Fortescue’s hat trick powers Wissahickon past Plymouth Whitemarsh
LOWER GWYNEDD >> Just as the rain started to fall, Wissahickon’s Eddie Fortescue was down on the soggy grass, pounding his fists against the ground in celebration of a well-earned hat trick.
By the time this wet battle with rival Plymouth Whitemarsh was complete, Fortescue and the Trojans had emerged with muddy jerseys, a 3-1 victory over the Colonials, and further proof they are indeed one of the top teams in District One.
“We just wanna keep it going,” Fortescue said, “because some of the teams out there don’t know how good we actually are. The two ties and a loss kind of brought us down, and we’re just using it as motivation to keep it rolling.”
The Trojans, in a race with Abington for first place in the Suburban One League American Conference, raised their conference record to 5-1-2, while PW, still very much in the thick of things, dropped to 3-3-2.
“It’s the story of our lives,” kidded Colonials coach Ryan Brazuk. “It’s been going well for us. We just can’t bring it all together yet.”
PW’s Rich Veon scored off a rebound of his own penalty kick, deadlocking the score at one apiece with 20 minutes to play.
Seven minutes later, Wiss pushed in front for good.
Fortescue got position out in front and scored off a header, redirecting a pass from Leo Morales to provide the Trojans — ranked third in District 1-4A — a 2-1 advantage.
“Great ball by Christian (Vorchheimer),” Fortescue said of the play setting up. “It feels good because I have a height advantage and I get to go over top of (the defenders).”
With Wiss controlling play, all that was left to do was to create some insurance, and Fortescue did that with 2 minutes, 41 seconds to play.
“It felt good. I was able to get a rebound off the keeper (Connor Smith) because I knew there would be one after that hard shot,” Fortescue said of the attempt by David Goldstein.
Smith played outstanding in net for the Colonials, turning away several shots to keep the visitors in it. Wiss kept the pressure on from start to finish.
“Previously, when we played PW (and tied 2-2 on the road), we had to put more pressure on the back line because they started passing the ball around the back line,” Fortescue said. “And once the other striker and I put pressure on them, they couldn’t get a ball out to the wing — and that’s what they wanna do, get it out to the wing and go upfield.
“We just needed to stop the pressure, stop the middle. And then we got pressure, played a ball outside.”
Converting on a pass from Gabe Kessler, Fortescue put the Trojans up 1-0 with two minutes left in the first half, and he was just getting started.
