Early goal holds up for Abington against Lansdale Catholic

ABINGTON >> Oddly enough, both Abington and Lansdale Catholic’s boys soccer teams saw their season openers decided in the final two minutes of play.

Tuesday, their match was ultimately decided in the first 45 seconds. A blink-of-the-eye early strike by Sean Touey held up for the next 79 minutes as the Galloping Ghosts fended off the Crusaders, though neither team was fully satisfied with its effort.

“We were very sluggish,” Abington coach Randy Garber said. “You have to find time to train and it shows. We’re fortunate that we scored a goal in the first 45 seconds and it was the difference in the game. That’s why it’s important that when you get your chances, you bury them.”

LC came in off a heartbreaking loss to Penn Charter in a game played over in New Jersey. The Crusaders felt they played well enough to earn a result, but just couldn’t put a ball in the back of the net. Tuesday, they did not feel as though they played up to that standard.

While Garber called his team’s performance sluggish, the Ghosts didn’t really show it until the second half. LC’s sluggishness was there right at the beginning and it proved to be costly.

“We’re a young team right now, but we have a lot of talent,” Crusaders striker Noah Saba said. “We need to keep communicating, keep practicing and we’ll get there. I thought we played a lot better against Penn Charter than we did today.”

The goal itself wasn’t a work of art, but it didn’t matter in the long run given that it went in. Abington won the ball in the midfield early, then found senior Juan Castillo, one of the few holdovers from last year’s District 1-AAA playoff team.

Castillo found Touey, who took a few touches and found himself between a slow-reacting back line, a charging keeper in no man’s land and a gaping goal. So, he went for it and slid the ball into the far side of the net then leapt into the air in celebration.

“We didn’t really know (LC), so we didn’t know what to expect and we wanted to come out with a bang at the beginning and go hard,” Castillo said. “It worked out. Our midfield won the ball, I got it and saw our forward coming by, it was a good run through and he finished it well. But as the game went on, it was getting a little sloppy.”

After the goal, Lansdale Catholic did settle in quite well with Saba and senior midfielder Josh Yurastis combining well on a couple of dangerous runs. Nick Brownholtz, a new starter in net for Abington, was up for the task, making six saves on the afternoon and preserved the clean sheet into the break.

To Abington’s credit, the Ghosts continued to press the issue and the ball throughout the first half instead of immediately backing the bus onto the pitch and leaving it parked in the box. Garber said that was because they had the wind at their backs in the half, but also because it’s difficult to make a single goal hold up for 80 minutes.

“I thought at that point if we could get a ball in the net, we were going to have a great opportunity and that was going into the wind,” LC coach Joe Wilson said. “The second half, we changed the style a little bit more into possession and we just made a lot of mental errors.”

Abington did eventually start to shell up, but that was as the game had extended and holding the lead was more feasible. While the Crusaders did struggle into the second half, making errant passes and at times lacking the inventiveness that had generated the first half chances, they still had opportunity.

Late in the second half, Saba found himself in alone behind the back line off a deflected ball in. Unfortunately for the senior, his team’s scoring misery to start the season continued when Brownholtz gamely squared up and made the save then recovered enough to make a diving parry of a mis-hit clearance that otherwise would have been an own goal.

“We were fortunate,” Garber said. “Lansdale Catholic is going to win games. We defended well otherwise. They’re young but they know their jobs.”

After losing 16 seniors off last year’s team, this is a drastically different group of Ghosts. Castillo said he and fellow senior captains Michah Portis and Eric Podrost knew that at the start of camp and tried to do everything they could to prepare the other guys.

That meant being a little rough, making some hard challenges and getting after it all preseason, but with the grind of the Suburban One League National Conference starting Wednesday, it was meant to help the squad long-term. With just two games to their credit, Castillo didn’t want to forecast a ceiling for this team, but he thinks it can factor in the conference race like it did last season.

“We started telling them, you have to start playing hard because if you don’t, we aren’t going to win,” Castillo said. “We kept pushing them, trying to lead them the right way and with (Coach) Garber, he’s an amazing coach and helped us with that.”

LC is also on the cusp of league play, with a night date at Archbishop Ryan coming up Thursday. It’s a tough game, but Wilson and Saba think that the allure of that, plus the players getting back into school will help spark something.

One thing that does need to be picked up is the team’s communication on the field. Quiet at times Tuesday, it’s not the most boisterous group, but they do need to synergize more going into Philadelphia Catholic League play.

“We have to push them and they have to be willing to be pushed and take criticism,” Saba said. “We have to work on it, get back to practice and hopefully come back against Ryan and get a ‘W.’ We’re happy with the chances, but we could definitely be better.”

Abington 1, Lansdale Catholic 0
Lansdale Catholic 0 0 – 0
Abington 1 0 – 1
Goals: A- Sean Touey (Juan Castillo) :45
Shots: A- 10, LC-6. Corners: A- 2, LC – 4. Saves: A- Nick Brownholtz 6, LC- Jack Kane 9.

Top Photo: Lansdale Catholic goal keeper Jack Kane dives for the ball as Abington’s Sean Touey tries to get a boot on it during the game on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016 (Bob Raines/Digital First Media)