The Inter-Ac League boys’ soccer season got underway last week, and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s first two games each ended with 1-0 scores. The first was a loss at Haverford School on Sept. 29 and the second was a victory at Penn Charter on Oct. 2.

The PC Quakers also opened up on Sept. 29, losing 2-0 at Episcopal, and after the Oct. 2 contest they owned a record of 0-2 in the league and 3-6-1 overall. The SCH Blue Devils have had an unusual number of tie games so far this fall, and they went into last weekend 1-1 in the Inter-Ac and 3-1-5 against all opponents.

Springside Chestnut Hill is an experienced squad with more than a dozen seniors on the roster. So far, two of them have picked the colleges where they’ll continue their careers, Lev Eskin opting for Hamilton College, and Beckett Chizmar choosing Lock Haven University.

It’s quite a different story at Penn Charter. The Quakers were the 2025 Inter-Ac champions, but they were hit hard by graduation and have nine new starters this season. Senior Miles Lynch, a fixture in the PC goal cage, will go on to play for St. John’s University.

In goal for the Blue Devils was freshman Brady Cosgrove. He’s new to both the team and the school, coming out of Waldron Mercy Academy in Merion.

The first five minutes of the game saw a series of attacks by Springside Chestnut Hill, and in the first half overall the Blue Devils generated the greater share of offensive activity.

When the Quakers did push up the pitch and SCH keeper Cosgrove got his hands on the ball, he didn’t punt often. He usually rolled the ball out to a back, and Devils appeared confident in their ability to dribble and pass the ball up the field.

On a corner kick from the right side, the visitors got off a shot on a header in the box, but Penn Charter’s Lynch swatted the ball wide of the cage. A little later, he managed to tip the ball over the crossbar on a hard shot from above the middle of the 18-yard line.

Another outside shot by the Blue Devils sailed over the goal, and then a corner kick resulted in a scramble for a loose ball near the right post. The ball was cleared out of danger, but the visitors remained in PC’s half of the field.

An SCH throw-in from deep down the left sideline propelled the ball toward the front of the cage, and senior Cornelius Stevenson was there to finish the play, scoring the game’s lone goal with one minute and 13 seconds remaining in the first half.

The second half began in a manner that mirrored most of the first 40 minutes, with the Blue Devils taking the play to the Quakers. SCH junior Corin Cooper made a nice run up the middle before shooting the ball over the goal. Another 11th-grader, Braeden McAneny, skillfully crossed the ball inside from out along the right endline, but Charter’s Lynch got to the ball before any of the SCH forwards. The visitors got another good serve towards the goal off of a corner kick from the right, and junior Sam Link got to the ball but could not quite put it away.

Despite the Devils’ effort on offense, their lead remained a tenuous 1-0. With 25 minutes left to play, the Quakers grew more assertive. They earned a corner kick on the left side, resulting in a shot over the crossbar by junior Dominic Tasian. There was a scrum for a loose ball near the SCH goal a few minutes later, and PC junior Ezra Amankulor almost got a tap-in at the left post.

With 16 minutes to go, a long throw-in presented another scoring opportunity for the hosts, but SCH’s Link headed the ball out of the box.

A bid by the Blue Devils to reinforce their lead on a breakaway was foiled when Quakers junior Charlie McNamee rushed back to break up the play.

The Quakers headed the ball high on a chance off of a corner kick, and on another corner with a little over a minute remaining they put the ball in play on the ground. The hosts weren’t able to get off a good shot, and soon the final horn sounded. The Blue Devils had hung on to win, and had evened up their record in week one of the Inter-Ac season.