Fords edge past Penn Charter in overtime, 1-0

by Tom Utescher
Posted 10/12/22

With the rainy remnants of Hurricane Ian finally offshore, the lads of Penn Charter traveled to Haverford School last Friday for their Inter-Ac League soccer debut.

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Fords edge past Penn Charter in overtime, 1-0

Posted

With the rainy remnants of Hurricane Ian finally offshore, the lads of Penn Charter traveled to Haverford School last Friday for their Inter-Ac League soccer debut. The Quakers and host Fords ranged up and down the field and created numerous scoring opportunities, but it wasn't until the eighth minute of overtime that Haverford senior Andrew Kirwan put away the lone goal of the afternoon.

The 1-0 victory resulted in a 2-0 league record for the Fords, who had opened their season three days earlier with a 2-0 win at Malvern Prep. PC had been scheduled to open its league campaign against Springside Chestnut Hill Academy on Monday, October 3, but waterlogged fields at Penn Charter caused that contest to be postponed.

Bob DiBenedetto is extending his long tenure as the Quakers' head coach, and Charter's captains this season are seniors Owen Black and Chet Kempinski and junior James Melnick.

Black, an accomplished scorer, was missing from the line-up on Friday as he served a red-card suspension stemming from the final league game of 2021. Junior Owen Miner was playing with a cumbersome forearm sleeve meant to protect a broken wrist, an injury he suffered in a non-league match against Holy Ghost Prep.

Haverford's team was operating under a new head coach, but one who is familiar to longtime LOCAL readers. New Fords mentor Keith Cappo is a graduate of Penn Charter ('99) who coached the men's soccer team at Chestnut Hill College from 2010 to 2014. Like DiBenedetto, Cappo was missing a regular starter on Friday; sophomore McKai Hoilett was out with an injury.

Haverford earned the game's first corner kick about five minutes in, but there was no shot on the play as Charter's senior goalie, Shawn Flynn, jumped up to grab the ball in the air when it sailed into the box. On another leap a little later, Flynn was low-bridged by an opponent and hit the ground hard, but he was able to shake off the impact and keep playing.

On PC's first corner kick a few minutes later, the ball was punched away by Fords keeper Connor Cresswell. The back-and-forth continued, with the Quakers' Flynn deflecting a Haverford shot after a rush down the right wing, and with Cresswell grabbing the ball in the air on a long throw-in by Charter's Melnick.

Near the middle of the period, an offsides call negated an apparent goal by PC freshman Willem van Beelen. The goalies stayed active as both offenses frequently spent time inside the 18-yard-line of the opposition.

With under nine minutes left a strong outside shot from the right side by Melnick traveled just outside of the far post of the Fords' goal.

Near the end of the half Haverford was awarded a direct kick from well outside the 18, and the ball steered out of bounds across the left endline. The tally was still 0-0 at the intermission.

"We started slow; I thought they won the first half and we won the second," commented Penn Charter's DiBenedetto.

Haverford plays on an artificial turf field that butts right up against Lancaster Avenue on one side, while PC plays on a relatively large expanse of natural grass. Earlier in the week, the Quakers spent some time practicing on a smaller turf field to prepare for Friday's trip to the Main Line.

"Still, it's not the same as being on that field every day," DiBenedetto said. "They'll have to adapt a bit when they come to our place."

As Charter attacked early in the second half, a ball that was headed by a player inside the 18 showed promise but turned out to be off-target. A shot along the ground by the visitors was handled by Cresswell, and later Melnick fired one shot wide to the left and another well over the crossbar.

With a little over a dozen minutes left in regulation, a Haverford forward made a determined attack down the right sideline, but he was unable to angle in toward the goal as Quakers junior Joey DiBenedetto herded him out over the right endline. The Fords got a corner kick, but no shot. Soon after that, a shot by Haverford's Kirwan tracked only about a foot above the Charter crossbar.

As regulation time wound down, PC's van Beelen got off a solid shot from the right, but Cresswell stretched out his hands to deflect the ball outside of the near post. In the final minute, a Haverford back headed the ball away on a Penn Charter corner kick.

The standard Inter-Ac overtime ensued; 10 minutes played in full (no golden goal) with the teams changing ends at the five-minute mark. PC's two shots in the first five minutes went wide to the left and into the arms of Cresswell. The Fords got a couple of long throw-in's early in the second five; one resulted in a shot wide of the goal, and on the other the ball was headed out of danger by the Quakers.

The host team continued to attack, and on a cross by freshman Anthony Costa the Quakers seemed to lose track of the ball for an instant. That's all it took for Kirwan to unload on the bouncing ball in the box and score. There was 2:45 left to play, and despite a few forays on offense, PC could not come up with the equalizer.

"Our defense has been strong all year," DiBenedetto noted. "We just got a little sloppy at the end and they took advantage of it. We had a lot of opportunities at the other end to close the game out and we didn't finish. Having Owen Black would've helped us a bit there."

Penn Charter ended the week with an overall record of 7-4, while Haverford was 6-4.