Jude Shorr-Parks (falling), one of the Quakers' senior captains, is prevented from reaching a ball near the sideline. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Just about a week before the beginning of Inter-Ac League play, the boys' soccer team at Penn Charter got a good non-league workout, traveling to Northeast High School to take on a challenging Vikings squad.

It took a while for the visiting Quakers to adjust to the speed of the opposing side, and the home team took a 2-0 lead over the first 20 minutes. PC began to click later in the period, scoring twice in the last 10 minutes to create a 2-2 halftime tie that would stand up through the entire second half.

Seniors Isaac Toub and Ryan Bradby scored for Penn Charter, which returned from Northeast Philly with a record of 3-2-1. The two losses came in the first two games of the season, with one of them against a nationally prominent program from Ohio – Summit Country Day School.

Penn Charter graduated 10 athletes off of its 2018 boys' soccer team, including goalie Kyle Earley and several starting field players. The team captains for the 2019 Quakers are seniors Bradby, Anthony Ciarrocchi and Jude Shorr-Parks.

Head coach Bob DiBenedetto, now in his 12th season at PC, noted, "We usually run three guys up front, with four guys rotating through there: Ryan, Jude, Isaac, and Nico [Krueger, a junior]."

To fill the gap in goal left by Earley, PC has been testing three keepers – senior Chase Williams and juniors Nick Perricelli and Sebastian Tilley. In Tuesday's contest at Northeast and in the two outings before that, each goalie played an entire game, with Tilley in action against the Vikings.

Visiting PC actually controlled much of the play for the first five minutes, but Northeast came upfield in transition to notch the first goal of the day about six minutes into the action. A Vikings forward angled in from the left wing, brought the ball into the box and shot across into the far side of the cage.

PC's Krueger made a promising run a little later, and from the left side he was able to send the ball toward the far post. If anyone had been making a weak side run for the Quakers, they could have just tapped the ball in, but no one went with Krueger.

The visitors had a few more chances a little over 10 minutes in, but senior Jack Kennedy aimed a little wide to the left on two attempts.

Penn Charter senior captain Anthony Ciarrocchi leans into a head ball. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

The Vikings recaptured the momentum and went up 2-0 with 24 minutes remaining in the first half. They brought the ball in along the left endline and crossed it, and Shalim Quinto was waiting at the far post to put it away.

"They're a very fast team all over the field, and I was surprised at how well they held possession," PC's DiBenedetto said. "They played some very good soccer. I think we adapted to their speed a little better later on."

PC's Toub displayed some velocity of his own, as he got the visitors on the scoreboard with 10 minutes left in the opening period. Steaming up the middle, he strained to stay just ahead of two Northeast defenders and got away a successful shot.

The tying goal, which would be the last marker of the day, resulted from a free kick called for Penn Charter just a minute before halftime. Shorr-Parks tapped the ball off to Bradby, who fired a ball that blew threw the keeper's hands and into the net.

Both teams had a number of chances to break the tie in the second half, but the 2-2 tally went unaltered until the final horn, and no overtime was played in the non-league bout.

After giving up the two early goals, DiBenedetto was happy to see his team answer in kind and then hold off the Vikings the rest of the way. Going the distance in goal, Tilley worked through a sore hamstring to log seven saves.

The PC skipper observed, "We're not very deep this year, and we're pretty young in the back, but they're learning and getting better game by game. Today we didn't have Jamie Fitzgerald, who is one of our strong backs. We lost some speed with him out, and we had to move some guys around.

"I had a couple of less experienced guys who didn't get in today," he added. "They weren't ready; it was way too physical out there. Playing these types of strong teams is always good to prepare for the league, though."