Upper Dublin gets back on track, blanks PW

UPPER DUBLIN >> The Upper Dublin boys soccer team suffered its first loss of the season Friday afternoon against Wissahickon. It didn’t look like it wanted to suffer another one Monday.

The Cardinals came out flying at Upper Dublin High School. They took the lead in the first minute of the game and went on to beat Plymouth Whitemarsh, 3-0, in a Suburban One League American Conference match.

“It was very big,” Upper Dublin coach Derek Priest said of getting on the board early. “We had our first loss of the season on Friday, so it was big that we got a good reaction from the guys. They came out strong with the early goal. Although these games are never easy, I thought we were as comfortable as you can be in these high school games.”

“The past couple games we came out flat-footed,” UD’s Anthony Wisdo said. “Especially with the loss against Wiss, we were upset because they came out early on us. So it’s always good to get out early and get a quick goal, build some momentum.”

Jerry Bardol netted the first goal. Jose Palomeque found Bardol on the right side of the field and Bardol launched it into the back of the net.

“We started out flat today,” PW coach Jeff Heaton said. “Give Upper Dublin credit. They played well this year and took advantage of a couple errors in the beginning with our guys being a little flat starting out.”

The second goal was setup by a great effort from Wisdo.

The ball was slowly rolling out of bounds to the left of PW’s goal. Wisdo was being shielded by the Colonials biggest defender, Dillon Johnson. Wisdo managed to get around the defender, save the ball and pass to a teammate.

Wisdo found Palomeque, who picked up another assist when he redirected the ball to Colin Muth in the middle of the field. Muth ripped a shot from 20 yards away to give Upper Dublin a 2-0 lead that would stand until halftime.

Quinn Middleton took advantage of a PW mistake on the third and final goal. The Cardinals midfielder stole a pass from PW’s drawn-out goalie to a defender and scored before the goalie could get back into the net.

The Colonials managed just three shots on net in the defeat.

“In the final third we were just disconnecting passes,” Heaton said. “We weren’t getting there and getting the final touch in.”

“Our defense has been great the whole year,” Wisdo said. “Today they really came out against a really good team and we possessed the ball a lot. We haven’t been doing that, so I think that helped a lot. The defense has just been solid all year and they just proved it again.”

The win completes the season sweep for Upper Dublin over Plymouth Whitemarsh. When they played in September, Upper Dublin won 2-1 in double overtime.

Whenever these SOL American rivals get together, it’s sure to be a physical game. Monday was exactly that with a couple yellow cards getting handed out and plenty of chirping between players throughout the game.

“We always love playing PW and Wiss,” Wisdo said. “They’re our two biggest rivals. We knew it was going to be hard because our first game we played them we went down to double overtime, last two minutes of the game and we were lucky to get the goal. We just enjoy playing them because it’s always good competition and they’re always a good team.”

Upper Dublin improves to 9-1-1 in SOL American play and PW falls to 5-6.