October 19, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

GFS booters perform on a grand stage
by TOM UTESCHER

GFS keeper Zach Porges. For more photos visit www.chlocalphotos.com.

Last Saturday evening, Germantown Friends School’s soccer double-header under the lights at LaSalle University generated a lot of excitement, but unfortunately for GFS fans, no “W’s” for the host Tigers.

Coping with the sprightly behavior of the ball on LaSalle’s artificial turf surface, the GFS girls battled to a 0-0 draw with visiting Springside School, giving the Tigers a 5-3-1 record overall while they remained 3-2 within the Friends School League.

In the boys’ match, an official FSL contest, Friends Central enjoyed a two-goal lead over the home side at halftime, and even a dramatic late goal by the Tigers (4-2 and 6-5-3 overall) left them one point short as they fell to the Phoenix, 3-2. FC stayed unbeaten in the league, at 5-0, setting up this week’s showdown with Shipley, also undefeated in the FSL.

The Germantown girls had beaten Springside 2-0 back in September, and in the rematch the Lions (3-9-1, 0-6 Girls Inter-Ac) had some additional motivation as they sought to end a nine-game losing streak. The opening shot of the night, by GFS’ Mariah Barstow, was saved at the right post by Lions keeper Tori Baggio, and about 12 minutes in, Springside’s Sarah MacEachern and Grayce Selig made a rush across the Germantown 18, but were swarmed under by Tiger defenders.

On a pair of outside shots for Springside, Kira Theuer’s attempt was foiled by GFS goalie Heather Tannenbaum, and a boot by Jess Griffin was wide of the cage. Midway through the period, the hosts’ Maddy Kaufman banged a shot off the left end of the Springside crossbar, and with a dozen minutes remaining in the half Julia Miller broke across the visitors’ 18 and was fouled in the box. Springside escaped without damage as the resulting penalty kick traveled just outside the left post, and the half ended with the scoreboard still goal-free. As usual, Molly Tow came in to play goalie for GFS after the intermission.

Most of the action took place in the midfield for the first ten minutes of the second stanza, as GFS contained the breakaway threat posed by Springside’s speedy Larissa Sfedu. Another Lion, Sophia Petrillo, fired wide left off of a rebound in front of the GFS cage. Midway through the half, Germantown’s Miller raced down the right wing past most of the Springside team, but as she entered the box the ball got away from her and Baggio scooped it up.

There were other near misses for GFS by Kaufman, Nina Voigt, and Hannah Conant, and in the last two minutes two corner kicks for Springside and one for the Tigers failed to break the 0-0 stalemate. Due to time constraints no overtime was played.

In the boys’ match, the home crowd rose out of their seats immediately as a solid header by Caleb MacTavish was saved by Mike Pasek, the Friends Central netminder. The GFS faithful remained standing as Matt Berson made some threatening runs down the left wing, but it was the Phoenix who got on the board first, with 9:42 elapsed. Here, a long direct kick by Sam Feldbaum caromed off the crossbar, and teammate Dan Fedder was there to jab in the rebound.

With 17:32 to go in the opening round, the Tigers responded in kind. From the left wing, Max Wheeling served the ball inside, and Manolo Sanchez closed in from the right to drive a hard shot into the net. However, the remaining minutes of the period would bring two more markers for Friends Central.

From the left, an impressive direct kick by Feldbaum rose above the fullback wall and then dipped down to enter the cage low on the far side. With just half-a-minute on the clock, a shot from along the right endline by the visitors’ Dan Adelson was blocked by GFS goalie Zach Fernberger, but once again FC’s Fedder was on top of the rebound, and his second goal of the night made it 3-1 at the interlude.

That figure stayed on the scoreboard until the final phase of the game. Each squad switched goalies at halftime, with Zack Porges replacing Fernberger for the Tigers, and with Pasek giving way to Pete Liebman for the Phoenix.

In the early going, a promising rush by Germantown ended with a shot by Tao Zuares that carried a little over the crossbar. Throughout the period, the Tigers’ Ben Gemberling-Johnson gave the FC defense fits with his dashes down the right sideline. At the other end, the Phoenix had some chances to add to their lead, including a header by the lanky Feldbaum that almost caught the top left corner of the Tigers’ cage.

After Germantown Friends fans watched Tom West’s head ball float over the Phoenix crossbar with seven minutes remaining, they saw their Tigers draw within one point of the leaders with 1:25 left to play. GFS attacked up the left wing and forged into the box, where Berson let loose for the hosts’ second goal of the evening. In the remaining seconds Germantown was unable to net the equalizer, and Friends Central captured the 3-2 victory.