The sun came out late on Tuesday afternoon and with it, the Lower Merion boys’ soccer team shone as well. Playing geographic rivals Haverford High School, the Aces played a close-to-perfect second half and emerged with a decisive Central League victory.
They continued to play with a short bench as seniors Joey Gingold (hand) and Marcelo Pernot (concussion) remain on the mend. But coach Nico Severini pushed all the right buttons as the Aces adjusted their game for the start of the second half. While coach Stefan Szygiel and his Fords deserve some credit for playing a smart first half that negated a lot of Lower Merion’s size and speed, they could not keep it up for the final 40 minutes. The Aces have been through a good amount of adversity this past week, so they were relieved to have a three-goal lead with 26 minutes to play.
IN SHORT
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Haverford opened the game by spreading the field nicely and keeping their shape, allowing very little offense by the Aces. There were some nice possessions, and some good balls by juniors Matt Lindheim and Kenny Lassiter. The Fords' Brian Gormley was stopped on a nice save by Aces junior Connor Yu, but Haverford really didn't get much going either. Then, late in the half, Lindheim took a free kick from well outside the goal area and somehow beat Haverford keeper Keith Van Keuren. The half ended 1-0, but the play was fairly even.
The Fords tried to open it up a little in the second half, but the Aces came out the chute quickly themselves. Ten minutes in, Lower Merion’s senior striker Ben Hriscu got taken down in the box—he buried the resulting penalty kick to make it 2-0. Lower Merion continued to dominate play when Hriscu picked up the ball in a scrum in front of the Haverford goal and booted his second goal of the day.
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With a 3-0 lead, the tough Aces defense went on auto-pilot and frustrated the desperate Fords. Of course, there had to be a new scare. Lindheim went down hard at midfield while fighting for a ball, and stayed down. He finally limped off the field with a foot injury, but came back later in the half and looked strong.
Lower Merion’s record now stands at 6-1 (3-1 in the Central League).
ACES OF THE GAME
Ben Hriscu leads the Aces in scoring this season for a good reason—he is a true sniper. Also, in addition to scoring a goal and returning after an injury, Lindheim made plays all over the field in a great effort.
THEY SAID IT
"The Central League doesn’t have any bad teams. We have to get up for each and every league game. We can never rest."—Coach Nico Severini
UP NEXT
The Aces travel to Upper Darby High School on Thursday (Sept, 22) at 3:15 p.m.
