Penn Charter soccer captains (from left) Connor Sullivan, Conrad Williams, Dylan Schwartz, and Max Jacobs. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Penn Charter graduated eight members of its 2015 boys' soccer team, but in the early days of the 2016 campaign PC supporters knew they were fortunate to have the returning defensive triad of senior goalie Jay Jennings and backs Conrad Williams (also a senior) and Connor Sullivan (a junior).

After taking a 1-0 decision from Lansdale Catholic down at the Jersey Shore over Labor Day weekend, the Quakers returned home to face two teams positioned way up there in the pre-season national scholastic rankings. Charter lost to both Summit Country Day School (Cincinnati, Ohio) and St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J.) by a scores of 1-0, quite a respectable outcome against two clubs with potent offenses and excellent ball possession skills.

In the second instance, the deciding goal wasn't scored until the 71st minute (out of the high school 80) by the St. Benedict's Gray Bees, who were ranked first in one major national poll, and second in another.

Sullivan, the junior, is one of Penn Charter's 2016 team captains, along with Williams and his senior classmates Max Jacobs and Dylan Schwartz. The other 12th-graders, both varsity veterans as well, are Christian Lemmo and Pat McLaughlin.

Two of the seniors have already made their college picks; Williams has committed to the University of Rhode Island of the Atlantic 10, while Jacobs will be one state away at Tufts University, outside of Boston.

Along with Sullivan, juniors Griffin Barnes and Andrew Morris started in the St. Benedict's match, as did sophomores E.T. Cripe and Billy Melnick. The other current 10th graders who were on the 2015 varsity roster are Ryan Holmes, Max Lubowitz, and goalie Kyle Early, who had a few starts in the cage last season as a freshman.

Already, two of this year's ninth-graders have broken into the starting 11 for the Quakers; Jude Shorr-Parks has moved up from the middle school program, and Ryan Bradby is a new student at Penn Charter. It was actually these two youngsters who combined for the goal and assist, respectively, against Lansdale Catholic.

Penn Charter finished fourth in the Inter-Ac League in 2015, but as is usually the case, not much separated the teams in the top half of the league standings from those on the flip side. Last fall, the first team to reach six wins in the customary 10-game schedule clinched the title. This was Haverford School, who lost a talented, deep senior class, but always seems to draw in new blue chip talent.

On this side of the Schuylkill, PC placed ahead of both Springside Chestnut Hill and Germantown Academy. Those teams both have new head coaches, while at Penn Charter Bob DiBenedetto is back for his ninth go-round as the Quakers' commander. Tom Ciolko and Mike Falsetta both return as assistant coaches for Penn Charter.