Abington, Upper Dublin play to scoreless draw

UPPER DUBLIN >> Abington and Upper Dublin both entered their Suburban One League Liberty Division match undefeated in league play Wednesday and that’s how they both left it.

The Ghosts and Cardinals played to a 0-0 draw after 80 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtimes at Spark Field.

“It was a reality check,” Abington senior captain Luke O’Donnell said. “We know we need to make a statement game one of these games soon against a team in the league. We couldn’t get it done today. Still looking to get a big win.”

“We’ve played Abington before and I haven’t beaten them since freshman year,” Upper Dublin senior captain Nick Fiore said. “I’ve got a lot of friends on there, so I’m happy we didn’t lose, but we definitely wanted to win. I’m pretty bummed about that.”

Abington is 3-1-1 overall and 2-0-1 in SOL Liberty play while Upper Dublin is 3-0-1 and 2-0-1.

Both teams had chances throughout the 100 minutes but couldn’t convert the opportunities into goals.

The Ghosts earned three corners and put six shots on goal in the first half. A great scoring opportunity came early in the game when Upper Dublin turned the ball over in their own territory, but Cardinals keeper Gabriel Copley made the save.

Abington’s best chance came less than two minutes into the first overtime. O’Donnell took a free kick from the right side just outside of the box. His right-footed shot curved towards the goal and hit the top right corner where the crossbar meets the post.

“I thought it was (going in), maybe,” O’Donnell said. “Off my foot it felt pretty good. It wasn’t a good feeling seeing it not go in.”

The Ghosts put one shot on goal total in overtime, but Copley turned it away. He made 10 saves in the game, including two back-to-back from close range late in the second half.

“We definitely had plenty of chances,” O’Donnell said. “We just couldn’t finish.”

“Winning balls in the air was a huge thing,” Fiore credited for Upper Dublin’s defensive shutout, “and just support, getting back when you were super tired. You still have to do it.”

Upper Dublin totaled nine shots on goal – five in regulation and four in overtime. Abington goalkeeper Kevin Kretschman stopped them all.

The Cardinals had many more opportunities where they strung together nice passes to get into the attacking third, but turned the ball over before attempting a shot.

“We’ve had trouble shooting for the past two years,” Fiore said. “We had way too many chances in the box for that to be 0-0, way too many.”

“It was good that they didn’t score, but I thought it could’ve been cleaner,” O’Donnell said of the Ghosts defense, “but they didn’t score, so that’s always a good thing.”

These SOL Liberty rivals, both of which entered Wednesday ranked top 10 in the District 1-4A power rankings, will meet again on Oct. 13 at Abington.

Abington 0, Upper Dublin 0
Abington             0 0 0 0 – 0
Upper Dublin     0 0 0 0 – 0
Saves: AB: Kevin Kretschman 9. UD: Gabriel Copley 10.
Corners: AB: 6. UD: 2.