PW’s Betterly nets two goals in win over Norristown
WHITEMARSH >> Senior Night could not have gone much better for Plymouth Whitemarsh Wednesday, especially for Austin Betterly.
The senior captain scored the first two goals of the game to jumpstart the Colonials to a 5-0 win over Norristown in their regular season finale.
Betterly’s goals came in the 11th and 14th minutes, respectively.
The first was off of a throw in from Noah Goldstein. Goldstein fired his throw high into the box and Betterly got up to finish with a header.
“I’ve been trying to get used to Noah Goldstein’s long throw in all season,” Betterly said. “We haven’t been able to utilize it, but tonight, I played it right and put one into the back of the net with a header.”
The second came off of a corner. Betterly was able to corral a loose ball and put it home.
Goldstein and Mark Melvin each added goals in the first half to go into the break with a 4-0 edge. Tyler Goldman tallied another in the 77th minute on a beautiful pass from Jacobe Sandcroft.
The night did not pass without a little controversy. Norristown coach Jared Elias was upset with Plymouth Whitemarsh being awarded the throw in that led to Betterly’s first goal.
“The ball went out of bounds — and I know it’s one call — but the ref said, ‘I didn’t see it,’” Elias explained. “That doesn’t mean you give it to somebody else, it’s a drop-ball … I know what the final score was and are they better than us? Sure, they’re better than us, but when a game is 0-0 we can compete. But when a game is 1-0, your head goes down a little bit and then it starts.”
PW looks forward to this weekend when they will find out who they play in the District One playoffs. The first round will be Tuesday Oct. 27 and the Colonials feel like they are playing the best soccer they have all year.
“We’ve been on a streak where we are playing very well,” Betterly said. “We played a very strong team in Radnor last weekend and beat them 2-0 — very solid win. Now just scoring goals, knowing we can put the ball in the net — we have enormous confidence going into the playoffs.”
“I just think — collectively top to bottom — we all played as a team and put some goals in,” PW coach Devon Landgraff said. “Especially this latter half of the season, we’re finding our offensive punch right now and our defense is still holding strong. We’re excited.
“Everything is clicking right now on all cylinders. Everyone is really starting to gel and play together. The biggest challenge this year was finding ways to finish and getting more out of our players in the attacking third. We finally started to do that. The explosiveness that we’ve had as a team has just been phenomenal. I can’t ask for more right now.”
