Unionville blanks Downingtown West, takes sole possession of first place
EAST MARLBOROUGH >> The offense remains an issue, but when you play defensive soccer the way the Unionville boys do, it can make up for a lot of deficiencies.
“It is so nice – our defense is a brick wall,” said junior midfielder Kyle Ketterer. “They don’t let anything through. Two goals in 10 games is kind of ridiculous. I don’t know how they do it.”
Whatever they do, they did it again on Tuesday afternoon, blanking Downingtown West 3-0 to move into sole possession of first place in the Ches-Mont standings. The Indians have now outscored all 10 opponents by a combined 28-2, and the only goals came on a penalty kick vs. West Chester Rustin and another at the end of a 7-1 non-league blowout.
“Our back line has been sensational,” said Unionville head coach Rich Garber.
“My two center backs – (Alex) O’Leary and (Garrett) Pinkston – have been outstanding. And our keeper (Alex Dolce) had his worst game of the year against (West Chester) Rustin, but other than that he’s been great. He’s entitled to have an off-day.”
Since a scoreless draw to West Chester East, Unionville (5-0-1, 9-0-1 overall) has reeled off four straight wins including three against conference contenders. The Whippets entered the day unbeaten in the Ches-Mont, but fall to 3-1 (4-2-1 overall).
“We did a lot of good things, we just weren’t fast enough in the final third,” said West head coach John Hatt.
“Every game counts the same – you can only win one or lose one at a time. We’ll put this one behind us. We can’t change this one. We just have to be a little better in the final third.”
The Indians just might win the league crown by shutting down opponents, but Garber knows that to make another nice run in the state tournament, Unionville is going to have to get more consistent scoring from its forwards, other than senior star Michael Hewes.
“I’m concerned, but I also know it is going to take some time,” Garber said. “As long as we are solid in the back, we can build forward. There are some guys who have to start stepping up. We can’t rely on one or two guys.”
On Tuesday, Hewes had a goal and an assist, but the goal came in the final 10 seconds of regulation. The game winner from Ketterer came late in the first half. And defender, Grady Farrell, notched the second.
“It seems like this is the type of (Ches-Mont) games we have all the time,” Garber said. “Nothing is easy.”
Whippets carried the play for large swaths of the action, and actually finished the match with an edge in shots on goal (8-6). But the good scoring chances were few and far between.
“When you have two good teams, there is a limit in time and space,” Hatt explained. “(Unionville) did a better job with that than we did.
“The message I gave my team was that against a good opponent, the little things matter. Unionville did the little things better than we did today.”
With a substantial wind at their back, the Whippets generated more scoring chances in the first half, including a blast by Jimmy Wagner that sailed over the Indians’ crossbar with less than five minutes on the clock. But Unionville countered immediately in transition when Hewes delivered a pass to Ketterer on the wing, he beat West keeper Aiden Primanti to the ball, and then deposited it into the open net at the 4:12 mark.
“That was a very good through-ball from Hewes,” Ketterer said.
Farrell made it 2-0 midway through the second half when he got loose and lifted a shot over Primanti, who was caught in no-man’s land.
“It was good to get that second goal and seal the deal,” said Farrell, a senior. “We kind of caught them off guard. I saw the keeper was off his line a little bit and I just chipped it over him.”
West’s best scoring chance in the second half came at the 11:48 mark when Liam Keisling sent a centering pass that Tristan Peat headed toward the goal, but Dolce was there for the save.
“I thought we were just missing a little bit in the first half,” Garber said. “We had some nice little combinations, we were working well, and I remember thinking hopefully it will come because I’d hate to see them not get rewarded for the effort.
“To Downingtown (West’s) credit, they put pressure on us in the second half and it wasn’t pretty. But we got the results.”
Unionville 3, Downingtown West 0
Downingtown West 0 0 – 0
Unionville 1 2 – 3
Downingtown West goals: none.
Unionville goals: Ketterer, Farrell, Hewes.
Goalie saves: Primanti (DW) 3, Dolce (U) 8.
