Kane, Magarity help Lansdale Catholic edge Archbishop Ryan in PCL quarters

LANSDALE >> Even the best-laid plans can go awry when a ball deflects off a perfectly-place wall of defenders.

But sometimes, an unlucky deflection can be countered by quick reflexes. Lansdale Catholic goalkeeper Jack Kane was quick enough on the draw Friday to handle one of those unexpected caroms and it proved pretty pivotal.

Behind two goals from workhorse Ryan Magarity, a big save from Kane and an overall team effort, the Crusaders topped Archbishop Ryan 2-1 in Philadelphia Catholic League boys soccer quarterfinal game. Ryan had beaten LC 2-0 on the Crusaders’ home field in the regular season, so LC was eager to turn the tables.

“They’re a great team, we lost to them so we knew we needed to come back and get this win,” Kane said. “We had to do it as a team.”

Magarity, a senior captain, was simply relentless with his involvement in the game. Whether it was providing a target up top, making runs or even dropping back defensively, his energy seemed to seep down the rest of the formation.

LC was one of two Class AA teams in the PCL field, with Archbishop Carroll being the other. With Carroll needing to win the entire tournament to secure the District 12 title game bid for the AA schools, LC didn’t necessarily have to win Friday, but the Crusaders were determined to do it anyway.

In the first meeting, Ryan had put the early pressure on when it scored, so LC had an objective to put the first ball in the back of the net.

“We knew if we could score on them early then we would be able to hold them,” LC coach Joe Wilson said. “Then we could work on plays and setting up whatever else we wanted. Ryan Magarity and Josh Yurasits worked real hard and had that great combination and Ryan has a great hit off a turnaround to put us right where we needed to be.”

LC’s first goal came on a nice piece of build-up starting with a ball-winning tackle in the back leading to a ball that Sean Rutz headed on to Yurasits in a big swath of open midfield. The midfielder carried the ball into the acreage, then played it through to Magarity, who was able to get in a turn and powerful strike a bit more than 10 minutes in.

“We were just trying to get it up top to the targets,” Magarity said. “Myself and Noah (Saba) could hold the ball up top and get our midfields to come up and try to make plays. I just got the ball, turned and scored.”

Ryan came back almost right away, capitalizing on one of LC’s few defensive breakdowns. With men in the box, Kevin Conroy chipped the ball on to Michael Czaijka, who poked it in from short range.

It wasn’t a crushing moment for Kane and his men in the back. Kane said he had his back line calm down, saying they might have been a little caught up in the excitement of the goal. But once they settled down, the unit played quite well the rest of the way.

LC’s back line played with composure and smarts, anchored by their senior captain.

“Jack Kelly is a great communicator and leader in the back,” Kane said. “They can all contribute and they all had great games today.”

The Crusaders were again able to create chances in the second half, but their finishing wasn’t there on most of them. Some of it was Ryan’s defense, led by Joe Rovnan, who was everywhere, and some was bad execution by LC.

A few minutes after Magarity had made a tremendous run and cross that went for naught, the senior started another combo play. Making a run up the right side, he dropped the ball for Ryan Carbone then kept charging. Carbone cut in and took a good shot that was saved and rebounded, where the running Magarity came in and cleaned up.

“When they scored the first time last game, we let our heads down and they scored on us again right away,” Magarity said. “We didn’t want that to happen again so we tried to step up our defense and win the game.”

While LC chased for a third goal, figuring more would be better especially against a team like Ryan, its defense was playing well enough that one goal might have been enough. Then, an ill-timed foul in a less-than-ideal position set up a key moment.

“We had a five-man wall covering the near post and the kid had a great shot that skimmed off a defender,” Kane said. “Luckily I was able to get there.”

Kane figured the ball was going to the other post, but he had to contort himself once the flight altered, getting behind the ball, which popped up off his arms and then catching it firmly on the way down.

The win moves LC into Wednesday’s semifinals at Archbishop Ryan High School in northeast Philadelphia.

“The boys worked really hard this week, gave it their all because this was their goal and they accomplished it,” Wilson said. “They were really excited about putting pressure on the backs so we talked about making great runs, trying to get in behind them and that’s what we were witnessing today.”