Penn Charter's booters solidified their second-place status in the Inter-Ac League standings, winning 3-0 against the lads of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in a match at PC last Thursday. The Quakers raised their league record to 6-2 with the victory, and will finish out the regular season against teams in the lower half of the Inter-Ac rankings, Malvern Prep and Germantown Academy.

Penn Charter had lost its 2024 league opener in overtime to Inter-Ac leader Haverford School, then had avenged that loss with an OT win over the Fords on October 18 to pull even with Haverford in the loss column.

However, the Quakers dropped behind again with last Tuesday's 1-0 loss to Episcopal Academy.

Also on Tuesday, Springside Chestnut Hill fell to Haverford, 2-1.

For Thursday's match, Penn Charter had three players who had once been starters out with injuries; seniors Andres Garces and Tazio Perkins, and sophomore Shawn Marwaha. SCH was missing one regular starter, junior JR Maher. The visiting Blue Devils wore pink and white-striped game jerseys in recognition of breast cancer awareness month.

Penn Charter attacked early, and earned back-to-back corner kicks about seven minutes in. Junior Willem Van Beelen served in the first ball, which caromed off two heads and away from the goal. A second attempt along the ground didn't produce a shot.

SCH sophomore Warren Miller got off a hard shot with 15 minutes elapsed, but Quakers senior Ryder Stearn deflected the ball away before it got to the Charter goalie, sophomore Miles Lynch.

Midway through the first half, Van Beelen took the ball across the 18 into the middle of the SCH box, and was swarmed by three defenders. The loose ball rolled over to the right side of the penalty area, where junior James Kraemer cranked out a hard high shot that got past the Blue Devils' junior goalkeeper, Cole Carberry.

The visitors were unable to generate a shot off a corner kick a little later on, and then were denied when Lynch dove to stop an outside shot near the left post. In the final minute of the half, Penn Charter got the ball to Kraemer in front of the Blue Devils' goal, and he jammed it in to send the Quakers into halftime with a 2-0 advantage.

On paper, the Springside Chestnut Hill line-up was only a little younger than Penn Charter's, but on the field the visitors appeared somewhat smaller and slighter than the Quakers.

A few minutes into the second half one of the Devils' sturdiest players, goalkeeper Carberry, stopped a head shot by PC senior Noah Amankulor. He then charged out from the goal to take the ball away from Van Beelen on another rush by the Quakers.

Later on, the SCH goalie foiled another attempt by Amankulor, but the PC senior's persistence eventually paid off when he dashed up the middle and shot into the right side of the cage. It was now 3-0 with 13:04 remaining in the game, and the visitors were unable to prevent a shutout in the remaining minutes.

It was a strong performance by the Quakers against an SCH squad that has suffered a number of losses, but has had most of them decided by a single goal.