GFS, Charter booters settle for standoff

by TOM UTESCHER

On their shortest “road trip” of the season, Penn Charter’s soccer players strolled a few hundred yards along School House Lane last Friday to take on the Tigers of Germantown Friends School.

GFS junior Mbizo Mzamane got the hosts on the board just over three minutes into the second half, and senior Pat Farrell tied it for the Quakers less than six minutes later. Forgoing overtime play in the non-league bout, the squads settled for a 1-1 draw that left the Tigers with a 1-0-2 mark in the young season, while PC’s record was 0-2-1.

Penn Charter coach Leighton Walters has reason to hope for better things down the road, since the Quakers only graduated two impact players and have some talented young additions in sophomore Tim Drabyak and freshmen Connor Gorman and Torrey Crawford. Farrell, a heavily recruited sweeper, is a co-captain of the team, along with Steve Sullivan, also a senior.

Germantown, in contrast, is in full rebuilding mode after reaching the Friends School League finals in 2003. So far, mentor Matt Zipin sees his Tigers coping pretty well with the loss of ten seniors (including seven starters) from last year’s club. John Barstow, who gained valuable experience in goal last year when starter Andy Soprano was out with an injury, is a team tri-captain this year, as are fellow seniors Ben Brier-Rosenfield and Nick Malinowski.

Speed merchant Mzamane gave the visiting Quakers a number of scares during the first half of Friday’s contest. His serve into the box at the outset of the tilt found no one on the receiving end, and a few minutes later he hit a hard shot into the gut of PC keeper Alex Naveiro. With about ten minuntes left in the half Naveiro, a junior who also started last year, made an impressive diving save on another boot by Mzamane as the Tiger forward blazed through the left side of the penalty area.

At the other end, Charter had Farrell hit a direct kick high and outside of the Germantown goal, and about ten minutes into the match Jon Rudolph made an excellent cross to the front of the goal but the Quakers didn’t get a shot off. Following a subsequent Charter corner kick the ball ping-ponged around in the middle of the penalty area as several shots bounced back off of Tiger defenders.

After Henry Robb of GFS made several promising rushes up the right wing and after PC’s Naveiro conjured up a miraculous save on a point-blank shot by Brian Pepe-Mooney in the final minute, the half ended with the score still 0-0.

Barstow, Germantown’s keeper, repulsed the Quakers’ first shot of the second period, and instead it was GFS which broke the ice with 3:16 elapsed. A line of Tigers charged across the 18 and Teo Zuares passed the ball from the middle of the box over to his left, setting up a strike by Mzamane from about ten yards out.

The Quakers pulled even with a little over 30 minutes remaining in the game, converting off of a direct kick from the center of the field just beyond the 18. Farrell’s kick skirted the right end of the GFS defensive wall, and Barstow was caught off guard as the hard-hit ball caromed off of one of his own teammates and skipped into the left side of the goal.

In the remaining minutes there were several near misses by Germantown’s Pepe-Mooney, and when PC’s Naveiro was out of the cage Farrell alertly dropped back to the goal line just in time to block a shot by Mzamane. Off a cross by Quaker teammate Chris Steffa, Liam McGettigan flicked the ball at the Tigers’ goalmouth, but Barstow reacted in time to stop the shot. After a short shot by Robb popped up outside of the top right corner of the visitors’ goal with a minute to go, the 1-1 tie was stamped in the scorebook.