Father Judge uses first-half goal to edge Lansdale Catholic

LANSDALE >> The Lansdale Catholic boys soccer team has been meandering through a scoring drought recently and Tuesday afternoon the Crusaders could not find their way out of it.

In a tight battle between sides fighting for spots at the top of the Philadelphia Catholic League standings, Father Judge got a fortunate deflection on a free kick in the first half and host LC was unable to answer as Judge came away with the 1-0 victory.

“Every once in a while we get in these ruts and we try to figure it out,” Lansdale Catholic coach Casey Farrell said. “And the way we try to figure it out is kind of blasting the balls to the corners or trying to force the issue when we should be kind of slowing it down and figuring it out at a slower pace.

“But at a certain point you really got to try and throw mud at the wall and see what sticks, I think that’s what we were trying to do as a team and unfortunately it didn’t work out for us today.”

Lansdale Catholic (8-4-1, 6-2-1 league) won seven of its first nine games but since then has lost three of its last four, getting shut out in all three of the defeats with the lone positive result coming in a 4-0 win over Archbishop Carroll.

“We always have trouble with that last passing attack in the third and I think that’s what kind of doesn’t allow us to score for the past few games,” LC senior midfielder Brendan MacKay said. “And that’s it really.”

Father Judge (12-2-0, 8-1-0) controlled most of the early portion of Tuesday’s contest. Tim Purcell turned and put a shot on net that was blocked by LC junior goalkeeper Kellan Ward. Judge’s sustained pressure finally led to the afternoon’s lone goal after a Mike Martins run drew a foul just outside the 18-yard box. Ryan Colfer sent in a low free kick that took a bounced then deflected off an Lansdale Catholic player to sneak in at the near right post.

“I think it hit off one of my defender’s legs and I wasn’t ready for it,” Ward said. “Cause I saw that he had the angle there but then just took me by surprise and shot it in the net.”

Making the goal stand up for the rest of the way gave Father Judge its eighth straight victory since back-to-back losses to Archbishop Wood and Penn Charter. Tuesday’s shutout was the fifth blank sheet for Judge during its current win streak.

“We got the goal in the first half, I don’t think we sat back on it, I thought we did pretty good in the first half,” Father Judge coach John Dunlop said. “They came out like expected in the second half, little bit more eager and hungrier and we held on to it. So we’ll take the three points, go back to practice tomorrow and get ready for the next one cause they’re all playoff games.”

The win moves Judge into a three-way tie for first in the PCL with La Salle and Roman Catholic at 24 points. Archbishop Wood is fourth at 22 points with LC fifth at 19. Judge hosts Roman 7 p.m. Friday then is home against La Salle 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“I got 13 seniors so their leadership and their guidance is real important for the younger guys,” Dunlop said. “We like each other and it goes a long way whether it’s having a slice of pizza at a function last night, Friday night we had senior night, on the bus and usually when you like each other you work for each other a little harder.”

Lansdale Catholic tries to get its offense going Thursday when it hosts Conwell-Egan at 3:45 p.m.LC finishes the week with a nonleague matchup at Dock Mennonite 7 p.m. Friday.

“You hate to lose a game where it comes down to an odd bounce, Farrell said. “A kid who worked his butt off all game and he’s the one who’s going to be blaming himself but it’s nothing on him, sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce the way you want it to bounce.

“And good on Judge for keeping it together, locking it in and they’re a very good team so we’re not angry at the loss in terms of who we played, just angry at the loss that we feel like we could of had that one.”

After Judge’s goal, Lansdale Catholic began to find some positive momentum at the end of the first half, MacKay gave LC its best chance before the break with a late long-distance try that took a bit of a deflection before it was denied by a diving save from Judge keeper Bobby Mulvenna.

“It’s always good to take those out there,” MacKay said. “I mean, they always have a chance to go in. We’ve seen them this season.”

In the second half, LC junior midfielder Matt McDougal got off a shot in the box but his effort was sent high. Lansdale Catholic later earned a free kick above the top of the box but the shot was deflected of a Judge wall and went out for a corner, which did not result in a chance on goal for LC.

“Honestly, with 20 minutes to go in the first half and then beyond, it became much more of either a 50/50 game or slightly more in our favor,” Farrell said. “But, you know, sometimes you have to put the ball in the back of the net which is sometimes our issue, sometimes not.”