Abington gets job done in win over Wissahickon
ABINGTON >> Resse Gibbs had to chuckle when it came up.
The Abington senior defender has been in the game long enough to know 80 perfect minutes of soccer just doesn’t exist at the high school level. There are going to be times each game where the Ghosts have lapses but it’s what they do to minimize the damage there and how they capitalize on their good spells that will determine their fate.
Thursday, they made enough happen with their positive play and held their own during the lapses to pick up a 2-0 win over visiting Wissahickon.
“That’s high school soccer,” Abington coach Randy Garber said. “You play well for 15 minutes, the next 15 minutes you lose it, the other team takes over and they do some creative things and it’s just a matter of who puts the ball in the back of the net.”
Gibbs, a co-captain, had a lot to do with that. He converted a first half penalty kick drawn by fellow co-captain Nevin Baer then along with his teammates on the back line, made sure Wiss never made anything of its opportunities.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game, it’s Wissahickon, so they’re always looking to pull one out on us,” Gibbs said. “We were able to keep the pressure on and pull through.”
At times in the first half, the Trojans had plenty of evidence to argue they were playing better. While Abington would get stuck on one side of the field or drawn in to trying to dribble through multiple defenders and lose the ball, Wissahickon was quick and aggressive.
Last year, Wissahickon handed Abington its lone loss in the SOL American, so it’s a matchup the Trojans get up for. The Trojans’ front group wasn’t afraid to go at Abington’s backs, leading to a good back-and-forth between the two groups as they tried to seek an advantage.
“Our goal difference is minus-six and I told them at halftime, I’m not disappointed in how we’re playing, I’m disappointed we’re not ahead,” Wiss coach Stuart Malcolm said. “We created some great opportunities and just didn’t take them.”
A heads-up play by a freshman helped Abington break the deadlock. Liam Hartman won a throw-in right in front of the Ghosts’ bench and took it quickly, heaving the ball behind the defense to Baer, who got a one-v-one matchup and drew a foul as he cut across the box.
Gibbs stepped to the spot and put it away with 10:10 left in the half.
“All of a sudden, all the work’s been for nothing,” Malcolm said. “It’s a case of just being switched on and learning from it and unfortunately, we’re not learning from it as quickly as we should. That happened the first game and now the second game, we’re wondering why we’re down with 10 minutes to go when something we allowed to happen the first time happened again.”
Christian Vorchheimer nearly leveled the score 10 minutes in the second half on a free kick. The junior cracked an effort from about 35 yards out that glanced off a defender and was only kept out by a diving stop from Ghosts keeper Jalen Harris, who pushed it off the post and out for a corner.
It led to back-to-back corners but the defense was able to hold its ground.
“Our defense was good, although they had some chances in both halves where they could have had the equalizer,” Garber said. “They’re well-organized, a good team that works hard but this year, we’re fortunate enough to be able to score goals and we have a number of players who have been scoring.”
“We moved the ball well, we said it at halftime and before the game, we had to win the first ball,” Gibbs said. “Once we lost a few of those, we knew how dangerous they could be and we adjusted to it. We knew Christian was going to dribble around if we let him, he’s really skillful, so we practiced the other day having a guy in the middle do what he does.”
The Ghosts went up 2-0 in the second half when right back Steven Farjado buried a well-hit strike from inside the box following a long throw from Baer on the opposite flank.
Abington also maintained its tie atop the SOL American with Hatboro-Horsham, a 1-0 winner over Cheltenham, with their second game this season coming Monday night. Before that, the Ghosts clash with Council Rock North on Friday and wrap up with neighborhood archrival Cheltenham next Thursday, so they certainly aren’t waltzing into the postseason.
“We definitely want to play those playoff teams going in so we’ll be ready,” Gibbs said. “It’ll be good getting those games coming up, Hatboro’s a night game so that’s going to be tough. It was a good win today and hopefully we’ll be ready for the next one.”
ABINGTON 1 1 – 2
WISSAHICKON 0 0 – 0
Goals: A – Reese Gibbs (PK), Steven Farjado (Nevin Baer)
