whippet's keeper. Then, with 7 seconds left in the game, the Aces were awarded a free kick from about 45 yards out. Senior Jonny Dolezal, pushing up from his regular sweeper spot, pounced on a rebound and with only 1.3 seconds showing on the game clock LM had tied it up. Amazing.

Two 15 mnitues sudden-death overtime periods would be played, with the Aces riding high on momentum. Depite LM controlling most of the 1st overtime period, and getting a couple of real good scoring chances, the game remained tied. Midway through the 2nd overtime period, Aces senior Israel Nunoz made a fine move on the baseline and centered the ball to an unmarked Max Tassano in front of the net. Tassano couldn't find the handle in time and the ball was shot just wide. The game, and LM's season, would be decided by penalty kicks.

Last year the Aces lost in the District 1 semi-finals, and in the PIAA State quarter-finals, both on penalty kicks. Lets hope it would be different today. Downingtown went first, and converted on their first 3 kicks, with Aces keeper Jack Van Adelsberg just getting a piece of the 3rd one. LM followed suit, as seniors Jordan Wolf, Max Tassano, and Jonny Dolezal also converted, and it was 3-3 with 2 kickers left. The Whippets scored again on their 4th kick, and then their keeper made a beautiful save on Aces junior David Rosenfeld, so it was 4-3 Downingtown with 1 kicker remaining. Downingtown converted their last kick, and LM would go down again on penalty kicks, and end their season. A very tough way to lose.

More blog tomorrow.

Playoff Match-ups

The Aces take their 17-2 record, the #2 seed, and an 8-game winning streak, into tomorrow’s quarter-final showdown with defending PIAA State Champion, and #7 seed, Downingtown West. The winner will advance into the District 1 semi-finals next Wednesday night (at a site & time to be announced), and play the winner of the Pennridge (#19 seed) vs. Souderton (#6 seed) game. All 4 District 1 AAA teams making the semi-finals will automatically move on to the PIAA State Playoffs.

One of the surprises of the District 1 playoffs so far has been the play of #19 seed Pennridge (who the Aces beat 3-1 early on in the season), who has knocked off #14 seed West Chester Henderson 2-0, and then #3 seed Council Rock North on penalty kicks. The other surprise is #17 seed William Tennent, who first beat #16 seed Downingtown East 3-2, and then upset #1 seed, and tournament favorite, Pennsbury 1-0.

The 4 quarter-final match-ups tomorrow are as follows:

#17 William Tennent at #8 Central Bucks East

#5 Strath Haven at #4 Unionville

* The 2 winners will play each other in one semi-final
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#7 Downingtown West at #2 Lower Merion

#19 Pennridge at #6 Souderton

* The 2 winners will play each other in the other semi-final

Blast from the Past, 1965

The 1965 LM Aces boy’s soccer team could very well be the most dominant team in Aces soccer history. Coming off back-to-back league titles in ’63 & ‘64, the 1965 team was returning many key players from a ’64 team who outscored their opponents 60-6 (an exceptional season in their own right), including their high scorer Steve Davidson.

Davidson, whose 31 goals in a season and 64 career goals still stand as school records for boy’s soccer, captained this explosive team. They also had many other scoring threats in Mark Rash (22 goals), Bill Trimpi, Bill Furber, David Kobinsky, Mike Ross, & Jay Pillard. The ’65 Aces also boasted the best starting midfield line in the district in Jack Pennypacker, Paul Ferst, and Ken Becker. Defensive backs Steve Aichelle and Grover Thompson, along with Jay Littlewood, Steve Mygatt, and standout goalkeeper Toby Pyle, helped record 13 shutouts in 18 games.

After winning the tough Suburban 1 league, and finishing the regular season unblemished with a perfect 14-0 record, the ’65 LM team dominated the first 2 rounds of the District 1 playoffs, pummeling Woodrow Wilson 5-0 in the quarter-finals, and destroying Central Bucks 6-0 in the semi-finals. In the Championship game they took on powerful West Chester, and after regulation & overtime, with the score still tied 1-1, the Aces were awarded the victory, based on a substantial corner kick edge (there was no penalty kick shootout in those days). This victory gave them an invite to the Inter-District game against District 3’s Garden Spot. Playing on a sloppy field at West Chester University, Garden Spot capitalized on a defensive mistake late in the game, and won 1-0, spoiling the ’65 Aces perfect season.

The final stats are mind-blowing, starting with an 8-0 league record and a 17-1 overall record. The offense scored an unbelievable 66 goals in their first 12 games (finishing with 97 for the season), while the defense, in those same first 12 games, recorded 10 shutouts finishing with 13 in all). The closest any other LM team has come to matching their goal total was in 1992, when that team scored 78 goals, and they even played 2 more games. The ’65 Aces also placed a record 7 players on the All-League team; Davidson, Ferst, Trimpi, Rash, Pennypacker, Becker, and Pyle. Davidson & Becker were also picked as All-Scholastic selections.

Playoff Opener

The Aces took on #18 seed Great Valley this afternoon in the 2nd round of the District 1 AAA boy's soccer playoffs. LM welcomed back Michael Lemonick to their starting lineup, after a broken tibia sidelined the junior defenseman almost the entire season, and he would make his presence felt. In the 1st half, the Aces showed some rust from their 10 day layoff, as their usual good first touch and passing game was a little off.

However, with Lemonick's physical play in the back, and co-captain Jonny Dolezal controlling everything else, Great Valley could generate little offense, and the half ended 0-0. Nine minutes into the 2nd half the Aces finally got on the board. Senior Julien Aoyama took a long corner kick from junior David Rosenfeld and ripped a bullit past the helpless Valley keeper. With senior goalkeeper Jack Van Adelsberg playing another solid game in the net, that goal appeared to be enough. Lemonick didn't think so, and with less than 4 minutes remaining he scored on a nice header to ice things up, and the 2-0 win moved the Aces through to the quarter-finals.

This Saturday, on the turf at Arnold Field, LM will play the winner of tonight's game between defending state champion Downingtown West (seeded 7th) and Upper Darby (a dangerous team the Aces beat during the season by a slim 1-0 margin). Gametime will be announced later.

Playoff Opponent Set

Last night #18 seed Great Valley beat #15 seed North Penn 1-0 in OT, so LM will host Great Valley on Thursday, at 3 PM. For all the District 1 playoff results go to:

www.district-one.net/brackets/boyssoccerAAA.htm

Blast from the Past, 1958

1958 was a very unique year for the LM boy's soccer program. The season before, the ’57 Aces went 14-3 and finished 2nd behind Upper Darby in the Suburban One soccer league. Slated to return most of the starters for the 1958 season, Harriton High School opened that summer and absorbed many of the Aces top players.

Despite this setback, Bob Hill’s talented team, co-captained by forwards John Fish & Ed Packel, went 11-1-1 in the powerful Suburban One league and captured the league crown. Fish (11 goals) and Packel (15 goals) provided the scoring, while Jay Ammon, Harry Hasson and junior keeper Stu Ross anchored the defense. The team went on to capture LM’s 2nd District One title in 5 years. Other members of this powerful squad were; forward Ray Truex, John Bernard, George Hofstetter, Ron Tobin & Bill Strong. Packel, Fish & Hasson all were elected to the All-League 1st team. In the District playoffs the Aces beat Unionville 2-1, before falling to Pequea Valley 1-0 in the District final.

Meanwhile, that 1st year Harriton squad finished with a 6-5-3 mark in the same Suburban One league, and between them, LM & Harriton placed 10 players on the All-League 1st & 2nd teams (then called All-Suburban).

On Friday, "Blast from the Past" will highlight one of the most dominant teams in LM Soccer history, the 1965 squad.