Lage’s goal, 2 assists lead Abington past Plymouth Whitemarsh
ABINGTON >> Jimmy Marino had a short and simple reason why the Abington boys soccer team flipped Tuesday night’s game in their favor after conceding a goal midway through the first half.
“Got Thiago the ball,” Marino said.
The Galloping Ghosts found a way to get Thiago Lage the ball in a dangerous spot to net the equalizer while the Brazilian senior’s skill set up a pair of scores after halftime as Abington pulled away from visiting Plymouth Whitemarsh to earn a 3-1 SOL Liberty Division win on Senior Night.
“I just did my job” said Lage, in his first year at Abington. “That’s my job – I need to run and pass for someone open in the box and just did my job. And I have good teammates who can score goals – that’s it.”
The Ghosts (14-2-1, 12-2-1 division) entered the week having already clinched their second consecutive SOL Liberty title but were looking to bounce from a 1-0 loss last Friday at Hatboro-Horsham. PW made that task a bit trickier when Zach House scored right on the 20:00 mark to finish a counter and put the Colonials up 1-0.
Lage, however, pulled Abington even in the 31st minute then assisted on the go-ahead score after the break, finding Drew Paxson with a pass across the box to make it 2-1 with 31:46 left in regulation.
Lage again provided the helper on the Ghosts’ third goal, sending a ball to Liam Hartman for his blast into the top of the net at 11:18.
“It felt good because last game against Hatboro-Horsham they went up 1-0, we couldn’t score at halftime,” said Marino, a senior defender. “We were kind of defeated at halftime when we obviously had the ball in their half against Hatboro-Horsham and helped us out to get the momentum into halftime and over to halftime after that.”
Lage, who is from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, says he’s enjoying his time at Abington, noting it is a more physical style of soccer here but the game remains the same wherever it’s played.
“Soccer is soccer,” Lage said.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (9-7-0, 9-6-0) came into Tuesday’s matchup in need of a win to bolster their chances of making the District 1 playoffs for the first time since 2017. The Colonials were 23rd in the Class 4A standings but their second straight loss dropped them to 25th with only the top 24 making the tournament field.
PW hosts Wissahickon in its regular-season finale 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
“We’re going to go after it,” PW coach Richard Kessler said. “I know for sure all of our guys are going to be chomping at the bits to go after it. And I think that I don’t know where it will stand now but I think that if we get the result there we should go in.”
Abington, looking to secure a high seed in the district playoffs, caps its regular season at home against Quakertown 3:30 p.m. Thursday. The Ghosts’ win Tuesday bumped them from fifth to fourth in the 4A rankings.
“That’s what we talked about at the beginning of the year, we had short-term goals and long-term goals,” Marino said. “Short-term goal was to get in practice, build the chemistry throughout every day in practice and long term was first win the league, second win districts and then finally win the states.”
After Paxson’s goal put Abington ahead in the second half, PW came close to knotting things back up in the following minute on a free kick. Brendan Corpus knocked down Joe Redmond’s ball into the box and it stayed at Corpus’ feet for a shot denied by the left hand of Ghosts keeper Kevin Krechman then cleared away by Paxson.
Abington quickly countered off the chance – Lage rolling a ball into Hartman’s path but Hartman did not get a firm hit and the effort was easily saved at the left post.
Trailing 3-1, the Colonials came close again when Luke Edwin ripped a shot off the crossbar in the 76th minute.
“That was a good game all the way through for us, the result doesn’t come sometimes,” Kessler said.
PW tallied the opening goal exactly at the midway mark of the opening half by countering off a turnover. Henry Couchara lofted a ball to Corpus on the right side of the box with Corpus passing to House in the front of goal. House took a touch by a defender then slid a shot under the goalie.
“Our game plan, we executed pretty well,” Kessler said. “They’re a little vulnerable to direct play and we took advantage of it a little bit. So we had loads of moments there going forward and obviously one of them goes through, couple of them don’t unfortunately but it is what it is.”
The Ghosts made it 1-1 with 9:25 left until intermission, a Hartman cross from the right side bouncing its way to Lage, who tapped the ball past a defender with his right foot then sent it by the keeper into the goal with his left.
“I receive a good ball in the box and just put it in the net,” Lage said. “It was an easy goal.”
Abington went ahead in the ninth minute after halftime, Lage driving into the box’s right side, slicing between two defenders before avoiding a slide tackle then delivering a low cross Paxson knocked inside the left post at 31:46.
Lage’s second assist gave the Ghosts a two-goal cushion. Getting behind the PW defense off a ball from Fletcher Volmer, Lage dribbled in from the box’s right side and when the keeper committed to him passed back into the middle to Hartman, who sent it into the net at 11:18.
