Still unbeaten in league play, Henderson blanks rival East
WEST CHESTER >> Charlie Dodds knew heading into Tuesday’s boys’ soccer contest at West Chester Henderson, that his West Chester East squad was in a bad spot. Granted, nobody in the Ches-Mont has found a way to beat the Warriors yet, but the matchup was daunting.
Henderson boasts the league’s stingiest defense, and the Vikings have all kinds of trouble scoring goals. East wound up keeping things close for one half but eventually succumbed 5-0. It means that in seven league contests, the Warriors – anchored by senior keeper Tino Kneis — have surrendered just four total goals.
“We are playing well in the back line, making good decisions, and Tino is doing a great job in goal, coming up big when he needs to for us,” said Henderson head coach Dom Popolizio.
Kneis didn’t need to do much on this night to help the Warriors improve to 7-0 in the Ches-Mont, but it was his sixth shutout of the season. Fourth in the latest District 1 4A power rankings, Henderson is now 10-3 overall, and the three setbacks have come against fellow top-10 foes like No. 1 Conestoga, No. 9 Haverford and No. 6 Spring-Ford.
“The main thing for us is to start the games ready to go,” Kneis explained. “We fell behind early to Spring-Ford, Downingtown East and Kennett. Other than Spring-Ford, we managed to come back, which is a good thing, but later down the line against good teams, they don’t let you come back easily.”
A preseason contender, the Vikings fall to 1-5-1 in the league (4-6-1 overall), and Dodds knows the main reason his team has struggled.
“We just don’t have a (consistent) goal scorer,” he said. “We make a mistake and opponents capitalize. When they make a mistake, we don’t have anyone that’s stepped up and made them pay.”
The Warriors have now outscored their league opponents 34-4, but on Tuesday is wasn’t as easy as it may appear. Scoreless through the opening 39 minutes, Henderson notched what would be the game-winner just 52 seconds before the halftime break when freshman Josh Jarden corralled a rebound and found the back of the net.
“East did a nice job of limiting our chances, so to get one under a minute left in the half definitely turned around the mentality,” Popolizio said. “Our guys really had a lot of energy starting the second half.”
Prior to that the Warriors had the rest of the first half’s three best scoring chances, but East goalkeeper Johnny Regester thwarted each one. The senior keeper had eight saves in the period alone.
“I think tonight we saw the bet two goalies in the league,” Dodds pointed out.
“Our leader is our goalie. He was the MVP of the league and all-state last year. It’s a shame because this season he probably won’t get anything because of our record.”
With a jolt of momentum, Henderson came out strong in the second half, and quickly made it 3-0 with a pair of goals in the opening 20 minutes. Goal number two was scored by Brandon Watson off a pass from fellow senior forward Ethan Jarden, Josh’s older brother.
A few minutes later, sophomore defender Nick Ricciardi scored on a header off a corner kick by teammate Andrew Kavetski. At that point, Dodds took out Regester and many of his starters.
“I thought we played well in the first half and then we gave up the one late,” he said. “Then when (Henderson) got the second, you could see the heads going down on our guys.
“At that point, we’re like, ‘Ok, we have a game Thursday (against West Chester Rustin) so let’s save our legs.’”
The Warriors scored two more times in mop-up duty, with Ethan Jarden scoring (on a pass from Josh Jarden), and Gezahegn Laufenberg converting another corner kick.
“It takes time getting comfortable when you’re a freshman, but I definitely am getting the hang of it,” said Josh Jarden, who has now scored eight goals in his first high school season. “My brother helps me a lot, telling me what to do, and he’s been playing me the ball.”
As expected, Henderson had the edge in corner kicks (6-2) and shots on goal (14-3). The Warriors end the regular season with five Ches-Mont contests, including a meeting with West Chester Rustin and once-beaten Downingtown West next week. Surviving that gauntlet will likely give Henderson sole possession of the crown.
“(Henderson) is a very good team that is very disciplined,” Dodds said.
“Next week is huge for us and will determine a lot with what happens to our league season,” Kneis added. “Rustin is a West Chester rivalry game, and a lot of us play club soccer with Downingtown West kids and they are a good team.”
West Chester Henderson 5, West Chester East 0
W.C. East 0 0 — 0
W.C. Henderson 1 4 — 5
W.C. Henderson goals: J. Jarden, Watson, Ricciardi, E. Jarden, Laufenberg.
Goalie saves: Regester (WCE) 9; Budak (WCE) 2; Kneis (WCH) 3, DiPerro (WCH) 0.
