Kohler leads fluid North Penn attack past Plymouth Whitemarsh

WHITEMARSH >> Once the ball found its way to the feet of Mike Kohler, North Penn got in gear.

The influential senior midfielder left his footprints all over the pitch Friday morning as he dictated a very fluid Knights attack in a 4-0 boys soccer win over host Plymouth Whitemarsh. Kohler scored once, had the primary assist on two goals and a secondary assist on the other as the Knights meshed good ball movement with a solid defensive showing to open the season strongly.

“Our coaches gave us a really good pregame talk, we worked hard all preseason and we were just preparing for that the whole time,” Kohler said. “When it came time, we were ready to go.”

While the scoreline didn’t favor them, the Colonials hung with the Knights and started the game with the better of play for about 10 minutes. Unfortunately for the hosts, it didn’t translate to any goals with the best opportunity, a snap-shot header by Alex Goldring, snared from the air by Knights keeper Tyler Rothmann.

That was a good summary of the Colonials’ day in the final third. They had a lot of chances, many of them in the box, and none went in the back of the net. Defender Dillon Johnson was similarly unlucky when his unmarked header on the far post clanged off the post in the second half.

“We got a lot of shots on goal,” first year PW coach Jeff Heaton said. “If we can put one in at the beginning… Our long throw-ins, we had the first head to it on most of them, if we can get the second touch and put it in the goal, I think it’s a much different game.”

Heaton said the difference was North Penn’s execution and his team’s tendency to play too direct in the attack. Where the Knights were moving the ball around the middle, out wide and using diagonal balls and runs to beat PW’s defending, the Colonials tried to go up the gut.

After surviving the initial surge, North Penn started to find Kohler and he in turn started to find his teammates. About midway through the first half, he sprayed a pass out to Aidan Jerome on the right wing, which Jerome then directed into the box to the path of the diagonally running Luke McMahon, who tucked it neatly inside the post to open the season account.

“We did a lot of things right,” North Penn coach Paul Duddy said. “They had some chances and probably should have had one early. But, we’re a pretty good attacking team and once we settled in, after the 15 minute mark or so, I thought we played pretty well.”

Backing up North Penn’s attacking unit was its new-look back end with stable veteran Noah Kwortnik leading things at center back. Kwortnik paired well with freshman Carter Houlihan in the middle with Christian Snyder and Erik Szilagyi flanking them.

North Penn is a team that annually finds itself having to replace five or more starters from the year before and usually finds a way to do it. Kohler said it’s a testament to the “second team” of guys who grind hard behind the scenes at practice and then seize their roles when it becomes their time.

The senior helped stake North Penn to a better lead at half when he made a tremendous run from the center of the park to the right corner, back across the endline then gave Jerome an easy ball to slot home a few minutes before the break.

“That put us up by two and that was huge,” Kohler said. “With a one-goal game, it could still go either way.”

Kohler then pushed the lead to 3-0 early in the second half when he converted a penalty kick awarded after McMahon was taken down in the box after a long run up field on a counter. North Penn’s final goal came with about 20 minutes left when Kohler found Nate Baxter who then slipped a ball by PW’s charging keeper and into the gaping net.

While the Knights were coming at it from all angles, the Colonials were stuck going up the middle where they had to navigate a gauntlet of tacklers and challenges. PW has the players to be more diverse, but they just didn’t get involved enough on Friday.

“The last two scrimmages we executed that very well and today, they seemed to forget about that a little bit,” Heaton said. “It’s what we were focusing on at the beginning of the day and we didn’t get it wide at all.”

Defensively, the Knights were pretty solid, with Kwortnik’s aerial presence a big factor. But, they did give up some chances in the box and had a couple of miscommunications setting up.

But overall, it was a good showing and those are the types of things that will get better as the back line grows in experience.

“We did pretty well, we won most of the 50/50s,” Kwortnik said. “As long as we keep winning the 50/50s in the box and off set pieces and corner kicks, I think that sets us up for success.”

PW can still take plenty from its preseason and Friday as it starts SOL American play next week. Center mid Gavin Hendrick had a good match as did Johnson in defense. Heaton said he wants his guys who took knocks to use the weekend to rest up.

North Penn jumps right back into the fire with Central Bucks East next up on the schedule Tuesday. The Patriots topped the Knights three times last year, but all were excellent, nail-biting contests. With Friday’s result in the back pocket, North Penn can enter the meeting with confidence.

“It builds momentum, this is the ideal way to start a season,” Kohler said. “We have to keep it going forward.”