Samuel Arruda and Kyle Kretschman scored first-half goals, and Jaza Vasquez set up to more in the second half to lead No. 5 Abington to 5-0 win over No. 28 Upper Perkiomen in the PIAA 4A District 1 First Round Tuesday night at Stephen A. Schwarzman Stadium.
The defending state champions dominated the game from start to finish and advanced to the district Round of 16, where they will host Spring-Ford, who beat Perkiomen Valley on penalties. Abington and Spring-Ford play Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. The winner of that game will face the No. 4 Council Rock North/No. 13 Neshaminy winner.
Abington (12-1-5), the SOL Liberty division champions, barely missed a top-four seed in the playoffs after being edged out by CR North, who beat them 1-0 three weeks ago. But the hosts wasted no time asserting their multi-tiered attack and set-piece bombardment on the narrow field. Upper Perkiomen (12-6-1), who finished second in the PAC Frontier division and fell to Phoenixville in the conference semifinals last week, put together a strong effort but may have been up against it with an Abington team searching for a second-straight state title and eager to get off to a fast start.
“Couldn’t feel better,” Abington coach Isaac Pitkow said after the game about the win. “We were really happy with the performance. Of course, they’re goalkeeper was phenomenal.”
Keeper Landon Lyter put in a massive effort for Upper Perkiomen, recording double-digit saves, some of them leaving the Abington players with their hands on their heads in disbelief.
“In the first five, ten minutes, you saw they were going to come out and fight and give us everything they had,” Pitkow added. “I think we just created tons of chances and played awesome, too.”
From the opening whistle, Abington used Carter Shannon’s long throw ins and Vasquez’s corners to pin the Upper Perk defenders deep into their own penalty area, but the visitors withstood the aerial attack well and frustrated the hosts throughout the opening minutes. In the 6th minute, Vasquez rounded the inside edge on a short corner and took aim at the far post, but Lyter pushed aside his low shot that was headed for the corner.
A minute later, Lyter made his first superhuman save when he denied Kretschman on a Vasquez cut-back pass at the six, sliding across the goal to tip Kretschman’s sitter over the bar. Abington followed with several chances, including Ewer Brennan’s cross through traffic that Lyter saved, a shot from Vasquez that missed wide and headers from Vasquez and Arruda that Lyter saved.
Abington finally broke through in the 24th minute. Owen Gesing recovered his own blocked shot from distance and recycled the ball out wide on the right to Lucas Arruda, who slipped a dangerous cross that snuck through the backline where Samuel Arruda pounced on the loose ball to give Abington the 1-0 lead.
Three minutes later, after Lyter left the game following a collision from an Abington disallowed goal, Noah Thoren stepped in and continued the high goalkeeping standard, making two greats saves on another Abington attack, with another goal ruled out for offsides on the final rebound finish. Thoren followed that with two more saves in quick succession, eventually holding down the goal until Lyter’s return. Lyter came back to make a triple-save combo to keep the Ghosts out again.
Upper Perkiomen held on until seven minutes left in the half when Kretschman got around the left side and beat Lyter from a tight angle to double Abington’s lead.
Last season, Kretschman, a senior captain, was named an All-American by the United Soccer Coaches and was recently named to the High School All-American Game to be held in Baltimore on December 12th.
“Playoffs are all about momentum,” Kretschman said after the game about his team’s strong start to the postseason. “Getting the first win under our belt just gives us more momentum each game.”
Abington came out of the locker room for the second half to determined to put the game away early, but again, Lyter and Upper Perk had more to give. Lyter made a leg save to deny Arruda on the doorstep. Then Lyter made a sprawling save to stop Kretschman when the forward broke free on a long ball over the back. Then Lyter made a diving save to keep Arruda out again shortly after.
The Ghosts found a third goal in the 54th minute. Senior captain Sean Westmoreland ran onto a Vasquez corner at the near post and volleyed the ball across the goal and into the opposite corner. Westmoreland also spoke after the importance of getting that first postseason win. “Last year, we had another statement win in the first round, and you know what happened from there. So it’s really good to start on the right foot and have a lot of momentum going towards Spring-Ford.”
Abington continued to press for a fourth, and after another double-save from Lyter on Vasquez, Kevin Proctor blocked a shot in front of goal to keep the score at 3-0. The hosts eventually added a fourth from Owen Gesing, who headed home Vasquez’s cross off a recycled corner with fifteen minutes to play.
With game all but locked up, Kai Coyle O’Sullivan made it 5-0 with just under five minutes to play, running onto a ball over the top and poking it past Lyter and into the back of the net.
Though Abington sat on the verge of a top-four seed for much of the season, their late adjustment into the fifth seed added an extra game, as well as a road game in the quarterfinal instead of a home game, which didn’t seem to bother Pitkow, Kretschman, or Westmoreland.
“Obviously we would have been happy about the bye,” Pitkow said, “then if we can win Thursday we would play Rock North if they get there, at home. But the other side of that is we would be off.” CR North will play league rival Neshaminy in the Round of 16, and both regular season games ended in a draw. “Getting the game under our belt and getting the win was probably good, so now instead of whatever practice we would have had, this is about as good for our confidence as it could be.”
While an opening round game allowed Abington to find an early postseason groove, Kretschman and Westmoreland also feel Abington’s senior leadership and experience are real strengths going forward.
“Having most of our starters from last year, it’s big.” Kretschman said.
“Last year, most of our starters hadn’t been in a position where they started a district playoff game,” Westmoreland added. “But now this year, eight or nine of our starters have already been in that position. So it’s huge for us.”
Last season, Abington reached the District 1 finals, falling to Haverford 3-1. Conestoga was the last 4A boys repeat state champions, winning the title in 2016 and 2017.
