Penn Charter senior Max Lubowitz scored an insurance goal for the Quakers in last Saturday’s road game. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

Two weekends ago, the boys’ soccer team at Penn Charter travelled out of state to tackle an opponent in Virginia. Last Saturday the Quakers were on the road once more, but this trip was a much shorter one, as they headed up Roosevelt Boulevard to play Father Judge High School from the Philadephia Catholic League’s northern division.

Sophomore Nico Kreuger, a starter last fall as a freshman, got Charter on the board late in the first half, and midway through the second period senior Max Lubowitz added an insurance marker. Fellow 12th grader Kyle Earley recorded the shutout with five saves in goal as the team improved to 4-1 overall.

Penn Charter graduated five seniors from its 2017 roster, and has twice that number this season. Starting last Saturday along with Earley and Lubowitz were classmates E.T. Cripe, Ryan Kessler and Billy Melnick. The other 12th graders are Sam Keyser, Charles Langford, Ryan Mosenkis, Colin Smith and Alex Springer.

Cripe, Earley and Melnick are the Quakers’ captains for the 2018 campaign.

Last weekend the other PC players who started out against the Crusaders were juniors Ryan Bradby, Anthony Ciarrocchi, Jack Kennedy and Jude Shorr-Parks, as well as Kreuger and 10th grade classmate Matt Slowinski.

On the first corner kick of the game Father Judge booted the ball past the box, then Charter attacked. Kreuger carried the ball in toward the right post and then was taken down, and a shot by Melnick was saved.

As the midpoint of the opening period approached, Kennedy clanged a shot off the crossbar. PC was awarded a free kick outside the box with under 15 minutes to play in the half, and the Quakers’ serve was tipped straight up in the air by the Crusaders’ keeper. When it landed, the visitors sent a shot over the cage.

Judge headed away a PC corner kick with a dozen minutes remaining, and soon after that a 15-yard Shorr-Parks shot that sped straight toward the lower right corner of the cage was saved. Next, the Quakers sent the ball across the front of the Judge goal from right to left, and then they booted it all the way through the box again on a corner kick travelling in the opposite direction.

Junior Ryan Bradby gets his head into the game for Penn Charter during Saturday’s clash with Father Judge. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

PC’s persistence paid off with the game-winning goal with 4:19 remaining in the first period. Bradby directed a pass right through the middle past the defenders, and Kreuger won a race with the goalie to the rolling ball and tapped it in.

Just two minutes into the second half, Lubowitz fired a shot just outside the right goalpost, and Judge soon came up the field and hit a ball low toward the left post that was grabbed by PC’s Earley.

At the other end, Shorr-Parks saw a shot saved by the opposing keeper, and as the Quakers remained on the attack another attempt veered to the left and then a ball fired by Bradby was deflected wide of the cage by the goalie. Awarded a free kick a little outside the box, Charter sent the ball into the wall of Crusader defenders, and around 11 minutes into the second half a PC shot following a corner kick strayed off-target.

When Father Judge was awarded a free kick out along Charter’s right endline near the corner, the hosts tried to thread a pass into the box, but the ball was blocked by the Quakers and then cleared.

The visitors reinforced their lead with 20:21 left to play, as Lubowitz drove the ball into the left side of the net from near the middle of the 18. The senior narrowly missed the upper right corner of the Crusaders’ cage a few minutes later.

A promising chance for Judge failed when a solidly-struck ball tracked to the wrong side of the left goalpost. The rest of the way, the Crusaders had other opportunities to get on the board, just as the Quakers had some chances to tack a third goal onto the visitors’ side. The count would still be 2-0 when the last long tweet came from the official’s whistle.