PW wins 2OT thriller over Wissahickon
LOWER GWYNEDD >> There is not much separating Wissahickon and Plymouth Whitemarsh in the Suburban One League American Conference standings early on in the 2015 season and even less separates the teams on the playing field.
The two were tied at one after 80 minutes of regulation, 10 minutes of the first overtime and four minutes of the second overtime before PW scored for the 2-1 win Wednesday night at Wissahickon High School.
The Colonials move into first place in the SOL American Conference with a 2-0-1 record and the Trojans are now 2-1.
“This win is enormous,” PW’s Skyler Goldstein said. “To come into Wissahickon and win on their community day for first place — it’s enormous.”
“Beating Wissahickon is always a big deal for us,” Colonials coach Devon Landgraff said. “They are such a solid program, they have been over the years. I have a lot of respect for their program, their coach. It feels good coming in and taking another victory from them. They are always going to be one of our biggest and toughest opponents.”
Goldstein scored the game-winning goal. The senior saw a look for 25 yards away, let it rip and found the back of the net to send the PW bench into a frenzy and led to the student section rushing the field.
“I was thinking for the whole game if I get an opportunity to shoot the ball I’m going to shoot it,” Goldstein said. “There was a lot of space. The keeper was out the whole game – I noticed that early – but sometimes you just get lucky.”
“Skyler Goldstein,” Landgraff said. “He’s a senior. He’s a leader. He’s our center-mid. He’s the heart and soul of our team. And the one thing he’s been trying to work on is finishing. Shooting and finishing. It couldn’t be scripted any better than for him to hit that winning shot.”
Both teams were held scoreless for much of the first half until Wissahickon took the game’s first lead.
With 8:55 remaining until halftime, Andrew Pileggi put the Trojans on the board. The senior found the ball after a long cross deflected around the front of PW’s goal and headed it in for the score.
The Colonials tied the game early in the second half. Less than 14 minutes after the break, Gavin Hendrick took a long shot. The sophomore fired a laser toward the goal from 35 yards out that the Wissahickon goalie was able to get a hand on but not stop. The ball rolled to the back of the net to tie the teams at one.
“You lose to two long-range shots,” Wissahickon coach Stuart Malcolm said. “That was the game. It’s a shame to lose it on that, but that’s the game. We’re disappointed we didn’t close the plays down but all the credit to PW. They chased hard and played hard.”
The Trojans had more shots in the game with eight, but Plymouth Whitemarsh had more scoring opportunities.
It plagued the Colonials throughout the entire game – thought mostly in the first half – that they couldn’t coral loose balls deep in the Wissahickon zone or beat goalkeeper Brad Schwartz.
PW had a number of free kicks, throw-ins and corner kicks on Wissahickon’s side of the field that created chaos in front of Schwartz, but they just couldn’t capitalize.
Schwartz finished with four saves and PW goalkeeper Matt Gatta tallied seven stops.
Both teams are back in action on the road Friday at 3:30 p.m. Wissahickon travels to Upper Merion and Plymouth Whitemarsh visits Upper Dublin.
Top Photo: Plymouth Whitemarsh’s keeper Matt Gatta grabs the ball during the Colonials’ win over Wissahickon on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. (Adrianna Hoff/The Times Herald)
