New Germantown Academy varsity soccer head coach Kurt Wetzel, a GA alumnus and longtime faculty member, makes a point to his Patriots during last Friday’s home match. (Photo by Tom …
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New Germantown Academy varsity soccer head coach Kurt Wetzel, a GA alumnus and longtime faculty member, makes a point to his Patriots during last Friday’s home match. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption] by Tom Utescher
The seniors on the boys’ soccer team at Germantown Academy are starting the 2018 season under the school’s third varsity head coach since their freshman year. Fortunately, new mentor Kurt Wetzel has deep roots in the GA community and looks to have a considerably longer tenure than his than his immediate predecessors.
A graduate of the school (’88) and a member of the lower school faculty for 15 years, Wetzel was most recently the Patriots’ junior varsity head coach. Previously, he’d served as an assistant coach with both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams at the school. In addition to directing the varsity squad, he will help institute a coaching system that will extend down to GA’s middle school soccer program.
The Patriots graduated eight members of the 2017 varsity, and there are seven 12th graders on the roster this fall. When GA opened the season last Friday with a non-league bout against defending Friends Schools League champion Shipley School (a 1-1 tie), the starting line-up included seniors Drew Budinsky, Grant Giampalmi and Jake Kotik.
Their classmates on varsity are Ian Cummings, Will Noe, Mihir Savani and Jamie Werther. Werther is the team’s reserve goaltender, and the starter is junior Ryan Fairlie. Fellow 11th-graders Owen Fitz and Brandon Hasson started against Shipley, and Michael Dion saw a lot of action off the bench.
Current sophomore Chris Hackley had a strong freshman season in 2017, and this fall he’s engaged in the program at the Philadelphia Union Soccer Academy (as Hasson was last year).
The starting sophomores for last week’s opener were Shane Connolly, Jacob Grim and Kolby Palmer, and there were freshmen in the other two starting spots, Christian Combs and Connor Wetzel. Sophomore Max Mateo and freshman Jacob Lee have also earned spots on the varsity roster.
After Germantown battled FSL champ Shipley to a 0-0 draw in the first half last Friday, the visiting Gators got on the board less than three minutes into the second period. Later, Palmer evened it up for the Patriots, and the 1-1 tie remained unbroken through the remainder of regulation play and 20 minutes of golden-goal overtime.
Everyone associated with the 2017 GA squad felt that the Pats had the potential to post an Inter-Ac League record better than the 2-8 mark that went into the annals last November. The team was able to end the season on an upnote, though, defeating traditional rival Penn Charter, 3-2.
