La Salle, Lansdale Catholic battle to scoreless draw

SPRINGFIELD TWP. >> The winner of Tuesday’s boys soccer matchup featuring La Salle and Lansdale Catholic would take sole control of third place in the Philadelphia Catholic League.

It took 100 minutes and zero goals as the two teams played to scoreless draw.

Offensively, the Explorers did everything except put the ball in the net. They dominated time of possession, got off more shots, won 50-50 balls and made runs at the LC net.

“We played well, we executed the game plan,” La Salle coach Tom McCaffery said. “Their keeper made a great save in the second half that kept them in it. If that ball goes in, which it does against a lot of the keepers in the area…”

What La Salle was doing offensively was particularly impressive against tight and very disciplined defense of the Crusaders.

There was no room to be found in the midfield all afternoon and the Explorers’ ability to win loose balls and  turn and run in limited space helped La Salle win the time of possession.

“We did not do a good job winning the 50-50 today,” LC coach Joe Wilson said. “They did an excellent job winning the 50-50 and off of their win they were able to find their players and that created a lot of opportunities for them.”

La Salle was led by trio of forwards, Sean Clinton, Alex D’Angelo, and Jack Deal, who helped push the ball into the offense zone and create what little scoring chances were made available for them in the Lansdale Catholic defense.

“It was a good job I think by everybody we rotated in there,” McCaffery said. “Jack had a good day. He’s a really good hold up forward. Sean gives a lot of people problems up that left side. Alex swung the ball great, even late on he almost cleared one their backs and if he clears that he in on a breakaway.”

Defensively, the Crusaders were up to the challenge all day. The back line of the LC defense was led by Will Rex who ran up and down the field hawking balls and running down the speedy La Salle forwards.

“Will Rex without any doubt in my mind this was his best game of the year,” Wilson said. “He worked real hard. We’ve been working with him, trying to get him to play a little smarter and today he was totally on he brought the whole package.”

For the most part, LC had difficulty in the midfield and on offense, but Nicky Scarcelli and Josh Yurasits made a few runs and created some offense with good hustle in the midfield.

Though the two teams acknowledged they would have liked to have grabbed the three points up for grab, both sides also realize a draw to a quality opponent isn’t a negative either