CHA summer soccer falls to college club

by TOM UTESCHER

With two of its top seniors out of action, Chestnut Hill Academy’s summer league soccer team, A.C. Milan, was younger than usual when it took the field for last Thursday’s game. It wasn’t surprising that the local booters suffered a 7-2 setback against Arsenal, a squad made up primarily of older players from Arcadia University.

CHA enjoyed an early corner but did not get off a shot, and Arsenal got on the board first with a straight-on shot from the 18 about two-and-a-half minutes into the first of the 25-minute halves. The college squad then went up 3-0, striking with 14 and 12 minutes left in the period.

As usual, Chestnut Hill was playing without a true goalie, and was rotating field players in the nets. Midway through the half starter Shane Spanninger turned the job over to Ian DeSantis, who got a bit of a break as the Blue Devils took the play to the other half of the pitch for a short spell.

With ten minutes to go in the period, a hard outside shot from the right wing by Steph Chareczko broke up Arsenal’s shutout. A little later the rival club recouped to goal to go up by three once more, and after Spanninger had a near miss at the far end with a little over three minutes to go, Arsenal tallied again to make it 5-1 for halftime.

Spanninger’s older brother Pat, a CHA regular, did not play due to illness, and another Blue Devil senior, Andrew Ferry, was engaged in tournament play elsewhere. Freshman Matt Petrillo, the brother of returning varsity player Bruno Petrillo, went into the goalcage for the second half.

With a few other players arriving at the break, Chestnut Hill was able slow down Arsenal a bit in the second period, and the college athletes did not go out of their way to try to run up the score. They scored twice in the second half, their goals bracketing a second CHA marker by Chareczko, who put in a direct kick from the center of the field just above the 18.